Discoveries in “The Happy Couple”

When I first engaged with John’s transcriptions of Michael Hedges’ music, I was overwhelmed by information. No, overwhelmed isn’t the right word – it was something more like being overfull; my cup was full past the brim of what I could process.

In an article published in Fingerstyle Guitar called “Little Gremlins,” John and Michael play out one way to breakdown the openingmeasures of “Ragamuffin,” presenting ideas for practice.

I did something even more reductive with “The Happy Couple” when I first encountered it, and I feel it was the gateway to learning right-hand string-stopping. This continues to be my approach to absorbing the rich transcriptions available through stropes.com. I wanted to reduce a passage down to very discrete steps, so that I could look at each step individually and troubleshoot it. Printed music can be so dense with information that it can be easy to miss nuances. If you follow this approach, you’ll be in a better spot to absorb the details into your playing.

To illustrate, let’s takemeasure 9 of “The Happy Couple” as an example.

The approach sounds simple on the surface:

1. Reduce the music to the smallest rhythmic interval. Here, this is an eighth note.
2. Observe and orient yourself. Where are the right-hand fingers immediately before this unit? This will include both what’s specified on the page and what is not specified (more below).
3. Looking at the page, decide what changes on the current unit.
4. Act. Make the change with your right hand.
5. Repeat.

Observe and Orient:
Previously, my a finger stops the first string, all other right-hand fingers are free. One thing unsaid: the thumb should not rest on the fifth string in anticipation of the G played on the downbeat.

Decide:
On the downbeat:

• a plays F# on the first string
• i and m stop the second and third strings
• p plays the open fifth string

Act:

• Move the right-hand fingers into position and play.

This felt very unfamiliar to me at first, so I got in the habit of isolating just what my right hand was doing before and on this beat unit, and repeating it until my hand felt comfortable and I could relax. In other words, try repeatedly moving your right hand from it’s previous position to the current one.

Observe and Orient:
Having just played the notes on the first and fifth strings, my i and m fingers continue to stop the second and third strings.

Decide:
On the and of beat 1, i will play the open third string.

Act:
Play the open third string with i, noting that m and p float but will soon engage on the next beat unit.

Observe and Orient:
Every right-hand finger floats, except m, which remains resting on the second string.

Decide:

• a plays the first string
• p stops the sixth string

Act:
Play the first string, simultaneously resting p on the sixth string. Once again, the i remains floating above the third string in anticipation of the next beat unit. This simultaneous act of stopping a string (p on the sixth string) and playing a not (a on the first string) will also feel new at first – another opportunity to repeatedly alternate the previous and current right-hand positions until you can relax.

Observe and Orient:
I have a strong anchor given both p and m are stopping the sixth and second, respectively. i and a float freely.

Decide: 
i will play the note on the third string.

Act:
Play the note on the third string with i. p and m maintain the strong foundation.

Observe and Orient:
Same strong foundation with p and m

Decide: 
a will play the first string

Act:
Play the first string with a

Observe and Orient: 
m and i float above first and third strings.

Decide:
Another change worthy of repetition:

• p will stay anchored
• m plays the second string
• a moves to stop the first string

Act:
Look to relax i, which remains floating, as m and a alternate their role, playing the second string and stopping the first.

Conclusion
This verbosity may sound like a lot, but developing a process to practicing thesemeasures incrementally was a gateway for me to relaxing my right-hand into string-stopping. I hope you’ll try this process as you absorb these pieces. Hopefully it’s clear to the reader that these transcriptions are rich with information, both written and implied. Meeting the material with the kind of attention spelled out here can help tease out the nuance; repetition can bring the nuance into your muscle memory.