Jumpin Jim/John King Classial book a few questions

I just recently picked up this book and was excited to learn some new finger picking a bit more advanced than the simple stuff I have downloaded off the internet..
SO here's a few questions:

On the second page on measure 15 you are to play a harmonic on the 19th fret, two problems I have I am playing a concert most of the time, any suggestions on how to play that on my concert? A substitution maybe? I am so slow to hit that note it takes me forever..

On page 40 I am having trouble fingering where I have tried barring the 7th fret or individual fingering in which I am getting tripped up because of the fingering.. any suggestions to make it easier. Perhaps I should look on you tube for a video..

On page 42 in Menuett in the 3rd and 5th measure there are little symbol, my boys guitar teacher says it is like a trill or something. There is no explanation in the section where the show other symbols. There is also two very small number next to the bigger one, in a triangle type shape. If you have to book you may be able to look.. I think I will try to snap a photo and put it in the next post.

Thanks to anyone that can help out with these..

For Fur Elise, I believe you do a partial barre with your index finger barring the first and second string, middle finger on the 4th string will move from 8th to 7th fret, ring finger on 2nd string 8th fret.

Sorry I can't help with the others....I'm not Good enough to attempt those yet.

For a 19th fret harmonic, you stop the string (fret it) at the 7th fret, then touch your index finger lightly to where the 19th fret WOULD be, then pluck with your thumb. This is an artificial harmonic, and is a way to get notes above the range of your fretboard. If that doesn't make sense, I'm sure there are lots of YouTube tutorials. They're one of those things which, once you work out, are pretty easy, cos the right hand technique, the tricky bit, never really changes.

Don't have my copy of the John King Classical with me, so can't help with the others at the moment. Sorry.

I personally find the triplets in Chopsticks the hardest part of the whole book. Really hard to get them smooth at tempo.

Hi, measure 15 - instead of holding down 12 on 2nd string and doing the harmonic deftly described by pulelehua you could hold down fret 7 on 1st string then strike the natural harmonic on open 2nd string at fret 5 to get the same notes in a more acceptable position. Having said that if I do the 12 - 19 thing on my concert it sounds better to me as the harmonic seems to ring better.

On Menuett they are indeed trills although slightly unconventional as they involve 2 strings. They work very well with the tune, it is a very rapid action, on a guitar usually just a hammer on / pull off on the next or 2nd fret up on the same string so you get 3 notes within the same 'space' as one note, ugh does that make sense?? I have the Menuette for classical guitar and it doesn't seem to have trills but maybe John is making up for the absence of ringing bass notes and the trills do fill out the tune.

The book is pretty hard in places (most places!) but is hugely worthwhile. I find that struggling over some of the tunes seems quite fruitless at the time but then I find tunes in other books are suddenly a lot easier so it is a great tool for progress. There is another book in a similar style that I thoroughly recommend, 20 Spanish Baroque Pieces by Gaspar Sanz - arranged for Uke by Rob MacKillop. This book has the same campanella ideals and the tunes just seem more intuitive than the King book, plus some really excellent pieces including the famous Canarios which is an awsome arrangement and worth the price on its own.

fitncrafty said:

On page 42 in Menuett in the 3rd and 5th measure there are little symbol, my boys guitar teacher says it is like a trill or something. There is no explanation in the section where the show other symbols. There is also two very small number next to the bigger one, in a triangle type shape.

Click to expand...

That symbol is a mordent. The two smaller numbers are played very quickly and basically "steal" their time from the eighth note to which they are attached.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordent

itsme said:

That symbol is a mordent. The two smaller numbers are played very quickly and basically "steal" their time from the eighth note to which they are attached.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordent

Click to expand...

Thanks everyone..I appreciate your comments. With your help I was able to figure out what I need to do. The mordant is very slow but will come along.. what a challenging book. I need to push through some of it and not give up.