Mission. Impossible.

In the last issue, you learned "Chopsticks". The idea was to keep your right-hand busy, while you learned to use your left. Did it help? In this second of a four part series, I'm going to teach you the theme to "Mission Impossible".

Your mission, Jim (or whomever), should you decide to accept it, is to learn a new tune in 7/8 time. Your objective is to play brief phrases with your right-hand, while your left-hand keeps a groove. You will need to download these files:

StaffTab: mi_theme.pdf
Audio: mi_theme.mp3

Good luck. This message will.. blah, blah, blah.

Okay, measure one starts with a right-hand trill. The idea is to tap and hold the first note with your index finger, while the second finger hammers-on and pulls-off several times.

In measures 2 & 3, you are introduced to the bass line. Get comfortable with the fingering, as you will be playing this a lot. You want to be able to play this line with your eyes closed, because you'll need your eyes to watch your right-hand work.

The magic begins at measure 8. The trick is to play three RH notes, before you tap the second LH note. There are several things to pay attention to. First, don't change your LH rhythm to accommodate your RH efforts - just slow the tempo until you get it. Second, look at the RH notes and see where they lay on the Touchboard. You should be able to recognize a shape/pattern. Also, look ahead to measures 7 & 8 and compare the RH patterns to that in measure 6. Finally, watch your fingering or you will get all tangled up.

You need to shift hand position for measures 12-15. The notes (patterns) are different, but all the same ideas apply here as they did for measures 6-9. In measure 15, slide your finger from one note to the next, as indicated with the arrow.

We have a revised bass line in measures 18-21. Spend some time navigating this new area and committing it to memory. Again, watch your fingering and once you have it down, you can add the RH. The RH needs to change position again. This time it returns to where it was before, but on different strings. The notes are different, but the patterns are exactly the same as in measures 6-9.

Measure 22 returns to the previous bass line and measures 24-27 are identical to measures 12-15. From measure 27, repeat the tune starting at measure 4. When you reach measure 26, jump ahead to measure 28.

Here, the bass line changes again and the tune ends with some partial chords.

Until next time - see ya.

Chris
www.ChrisCrain.com