Keep the comma in while playing the guitar or life and death depend on a comma

This story I hear from the day I remember myself. The story goes like this. There was this ruler that wanted to hang a man he captured.

He sent the man with guards and a note:

The man wife was a smart woman and once she saw the note she knew exactly what needs to be done to save her husband.

Do you know what she did? she added a comma:

This story points the importance of putting the comma in the right place. This little break can change the whole meaning of the sentences and change the whole idea of the story.

The same goes in the song. When I started to play, the pauses were this annoying breaks that you need to count. Why I need to hold this break. I want to play. what you play is what the audience hear, right? wrong.

The audience hears the story you tell them. This story like the ruler note has a break, has a comma, an idea. Try to hear a song as a sentence and not as one piece.

When you play the song you need to be aware of those phrases. Like raising the voice in the question. You play with the dynamics, volume, and with the tempo, speed, you make the best effect.

Lets look at the Carcasssi etude #7

This is one phrase, To the point that the author put the double bar at the end. So, that the player can play it. More so, the composer wrote a quarter rest. The quarter rest is meant to emphasize the end of the phrase.

The performer needs to understand this point, and make a slower tempo and finish the phrase.

This is the last bar of the phrase in a different notation. In here the author even put a “poco ritenuto” to mention it.

This is an intro part to Westworld theme. Arranged and edited by Nicolás Osuna.

If we look at this, the author didn’t write where the comma needs to be. We can understand where it needs to be according to the melody. We know the melody starts at bar 10. So, normally we can make a small comma there. If we pay attention we will see that the author did put some clue there, the clue is the long B note. This is for you. Take a breath before you continue, relax.

Thanks to Nicolás Osuna for arranging and transcribing Westworld, Main title theme, you can find the complete music score:

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