A couple of weeks ago, I gave you a short, 30-minute guitar workout designed for

guitarists whose practice time is limited.

The positive response I received prompted me to create an additional lesson, which, in
combination with my original workout, will give you a good hour of intensive practice.
For this lesson, I have selected a classical piece for you to learn: Paganini's 16th Caprice
in G minor. Learning classical pieces is a great way to improve your technique and
theory. It's also more beneficial to practice something musical, rather than just working
on exercises. Use my 30-minute workout as a warmup and then spend an additional 30
minutes to an hour working on this piece.
It's very challenging and features a good selection of arpeggios, wide intervals,
chromatic runs, string skipping and sequences. It's very rewarding to learn and play in
its entirety. Because of its length, I have the divided the piece into three parts.
Your first task will be to memorize the notes, which in itself is a big challenge. I would
suggest taking it one bar at a time, memorizing the notes and working out the fingering.
Then attempt to perform the bar in full. Start at the beginning with bar 1, and add a new
bar every day. Once the notes are memorized, you can begin to work with a metronome
and build speed.
Start at 80 bpm playing 8th notes and increase the metronome by 10 bpm after each
successful performance. When you reach 120 bpm, go back to 60 bpm and play the
piece as 16th notes. From there, take it as fast you can.
It's meant to be at a tempo of 165 bpm, which is incredibly fast for a piece so complex. I
can only get to around 120 bpm before it becomes too challenging. For this lesson, I
have recorded myself performing the piece in full at the comfortable tempo of 100 bpm.
Use this as a reference for yourself when learning. I have also marked in the
Soundcloud link where each of the three parts begins to help you navigate.

The first part begins with several arpeggios which you will need to play using sweep
picking (bars 1 to 6). Everything else should be played with alternate picking. There's a
tricky string skipping section at bar 7, which you can either play with your second
finger or entirely with the pick. After bar 8, it repeats from the beginning. From bars 9
to 14, you have more arpeggios and string-skipping, but this time you will not need to
sweep the arpeggios. Bar 14 ends with a long A# major arpeggio over three octaves.
http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-paganinis-16th-caprice-g-minor










The first part took you to bar 14 of the piece. This week, we will continue with the
second part.
After receiving a few questions from readers concerning Part 1, I wanted to quickly
address an important issue. I forgot to tell you that in some circumstances, you might
find it easier to arrange some of the notes differently than what the tab states in certain
sections.
As long as you are playing the exact same notes, it is totally fine to rearrange the
positions on the fret board in order make it easier for you to play. The tab is just a
suggestion for where the notes should be played.
Now, let's look at the next part of the piece. Here is the 16th Caprice performed by me,
in its entirety, at 100 bpm. Feel free to use it as a guide. Part 2 begins at 0:42 and ends
at 1:18. I've also put markers on the file to help you navigate.

Starting at the first bar (bar 15), we have some linear sequences that are a nice break
from the wide intervals and arpeggios from the previous part. At bar 18, there is a tricky
jump from low E to high E, but it shouldn't be too tricky with some practice. After this
section, we move back to an A# major arpeggio in bar 21 followed by some pedal point
sequences in bar 22.
This motif is mimicked in the next two bars with a C diminished arpeggio followed by
another pedal point sequence with some extremely wide intervals in bar 24. Use your
pinky to play the D note on the high E string and your first finger to play the descending
bass notes. This bar could be picked using a hybrid of the pick and fingers or entirely
with the pick.
Bars 25 and 26 have an interesting chromatic pedal point motif, which requires you
"skip strings" between the A and high E. The next three bars will challenge you with
some wide stretches. They contain ascending arpeggio sequences played in two note
groupings.
The tab suggests you should use legato hammer-ons for each group, but I prefer to pick
each note. This section can be difficult due to the wide stretches and amount of
notes/positions to remember for each bar. I use my first finger and pinky exclusively for
these sequences. As I said in Part 1, begin very slow and master each section at a slow
comfortable pace before increasing the tempo.
Following this section is a much-welcomed descending sequence at bar 30 using thirds
over much smaller intervals. Then we finish Part 2 with some descending chromatic
runs, which compared to previous sections, should be fairly easy to execute.
http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-paganinis-16th-caprice-g-minor-
part-2



