"Eric's Duet" - guitar duo with string quartet

[Will McNicol]

Hi folks, this is my first thread post here on ‘Show and Tell’, so firstly - hello! I’ve been made aware of the occasional thread here of people who have shared their renditions of my tunes, and have always been impressed by the lovely, supportive atmosphere. I’ve just completed something of a unique project which I felt some of you may find interesting. So - here we go!

I was commissioned by a student to create this piece, Eric’s Duet - a guitar duo based on original material by the client and his old tutor, the late great Eric Roche. We then collaborated with the wonderful string quartet, Innotet, with whom I’ve worked extensively for the past few years. You can listen to the end result below, but I also thought it might be fun to do something of a mini “composition build thread” should any of you be interested in the development, and how we landed with the finished result.



This project started with my student sending me 15-year-old sketch recordings of both him and Eric improvising around some of the ideas that would become the final piece. They were wonderful recordings - full of ideas and atmosphere - but the overwhelming vibe was it was simply two friends having fun playing guitar together. The other thing that was extremely helpful was the imagery associated with the music - that of a waltz in a ballet, with the dancers interacting with one another being a key element to try and include. Perfect imagery for a guitar duet really!


My first task was to transcribe those initial ideas, and begin playing with the structure. We started with the Guitar One part (top left in the video). This was the part the client was playing in the old recordings, and was the foundation for Eric’s wonderful harmonies. Getting that developed first would give something of a road-map for the composition as a whole. The process involved me recording versions of how I felt the ideas could be strung together and developed into a coherent piece, sending these to my student for feedback, and tweaking over a few versions until we were both happy.



Once we were happy with that Guitar One part, we moved ahead with threading Eric’s Guitar Two part into the mix, with development and extensions here and there to get it working well with our final structure. A similar process ensued with me creating a couple of versions, transcribing and recording them for feedback, before settling on a definitive version. I also tried both steel and nylon strings for this Guitar Two part, just to hear how the two textures sat alongside one another. I’ve always loved the combination of nylon and steel, and that’s ultimately what we decided on. The steel string was provided by my Tom Sands Model S ‘Jupiter’ tuned to Open D, and the nylon by my Fylde Custom Classic in standard.



So, we had a guitar duet! And we were both very happy with how it had come together. But, we weren’t quite finished yet. My student was aware of my work with the Scottish string quartet, Innotet, and decided it would be a wonderful opportunity to expand things with a version featuring strings. It also seemed to work perfectly with the imagery of ballet dancers in a waltz. Of course I was thrilled as I love any excuse to work with those wonderful musicians! Innotet are: Violin I - Seonaid Aitken, Violin II & Arranger - Innes Watson, Viola - Patsy Reid and Cello - Alice Allen.

From left to right: Innes, Patsy, yours truly, Seonaid and Alice


First step was collaborating with Innes on the string quartet arrangement. The man’s a true magician when it comes to knowing how to get the most of a quartet. After a few tweaks between him and I, we had a final draft of the quartet arrangement. The arrangement took the themes from the guitars, developed them, and painted a beautiful texture in which the guitars could happily swim whilst providing moments for individual musicians to shine. My own thoughts when collaborating with Innotet have always been that the guitars should feel like part of the ensemble, with strings and guitars on an equal footing. We didn’t want the strings to simply be sitting in the background, particularly as the piece already exists as a pure guitar duet. So, as you listen you’ll note parts where the quartet rises to the fore, the guitars rise to the fore, specific musicians have their own moments - and of course a moment where we just have the guitars doing their thing.



So there we have it - a brief insight into the journey of something of a unique collaboration. It started life over 15 years ago as a wonderful jam between student and inspirational tutor and has ended up here as what you’ve just heard. I hope the final result managed to capture that ‘friends having fun playing music together’ vibe which was so apparent in the initial sketches whilst fulfilling the ballet imagery element. It’s been a wonderful project to work on, and I was very grateful for the opportunity. Despite the challenges lockdown presents, it’s lovely that this kind of thing can still happen. At some point I may be able to put up some of the sketch recordings and development recordings via my website so you can hear a bit more of the journey. But, for now - I hope you enjoy!

With all the very best, and many thanks,

Will

[fitness1]

Wow - that is so beautiful. String quartets are one of my favorite styles of music and this is just a wonderful story and execution.

Definitely like to hear more like this!!

Thanks for sharing!

[islandguitar]

Will, so beautiful as I move through the morning with my 2nd cup of coffee! Thank you!
I've been following some of your work recently and your playing and compositions are extraordinary. I'm so pleased you thought of providing us with this glimpse of the process behind the final product. The hard work and focus on a finished project has paid off handsomely!
I hope you'll share more of your artistry here on AGF!
Enjoy the day!
Fred

[Kenneth Belsham]

I was just on my way to watch this haha! Brilliant duet, lovely to see more Innotet work (how about some guitar duet stuff with Innes?), and a really touching tribute to Eric.

