Ask Brendan is a monthly column where Guitar Educator, Brendan Burns, answers questions about music and the pursuit of Understanding and Mastering the guitar.

Over The Rainbow- Solo Guitar

October 03

Q: Last month you showcased an easy Solo Guitar arrangement for “Amazing Grace.” Do you have any other Solo Guitar arrangements that would be appropriate for an intermediate to advanced player?

B: I use an arrangement of “Over The Rainbow” with private students and group classes to work through some Solo Guitar techniques. It’s a simple arrangement used to get your fingers on the guitar and play something familiar and nice.

Assets: The arrangement is two pages long and can be downloaded as a PDF here:
Page 1
Page 2

I have an MP3 on the Solo Guitar page that uses most of these elements in the recording.

Arranging Notes:

The first “A” section is mostly just Root and Melody, followed by a second “A” section with full harmony. This is a great way to play the same melody twice without boring the listener.

The “B” section uses two bars of harmonic and rhythmic intensity followed by two bars of half notes with little harmony. The first two bars of the second half of the “B” section build the intensity again with denser chords and then uses ascending half notes with moving harmony to build the piece to one of it’s highest peaks and tension.

The third “A” resolves the previous section with harmonics. Harmonics help keep the melody in the same range as the last phrase and give the piece a chance to slow down; signaling it’s end.

This arrangement concludes with a simple lick over a C chord and ends on a C harmonic.

Harmonics:
The harmonics in the last “A” section are Open String Harmonics and are achieved by plucking the string while lightly touching (without fretting) the string at the given fret.
The harmonic at the end of the piece is achieved by fretting the 5th fret with your left hand and lightly touching the string on the 17th fret (one octave higher). An additional finger or pick is needed to pluck the string behind the harmonic to produce a tone.