Set Transcription Project Finished!

Finally! It took nine weeks to transcribe my 69 piece set into Encore. With three versions for each piece - urtext, fingerings, and position indicators - that came to a total of 207 Encore files, weighing in at 4.4 MB. Nobody could have entered that much music into any other notation program so fast, except for Sibelius perhaps. No way any Finale user could have kept up with me, because there are just a lot more steps to do most tasks in Finale.

The biggest positive surprise was how much easier Steve Howe's Mood for a Day is than I thought it would be, and the biggest negative surprise was how ridiculously difficult my Jethro Tull-ized Bouree is in the drop-D tuning. As a result, I'm going to have to put it in E minor - the same key as Bach's original, of course - and figure out how to work it back into position in the set. And that, my friends, is why there aren't 70 pieces as I expected.

So, here's my set, which is v4.0 since I started rebuilding and reorganizing it just over five years ago (The pieces without attribution are my originals):

I] A Minor Suite:

01] Figuration Prelude No. 1 in A minor
02] E-Axis Study No. 2 in A minor
03] Sarabande in A minor, 3rd Lute Suite - J.S. Bach
04] Sonatina in A Minor
05] Gavotte II in A minor, 3rd Lute Suite - J.S. Bach
06] Irreducible Fugue No. 1
07] Desert Song - Eric johnson
08] Irreducible Fugue No. 2
09] Classical Gas - Mason Williams

II] C Major Suite:

10] Figuration Prelude No. 2 in C major
11] E-Axis Study No. 3 in C major
12] Bourree II in C major, 4th Cello Suite - J.S. Bach
13] Alegretto in C Major
14] Ode to Joy - L. van Beethoven
15] G-Axis Study No. 2 in C minor
16] Unchained Melody - Zaret/North
17] G-Axis Study No. 5 in C major
18] Dust in the Wind - Kansas

III] E Minor Suite:

19] Figuration Prelude No. 3 in E minor
20] E-Axis Study No. 6 in E minor
21] Bourree in E minor, 1st Lute Suite - J.S. Bach
22] B-Axis Study No. 2 in E minor
23] Gymnopedie No. 1 - Eric Satie
24] G-Axis Study No. 4 in E minor
25] Spanish Fly - Eddie Van Halen

IV] E Major Suite:

26] Figuration Prelude No. 10 in E major
27] E-Axis Study No. 1 in E major
28] Caprice - Rodolphe Kreutzer
29] B-Axis Study No. 5 in E major
30] The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Ennio Morricone

V] G Major Suite:

31] Figuration Prelude No. 4 in G major
32] B-Axis Study No. 3 in G major
33] Minuet in G major, Anna Magdalena No. 4 - Chr. Petzold/Attr. Bach
34] G-Axis Study No. 6 in G minor
35] Jesu, Mein Freude - J.S. Bach
36] G-Axis Study No. 1 in G major
37] A Day at the Beach - Joe Satriani

VI] B Minor Suite:

38] Figuration Prelude No. 5 in B minor
39] B-Axis Study No. 6 in B minor
40] Menuetto in B Minor
41] Figuration Prelude No. 12 in B major
42] B-Axis Study No. 1 in B major
43] Menuetto in B major
44] Minuet in B minor, Anna Magdalena No. 15 - J.S. Bach
45] Sonata Zero III: Scherzo
46] Suicide is Painless/M*A*S*H Theme - Johnny Mandel

VII] D Major Suite (Drop D Tuning):

47] Figuration Prelude No. 6 in D major
48] Bianco Fiore - Cesare Negri
49] Figuration Prelude No. 23 in D minor
50] Bourree II in D minor, 3rd Cello Suite - J.S. Bach
51] Eu So Quero Um Xodo - Dominguinhos

VIII] F-sharp Minor Suite:

52] Figuration Prelude No. 7 in F-sharp minor
53] Figuration Prelude No. 9 in C-sharp minor
54] Figuration Prelude No. 11 in G-sharp minor
55] G-Axis Study No. 3 in E-flat major
56] B-Axis Study No. 4 in G-sharp minor
57] E-Axis Study No. 4 in C-sharp minor
58] Mood for a Day - Steve Howe

IX] A Major Suite:

59] Figuration Prelude No. 8 in A major
60] E-Axis Study No. 5 in A major
61] Guardame Las Vacas - Luys de Narvaez
62] Trajectorial Variations in A Minor
63] Etude VI - Leo Brouwer
64] Irreducible Fugue No. 3
65] Yankee Doodle Dixie - Chet Atkins
66] Irreducible Fugue No. 4
67] Heavy Nylon

X] Finale/Extras

68] Stairway to Heaven - Jimmy Page
69] Tears in the Rain - Joe Satriani

This is by far the largest, most difficult, and least fun musical project I've ever done. It was nine weeks of 24/7 mind-numbing drudgery, but now that it's over, I'll be able to start a much more high tech practice routine that adds visual memory reenforcement and practicing along with the MIDI files instead of just a metronome. Since MIDI files can be sped up or slowed down in any increment without affecting the pitch, this will completely replace my metronome slow practice routine with a similar method that adds aural feedback so that I can really hear if I'm executing the rhythms with computer-like precision. Of course, I'll can put a metronome over the MIDI file too, so the metronome won't really go away, it's just that the notes will be added to it. I'm very excited about this idea. I think it's one of the best ideas I've ever had for guitar practice, and I intend to expand this to scale practice too after I get the set back under my fingers.

First thing I did when I finished was to upload the files to the shared HD attached to my Airport Extreme and populate them to all four of my computers, and all of my external HD's including my Video iPod: I have seven copies, and am going to put an eighth on my iDisk. I spent about 200 hours on this project, so I really, really don't want to lose it!

From now on, when I add a piece to my set, I'll just do the three Encore versions, and add them to the Set Folder.

I now know what torture victims mean when they say, "it feels so good when it stops."

You may not hear from me for a few days. I bought a killer bottle of fine tequila to celebrate, and I'm not going to stop celebrating until it's gone.