In this third and final installment (Check out parts 1 and 2 below the photo of Niccolo
Paganini to the left), we will finish learning Paganini's 16th Caprice in G minor.
Note that just memorizing this piece is a challenge in itself. After doing so, you can
finally begin to build speed. You can accomplish this by playing the entire piece or
break it into smaller sections and work them up to speed individually. I prefer to play
the whole thing, start to finish, and increase the tempo gradually.
My max tempo is around 120 bpm, and I can comfortably perform the piece without
mistakes at 100 bpm. This can be heard in the Soundcloud stream below.
Part 3 three starts at Bar 35, or 1:18 on the audio reference (See below). This final part
contains themes we have seen before in the previous two parts. The first section starts
with wide intervals played with string skipping, followed by a D major arpeggio
ascending sequence (bar 36). This is then mirrored with a similar pattern played with a
G minor arpeggio (bar 38).
At bar 40, there are some relatively easy linear sequences with smaller intervals. If you
have a good alternate-picking technique, this shouldn't be too challenging. Toward the
end (bars 46 to 49), there is a repetitive chromatic sequence repeated over different
octaves, which isn't too difficult, except at the beginning of each bar; returning to the G
on the low E string will require some practice.
For me, the most challenging part of the piece is at the very end, at bar 50. This is a G
minor arpeggio played with a pedal tone root note on the low E string. The problem is
the extreme distances you have to jump between. As you descend the arpeggio, you
have to return to the root, which will take a lot of practice and precision. Although I can
just about play this at 120 bpm, I believe it's physically impossible to play at the piece's
actual tempo of 165 bpm.
There are a few alternatives I can suggest. You could play the root note an octave higher
on the open G string, which would make this sequence much more manageable.
Alternatively, you could tap this section with your picking hand tapping the root note on
the low E string and hammering with your fretting hand to play the arpeggio sequence.
You should experiment to see which works for you.

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-paganinis-16th-caprice-g-minor-
part-3


After the positive response to my previous series, "Learning Paganini's 16th Caprice
(Parts 1 to 3)," I thought it would be fun to teach you another classical piece.
I spent some time looking for something suitable and decided on Mozart's Symphony
No. 25 in G Minor.
Unlike my previous series of lessons (where I already knew how to play the piece), I'll
be learning the piece with you, section by section. I almost prefer this piece over the
Paganini simply because it's a lot easier technique-wise and much easier to play at the
correct tempo.
So let's begin!
For this first section, there's nothing too tricky technique-wise and we won't learn too
much. The piece begins with a very dark-sounding theme based around the harmonic
minor scale.
Although it's very simple, it raises an issue we're likely to encounter while learning this
piece. Unlike Paganini, this is meant to played with multiple instruments, which, at
times, might be difficult to replicate on a single guitar. The introduction should be
played using a hybrid picking technique; use your second finger to play the higher-
octave notes while the lower octave rings out underneath.
The next part is three arpeggios played with the same motif. Theory-wise it's relatively
simple beginning with G minor followed by A diminished and Bb major, which is I-II-
III chords within the key of G minor.
In terms of technique it's also very simple. You can either sweep or alternate pick the
arpeggios as they are not very fast. Each shape has the same pattern, so once you've
mastered the first arpeggio the rest are very easy. Following the arpeggios, there is a
short descending linear scale pattern which probably is the toughest part as you need to
have a fairly good alternate picking technique to execute accurately.
Once you've memorized each part of this first section, you should attempt to play it
through at a slow tempo. I would suggest 100 bpm to begin with but start at
whatever tempo you feel comfortable with. Once you've mastered the section at this
tempo, increase by 10 bpm and repeat this process until you reach the target speed of
160 bpm.
In the video below, I'm demonstrating the first section. I hope this helps!

