Intro:
You are about to learn one of the top-notch licks in the classical repertoire.  That’s a subjective statement, but this is one of my personal favorites because it’s challenging, acrobatic, and sounds great when played up to speed.  You will not find a lick like this anywhere in modern shred guitar.  After all, you are learning to play the works of real masters.
In case you didn’t know, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, which was written in 1878 was initially dismissed as being unplayable.  After trying out this lick, you’ll have a sense why that is.  Don’t worry, it’s not impossible.
While it’s only three measures, this lick has a lot to offer:  a lot of legato, acrobatic fingerwork, and even some tapping.  Yes, that’s two-handed tapping.  Also, the [...]

I decided to break out the camera in my apartment, a totally casual location, and record a rough take of the opening measures of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, one of the greats from the Romantic Era. The beginning starts out softly and delicately and later builds into a dark and brooding tonal canvas.  There’s a wide range of techniques to notice here and to work on (myself included of course).  From the very soft beginnings played on a single string, to the more unstable low strings, dissonant chords, arpeggios, tonality changes, and a few more, there’s a lot to hear and see here.
There’s some fast 16th note shredding towards the end. Unfortunately, I’ve only learned partway through that first cadenza (you’ll see me [...]

I created a quick video of two short licks, sort of a “compare and contrast” sort of thing.  Check it out:
The point of the video is to show the regular and repetitive nature of the popular Yngwie lick contrasted against a wild, totally crazy lick from an old timer like Tchaikovsky.  Yeah, that’s right; Tchaikovsky.  The same guy who also wrote the Nutcracker Suite that you hear during Christmas and the famous luv melody from his “Romeo and Juliet” Suite.  Definitely a versatile composer.
Don’t get the wrong idea:  my goal of this post isn’t to rip Yngwie.  Yngwie was my early guitar hero and I bought all of his albums and learned tons of his songs and solos.  Even though they do get a bit [...]

Man, I can’t believe this project is finished.  It’s been in the works a long time.  Again, something that sounded very easy turned out to be involved and lengthy.  This time, despite it being a music project, I was completely ignorant of the effort that was going to be involved.
Basically, I wanted to improve my recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on the electric guitar.  I recorded it a long time ago with synthesizer tracks replacing the orchestra.  Although I was happy with the recording, the synth sounds had always been the weakness.  Just a year or year and a half ago, a friend, colleague, and fellow guitarist suggested that I redo the MIDI tracks with real orchestral recordings.
I finally got around to looking into this.  [...]

Intro:
This smooth, flowing passage containing wide leaps, arpeggios, and challenging grace notes is from Polish violinist/composer Henryk Wieniawski’s first Violin Concerto (F sharp minor, Op. 14).  It’s a great lick for developing left-hand dexterity.
Lick #1:
This selection opens with two similar two-measure licks, both are based on a B major arpeggio, then an F# major arpeggio.  The very first note of this lick can be thought of as an “pickup note” because it doesn’t really belong with the selection; it’s really part of the previous phrase.  So, it’s perfectly fine to start the lick on the 11th fret low E-string.

The fingerings are optimized to manage the grace notes (G-string 13-15-13) and the F# major arpeggio (second measure, with the half-step leading notes).
Suggestion:  First practice the opening [...]