GfS, I'm not humbled because of that, it's the thought of what I could have done (been) if I had started early and could play as well as she does at that age. Most guitar virtuosi get stated at a very early age:   Segovia, John Williams, Julian Bream, Pepe Romero, when they were around six or so. I began learning a few chords at the age of 22, then started taking classic lessons a couple years later. To have all those technical problems out of the way by the time one achieves a measure of maturity and begins playing music instead of just playing notes. . . .

She bobbled a bit here and there, her tremolo tended to "gallop" a little in places, and she played it a bit too fast toward the end where one should ease off and get lyrical, but when she develops some emotional maturity and can "feel" it, she'll have not much in the way of technical problems (all solved), and playing it should be like a stroll through the park for her.

What really blew my mind was that this piece has some nasty reaches in it, and with those itty-bitty hands of hers, she was making them. The final chord is a bar on the second fret with the pinky playing an A on the 6th string 5th fret and the 3rd finger playing a C# on the 5th string 4th fret, the first finger on the 2nd fret holding down an E and an A on the 4th and 3rd strings respectively. Right hand plays just those four notes—final closed position A major chord.

My problems are the opposite of hers at this stage. I have the musical and emotional maturity, but all too often, I don't have the technical proficiency to bring a piece off the way I feel it should be.

In the early 1960s I had the privilege of meeting the late French guitarist, Ida Presti, and her husband, Alexandre Lagoya, at a reception after a concert in Seattle. She was considered to be the world's greatest woman guitarist at the time (perhaps challenged recently by Sharon Isbin), and she started playing at the age of six. Gave her first public recital at the age of eight, and her first concert, in Paris, at the age of ten, causing a considerable stir in the press.

Her reach was legendary, and someone once challenged her to see how many E's she could get under her left hand.

Pretty impressive!

She was a small woman with small hands. My hands are much bigger than hers and I can't make that reach!

Her ghost continues to play on MySpace.

Don Firth