Leonardo Bravo : Gato : DOz

Leonardo Bravo

Les Productions D’Oz: 3 pages

This folk styled piece by Argentinean guitarist Leonardo Bravo is a short but fun piece that has the time signature of 3/4 6/8, so it becomes immediately obvious that the Latin styled music is full of a mixture of the two time signatures , often in the same bar. It is also an Allegro of 160 crotchets a minute so it does really go right from the outset.

At only 48 bars (with a complete repeat) it moves smartly but doesn’t stay around for any length of time, but it is lots of fun. The opening has low 6^TH string crotchets against a jumpy melody set in 6/8, and in the key of E Major. The fingering is carefully notated so that you can’t misunderstand the writer’s intentions and many times you find yourself climbing up and down the fingerboard with arpeggiated Latin/Jazz chords, often in arpeggio fashion. Moreover you do move in and out of various keys momentarily with the rhythms constantly changing so that you do have to keep concentrating

At the climax you return back to E Major for a first time ending on the low E string to connect you back to the repeat that goes back to the start for one more play through the entire piece. In spite of that it is still all over in 2 – 3 minutes, but is very clever, lots of fun and would be fine for an intermediate player, and moreover, a great encore piece for a concert player!

Chris Dumigan