[Glennwillow]

Hi Will!

Welcome to the AGF! And thank you for this! Thank you for taking the time to provide so much background on this piece. The result is absolutely spectacular! What a wonderful collaboration with such excellent and sensitive musicians and what a wonderful tribute to Eric!

At a time when so much of the world is in all-out contention and so full of anger and meanness, you just about brought me to tears with the good will and sharing interwoven into this music and recording project.

This is wonderful!

- Glenn

[rule18]

Great piece, and well done! My wife is a pro cellist in a string quartet, she appreciated it as well.

[Will McNicol]

Originally Posted by fitness1

Wow - that is so beautiful. String quartets are one of my favorite styles of music and this is just a wonderful story and execution.

Definitely like to hear more like this!!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks very much - string quartets very much one of my favourite textures to play with as well. Definitely more in the pipeline!

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Will, so beautiful as I move through the morning with my 2nd cup of coffee! Thank you!
I've been following some of your work recently and your playing and compositions are extraordinary. I'm so pleased you thought of providing us with this glimpse of the process behind the final product. The hard work and focus on a finished project has paid off handsomely!
I hope you'll share more of your artistry here on AGF!
Enjoy the day!
Fred

Oh thanks Fred - and I'm glad it served as a good accompaniment to your coffee! Thanks too for your kind words and for following some of my other work - much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Hi Will!

Welcome to the AGF! And thank you for this! Thank you for taking the time to provide so much background on this piece. The result is absolutely spectacular! What a wonderful collaboration with such excellent and sensitive musicians and what a wonderful tribute to Eric!

At a time when so much of the world is in all-out contention and so full of anger and meanness, you just about brought me to tears with the good will and sharing interwoven into this music and recording project.

This is wonderful!

- Glenn

Hi Glenn - thanks for the warm welcome! My pleasure - I thought it may be of interest and I'm glad it was! So pleased you enjoyed it - and I certainly agree - music is the ultimate tonic.

Originally Posted by rule18

Great piece, and well done! My wife is a pro cellist in a string quartet, she appreciated it as well.

Thanks to both you and your wife for taking the time to listen! Cello is one of my favourite instruments. Whenever I've wanted to get a melody really tugging on the heart strings it goes straight to the cello!

Originally Posted by Kenneth Belsham

I was just on my way to watch this haha! Brilliant duet, lovely to see more Innotet work (how about some guitar duet stuff with Innes?), and a really touching tribute to Eric.

Thanks Kenneth - appreciate that. And funny you should say that about guitar duets with Innes - we were talking about that just the other day. So - watch this space! =)

[Organic Sounds Select Guitars]

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this, Will! And I very much enjoyed reading about the development. This kind of post and music is unusual here in the AGF, and very much appreciated. Thanks for sharing with us!

[Will McNicol]

Originally Posted by Organic Sounds Select Guitars

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this, Will! And I very much enjoyed reading about the development. This kind of post and music is unusual here in the AGF, and very much appreciated. Thanks for sharing with us!

Hi Larry, thanks for that - appreciate you taking the time to listen and read. Thanks as well for the kind words. W

[SprintBob]

I love the passion and craft work that goes into these collaborations. Well done Will, much appreciated you shared this with us.

[Will McNicol]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

I love the passion and craft work that goes into these collaborations. Well done Will, much appreciated you shared this with us.

Oh thanks very much Bob - that's much appreciated.

--

By way of update: it was lovely to see this commission get some press coverage in Scotland's Herald newspaper: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...ry-late-friend

Also, I've just released a new video of a further commission featuring Innotet - a rather upbeat and jaunty little tune named Lara Lives on Barges. You can check it below if you like =)



Thanks all!

W

[keith.rogers]

That was so cool! Thanks. Loved it.

[TomB'sox]

Very lovely, I would expect nothing else from you. I love your work with this quartet.

Will is an amazing player and a great person. He was scheduled to come and play for my guitar show last Spring until the plans were destroyed by we all know what. I just wanted to say, along with his musical talents comes a very good human being as well.

TomB'sox

[Will McNicol]

Originally Posted by keith.rogers

That was so cool! Thanks. Loved it.

Thanks for listening, Keith!

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Very lovely, I would expect nothing else from you. I love your work with this quartet.

Will is an amazing player and a great person. He was scheduled to come and play for my guitar show last Spring until the plans were destroyed by we all know what. I just wanted to say, along with his musical talents comes a very good human being as well.

TomB'sox

Ah, that's much appreciated, Tom - thank you. I do hope we'll be able to meet and have a jam before too long! All the very best to you and Kathy.

[Andy Howell]

Fabulous. I really enjoyed that Will.