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-1

Welcome to Part 2 of "Learning Mozart's 25th Symphony in G Minor" (Check out Part
1 here).
Hopefully, the first part didn't cause too much trouble.
This new section highlights something I mentioned in the first lesson. It took some time
for me to arrange this for the guitar because there are many layers of violins playing
individual notes.
To play a single layer would result in a loss of dynamics and important harmony.
Therefore, I decided to combine as many of the parts as I could. I will admit I had to
move a few notes up or down an octave to make all the layers fit, but I am happy with
the results.
Just a reminder: The correct tempo of this piece is around 160 bpm, but feel free to take
it as fast as you want!
Part 2 has nothing particularly challenging in terms of speed, but some of the chord
shapes might be tricky. You'll need dexterity to change shape accurately at the correct
tempo. Part 2 starts with the same theme at the beginning of Part 1. In fact, every
section in Part 2 follows a theme based around the same notes (G - D - Eb - F#) but
played a different way each time.
The first time is similar to the beginning of Part 1, but this time we have a moving bass
line, usually played on a cello. When combined into a single arrangement for the guitar,
you create a pedal tone where the high voice pedal is the root note while the low bass
outlines an arpeggio. The main challenge of this section is skipping strings between the
high pedal tone and the moving bass.
As with everything, begin slow and gradually increase the speed. I prefer to play this
section entirely with a pick, but you might find it easier to pick the low notes and use
your picking-hand second finger to play the high notes.
Following this, you repeat the same theme but played with thirds. This is pretty simple,
and for this section I would advise you to play everything with your pick and second
finger (hybrid picking). Everything in this section is played two notes at a time. I find
this technique sounds much better than playing both notes with a single pick stroke. If
this confuses you, watch the video I made to highlight this technique. For the wide
intervals at the beginning of each bar, you must use this technique regardless.
This section ends with a tricky alternation between two chords, which at the correct
speed (160 bpm), can be difficult. The key is to play each chord with the correct
fingering. You should treat this section like any other scale exercise and practice slowly
to a metronome.
Once you've mastered Part 2, try combining with Part 1 and playing both together.
Good luck!

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-2

Welcome to Part 3 of my series teaching you Mozart's 25th Symphony in G minor. For
parts 1 and 2, see RELATED CONTENT to the left, directly under my photo.
We're starting to get pretty far into the piece. After this new section, you'll have about
one and a half minutes of material when performed at the correct tempo of 160 bpm.
This new section is great for beginners since there's nothing too challenging, technique-
wise. The majority of this section is straight quarter notes, which, even at 160 bpm, is
easy. The only challenge is memorizing all of the arpeggio shapes, which also is a great
exercise, particularly for beginners.
Due to the simplicity of this section, I've decided to play this entirely using a "volume
swell" technique, which is totally optional but a lot of fun! I've seen many guitarists
using this technique, such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Jeff Beck and Gary Moore. It almost
mimics the sound of a violin if done correctly.
I've made a video demonstrating this technique, but the basic idea is that you use your
volume control to hide the sound of the pick attack when playing single notes. You pick
the note with your volume rolled fully down and then roll the volume up right after so
you just hear the sustain of the note. I play every note in this section with this technique
except the pull-offs in bars 3, 4, 7 and 8.
You can really only do this technique on guitars where the volume control is close to
the strings, such as a Stratocaster. For guitars like Les Pauls, it's difficult to execute as
the volume control is too far to reach with your picking hand.
This section focuses on the relative major key of G minor, which is Bb major. It begins
with playing Bb notes octaves apart each sustained for an entire bar. Following this, you
have a pull-off, which should be played with your pinky, second to first finger. This
entire phrase is repeated and followed by arpeggios outlining a simple chord
progression (Bb Maj - Eb Maj - A Dim - D Maj - G Min - C Maj).
Memorize each arpeggio shape and then play the entire progression slowly to a
metronome. If you are using the volume swell technique, make sure your swells are in
time with the click and each note is clear and articulate. The section ends with the
following descending progression: F 7 - Bb Maj - Bb Min - Bb Dim, followed by a
chromatic/octave phrase at the end.
So far, this is my favorite section of the piece. I think it is great for beginners who are
new to learning classical pieces and are unfamiliar with playing arpeggios outside of the
open position. Once you've learned this section, try performing parts 1, 2 and 3 and see
if you can do so at the correct tempo without making mistakes. That's a pretty good
challenge, even for advanced payers.
I'm going to take a break from this series for a couple of weeks, but don't worry I
will come back and continue during the second half of December. Next week I will
show you a "quick lick" for hard rock and metal players; the following week I will be
doing a writeup for an event I'm performing at with one of my biggest guitar influences,
Jake E. Lee!

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-3


Welcome back to "Learning Mozart's 25th Symphony in G Minor!"

