I have been looking for a new jacket for a while, and to celebrate finding one that suits me to the ground, I decided to video it. It was also a damn good excuse to play some Carcassi on classical ukulele. This piece is taken from my book 'Classical Uke' so if you would like to play it, go to my book page and you can purchase it. Carcassi wrote so much for the guitar....some of it very easy some of it complex. I am currently playing one of his Allegro Brilliante pieces and it is rather tricky.

This piece is not too bad to be honest. The little Arpeggio runs need to be nice and smooth and the timing is slightly unusual but it should not give to many troubles. When i am teaching Ukulele or guitar this piece usually takes students a couple of weeks to get and it does not always stick. Carcassi for me is amazing, but slightly overshadowed by the likes of Tarrega. Being around at a similar time to Tarrega )Tarrega was born one year after Carcassi died) would have been a mixed blessing I guess. You got to see one of the best composers the world has ever seen, but at the same time, he would always overshadow you. I am sure Carcassi influenced Tarrega, but for me Carcassi's rough edges were smoothed out by the superior Tarrega. I have only ever written a handful of classical pieces (which incidentally are available on my album Me,My Ukulele and I) so the chances of me going down in history are slim but it does help me appreciate these masters. I play a lot of Bach on guitar and ukulele and I can honestly say I have no idea

how he composed the pieces he did. Some classical pieces you listen to, you can understand and almost imagine writing them - but Bach, man oh man he was on a different planet. From a guitarists point of view, i really do not believe he played the guitar or wrote on it - if he did he was some sort of sadist who just wanted to put other guitar players through pain ! Anyway, I hope you enjoy both the new jacket, and a bit of Carcassi on the ukulele.