I have a few changes I'd like to suggest that I think will improve what we've already
learned. As I said in the first lesson, I'm learning this piece section by section, so as we
progress I might go back to previous parts with new ideas and suggestions.
Firstly, I think performing the piece unaccompanied sounds OK but lacks some crucial
dynamics from playing the piece as part of an ensemble. For this reason, I've made a
simple backing track that provides important counterparts, particularly from the
bass/cello, which I feel greatly improves the experience of playing the piece. I've given
you this backing track below. Use it to practice!
Note that it's for the entire piece a lot of which we still have to learn. For now, just
play along for as much you have learned. With each new lesson, you will progress
further and further etc.
I'd also suggest that the arpeggios from Part 3 could be played with 16th-note tremolo
picking instead of the violin "volume swell" technique I originally suggested. The video
below demonstrates this, as well the new section we're about to learn.
Part 4 continues to focus on the relative major key of G minor, which is Bb major.
Having said that, I've arranged most of this section to fit directly into shape 1 of G
natural minor. For beginner guitarists, this is a good way to visualize how two different
scales, in our case G minor and Bb major, can share the same notes.
The melody is not a challenge except for the ascending 16th-note scales in bars 16 and
17. These require a fairly good alternate-picking technique and should be practiced very
slowly to ensure accuracy when playing them at the full tempo of 160 bpm.
The section ends with alternating Bb major and F major arpeggios, which could be
played as single notes or 16th-note tremolo picking.

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-4


Welcome back to "Learning Mozart's 25th Symphony in G Minor!"
In case you've missed them, here are parts 1 through 4;
In this lesson, we're going to continue learning Mozart's 25th Symphony in G minor. So
far, we haven't encountered anything too difficult technique-wise.
That is until now!
We have learned a large portion of the piece, and for this new lesson I'm going to set
you a rather difficult challenge. At this point in the piece, we are meant to repeat in full
everything we have learned so far. I thought it would make a fun challenge if we played
everything one octave up for this repeat.
To explain further, if you look at the backing track, parts 1 to 4 go from 0:00 to 2:04.
You will then play parts 1 to 4 again one octave higher from 2:04 to 4:07. This is the
challenge for Part 5.
You're going to have to transpose everything from the previous parts, and you might
have to make slight changes to the arrangement of the notes.
Having played through everything a few times in the upper octave, I would suggest a
few very slight alterations we will have to make to to previous parts. You may like to
make additional changes you feel necessary, but these are just a few I felt I needed to
make.
The bass notes during the theme at the beginning of Part 2 could be omitted and played
like the theme in Part 1.
In Part 2 the final alternating chords should be played on just the high E and B strings.
By omitting the D string, these chords are much easier to play in such a high position on
the neck.
In Part 3 the F7 arpeggio begins with an Eb, which is played on the 23rd fret on the high
E. If your guitar has only 22 frets (like mine), you should bend up a half step from the D
note on the 22nd fret.
Good luck with this challenge. To play everything correctly from start to finish should
be considered a big accomplishment even for advanced players!
http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-5






Welcome to part 6 of "Learning Mozart's 25th Symphony in G Minor."
We're getting close to finishing this piece, which might sound surprising considering
we've learned only four minutes out of the full 10-minute piece. But don't worry,
because there's going to be a lot of repetition between now and the end.
The previous section, part 5, was a full repetition of parts 1 to 4 (See RELATED
CONTENT under my photo to see parts 1 to 5).
Part 6 begins with a continuation of the final melodic line from part 5. For this reason,
I've decided to include this at the beginning of the tab. Please note, however, that you
shouldn't play this first line twice; I've included it in the tab for part 6 so you can see
how it relates to what comes after.
This section is fairly straightforward, and there's nothing particularly challenging
technique-wise until bar 29, where you alternate between single-note chromatic lines
and chromatic third intervals. Although these are only played as 8th notes, they require
a very accurate technique to play properly. I prefer to use alternate picking for the single
notes and only down-strokes for the thirds.
There's really nothing else to say about this section. The main challenge at this point in
the piece in remembering all of the notes of this and the previous parts. Once you've
mastered this section, practice it to the backing track provided, then try to perform the
entire piece (parts 1 to 6).

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-6



Today we are going to learn Part 7 of Mozart's 25th Symphony in G Minor.
It's been a while since we started learning the piece, but we're getting very close to the
end. To catch up on all the other parts of this lesson, look under RELATED CONTENT
directly below my photo to the left.
You might remember me saying I was learning this piece with you, section by section.
For that reason, it was difficult for me to predict how many lessons would be needed to
cover the entire piece. I can now tell you that after this lesson, we'll need two more
lessons to finish up.
Part 7 is very interesting because it relates very closely to Part 3. This new section
follows the same themes within Part 3, but in a different relative key. Part 3 was based
around Bb major, which is the relative major scale of G minor. Part 7, however, features
the same themes but played in G minor and, in some sections, G harmonic minor.
We begin in bars 1 to 8 with an octave theme followed by a harmonic minor line that
mirrors Part 3 exactly. This isn't technically challenging, but you might like to
experiment with different styles of vibrato for the sustained octave notes.
As in Part 3, we now play a series of arpeggios outlining the following chord
progression: G minor / C minor / F major / Bb major / Eb major / A diminished. These
can be played in several different ways. I demonstrated for you in Part 3 the volume
swell technique and also 16th-note tremolo picking. You might also like to play around
with triplets or even double-picked 8th notes to see which you prefer. In the example, I
play 16th-note tremolo picking, which isn't too difficult as long as you have a good
alternate-picking technique.
To finish we play a sequence of descending arpeggios, which, for me, are the most
challenging part of this section as you need to begin every arpeggio from the high E
string. This can be difficult as you finish each arpeggios on the A or low E and then
need to skip back to high E without interruption.
As with anything technically challenging on the guitar, start off slow to a metronome
and gradually increase the tempo. Good luck and see you next week with Part 8!

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-7





Welcome to the penultimate lesson on learning Mozart's 25th symphony in G minor!
We are very close to the end, and for everyone who has followed me with this series
I hope you've found it useful. For this lesson, much like with Part 7, we're going to
play something that follows a previous section (in this case, from Part 4) but within a
different relative key.
Part 8 takes the same themes from Part 4 (which is based in Bb major) but arranges the
notes within the much more dramatic sounding scale of G harmonic minor.
The melodies and movement within the scale are identical but begin on a different root
note. It's quite interesting to see how by changing your root within the same scale (in
this case G minor) you can create a completely feel or emotion. This is the principle
behind modes and is clearly demonstrated in the difference between Part 4 and Part 8.
(BTW: You can find parts 1 through 7 under RELATED CONTENT right below my
photo.)
This section is mostly 8th and quarter notes, which makes very easy technically except
for two bars with 16th-note phrases. By now, we have seen similar sections in previous
parts so these should not pose too much trouble for you.
As an additional challenge, I have arranged the majority of the melodies on the high E
string. This will help develop your skills playing on a single string and also help
visualize a minor scale along a single string instead of the standard "three note per
string" shapes.

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-
minor-part-8


Welcome to the final part of learning Mozart's 25th symphony in G minor!
It has taken nine lessons, but we've finally reached the end of the piece.
For everyone who has followed me throughout this series, I hope you found it
rewarding and challenging. Hopefully this piece has helped you improve as a player in
terms of technique and theory.
When I began learning the piece, I was looking for something easier technique-wise
than my previous Paganini series. I feel this piece is a lot more accessible for beginner
to intermediate players and is a really good introduction to classical music for
rock/metal guitarists.
After Part 8, there's a lot of repetition of previous parts before we get to the new
material I will show you in this lesson. If we look at the Soundcloud guide track below,
Part 8 finishes at 7:01; following this, you should play Part 6 in full, which brings you
to 7:55.
At this point, you should play the following sequence: Part 1, Part 2, Part 7 and Part 8.
That sequence will finish at 9:58, where Part 9 begins.
The finale starts with the same octave theme seen at the very beginning of the piece.
However, this time it expands and develops the melody within the G harmonic minor
scale. I decided to play every note in this section as an octave with a hybrid picking
technique. I use my pick to play the low octave and the third finger on my picking hand
to play the high octave. You will need to practice this technique cleanly to achieve a
consistent sound throughout the whole melody section.
Following this, we now play a quick 16th-note repetitive pattern from the first three
notes of the G minor scale. This pattern is repeated for three whole bars, which will
require an accurate alternate-picking technique. To make it slightly more challenging, I
also play the same pattern up an octave during the second bar. To change position
between octaves while maintaining consistent 16th note alternate picking will be a good
challenge. Practice this very slowly and gradually increase the speed.
Once you've learned this final part, all I have left to say is congratulations! This piece is
over 10 minutes long and being able to play the whole thing is a tremendous
achievement. Well done!

http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-learning-mozarts-symphony-no-25-g-minor-
part-9