Spanish Guitar

The following screenshots are taken from Marco Cirillo's recent video titled Simple Spanish Guitar Stuff That Makes You Sound Cool!

CHORDS

Firstly the chord progression is I ➞ VII ➞ VI ➞ V and the key of Am is illustrated in Figure 1.

SIMPLE FINGER PICKING

Next a simple thumb ➞ index finger ➞ middle finger ➞ ring finger picking pattern in illustrated in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Note the changes in the chord shapes between Figure 1 and Figure 2 (the second follows on from the first).

Figure 2

Figure 3

ADVANCED FINGER PICKING

Figures 4 and 5 show a more advanced finger picking style and makes more use of the thumb and only one finger.

Figure 4

Figure 5

SCALES

Figures 7 and 8 shows how to play the Am scale from the root note of each chord, five notes are played for each chord. Remember the Am scale goes A, B, C, D, E, F, G with no flats or sharps. However, the G as explained earlier has been changed to a G# and so we have what is called the harmonic minor scale. See Figure 6.

Figure  6

Figure 7

Figure 8

There is always room for embellishment and Figures 9 and 10 show examples of this, the first without bass notes and the second with them.

Figure 9

Figure 10

USING ADVANCED CHORDS

Figures 11 and 12 illustrate the use of advanced chords to add more colour to the sound.

Figure 11

Figure 12

I've already been practising and making steady progress.

Words that Rhyme with Kitsch

I heard the word kitsch mentioned yesterday and this was a word that I hadn't heard in a while. As it does, my mind fell to finding words that rhyme with it. Here is what RhymeZone came up with.

One syllable:

rich, bitch, bitchx, blitch, britch, britsch, chich, crich, ditch, ditsch, fiche, fitch, flitch, fritch, fritsch, fritsche, fritzsche, glich, glitch, gritch, hitch, ich, kiche, kitch, kitsch, klich, knitch, krych, lich, liche, litch, mich, miche, mitch, mitsch, niche, nitsch, nitsche, nycz, piche, pitch, pitsch, pritch, quitch, rich, riche, ritch, scritch, sitch, skitch, slich, smitch, snitch, stich, stitch, switch, titch, trich, trich-, triche, tritch, tritsch, twitch, which, which?, wich, wiche, witch, zich

Two syllables:

1-2-switch, autriche, bewitch, bfgoodrich, boliche, brood bitch, capiche, carritch, catstitch, chainstitch, chain stitch, chipwich, cross-stitch, dipswitch, dip switch, distich, dulwich, eliche, enrich, fast-twitch, flamiche, freeswitch, goodrich, greenwich, half-hitch, half hitch, hemstitch, high pitch, ilyich, inditch, knit stitch, lightswitch, lock-stitch, low pitch, lubitsch, magwitch, maniche, parritch, pemrich, plain stitch, rockbitch, sales pitch, shell stitch, slip stitch, slo-pitch, slow-pitch, slow-twitch, slowpitch, softswitch, sumbitch, tent stitch, time-switch, topstitch, tough-pitch, unhitch, unstitch, unwitch, whipstitch, wild pitch, woodrich

Three syllables:

auction pitch, bait-and-switch, bienenstich, blanket-stitch, blanket stitch, cable-stitch, callitriche, cocoliche, concert pitch, crnkovich, crochet stitch, double stitch, drainage ditch, ehrenreich, elwetritsch, featherstitch, garter stitch, glumdalclitch, godemiche, grinderswitch, half cross stitch, hemistich, hemming-stitch, knitting stitch, lilo & stitch, lubavitch, machine-stitch, machine stitch, magnus hitch, makarych, microswitch, muravich, nouveau-riche, overpitch, perfect pitch, pied-de-biche, riboswitch, rolling hitch, running stitch, saddle stitch, satin stitch, scarlet witch, single stitch, stankevich, taylor kitsch, telestich, the good witch, thoroughstitch, timber hitch, timbiriche, toggle switch, unbewitch, underpitch, uswitch, water witch, weaver's hitch

Four syllables:

absolute pitch, bogdanowicz, buttonhole stitch, field hockey pitch, ignition switch, mineral pitch, nintendo switch, pickettywitch, skeletonwitch, son-of-a-bitch, sonofabitch, sonuvabitch, submarine pitch, wassilievitch, without a stitch

Five syllables:

chabad-lubavitch, earwig and the witch, irrigation ditch, izetbegovic, lazy daisy stitch, philharmonic pitch, pythagoraswitch

Six syllables:

international pitch

There's quite a few words in that list that I've never heard of and many that I'm unsure of but before looking at some of them, let's define the word that started it all: kitsch.

noun: art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way e.g. "the lava lamp is a bizarre example of sixties kitsch"

adjective: considered to be in poor taste but appreciated in an ironic or knowing way e.g. "the front room is stuffed with kitsch knick-knacks, little glass and gilt ornaments"

It is apparently a German word adopted in about 1926 and meaning gaudy or trashy. There's more to it than that but I won't go further into the etymology here.

Figure 1 is the visuwords representation of kitsch:

Figure 1

Getting back to the words that RhymeZone threw up, the first to catch my eye was blitch. A quick search returned the following from Collins Dictionary:

A blitz of glitches ie. a series of successive glitches occurring in a computer that one has no control of at the time.

New word suggestion submitted by Unknown on 19/07/2012. 

Approval Status: Pending Investigation

The top definition from Urban Dictionary is:

A black witch (Conjurer/Rootworker/Hoodoosaint) using knowledge of African thought, African/Afrodiasporic spiritual practice, Divination, Ancestral veneration, and African healing modalities to heal and fortify themselves, their elders, their peers, and the next generation of children to be.

The phrase was coined by Daizy Latifah of TheAfroMystic.com, due to the co-opting of Black religious traditions by colonisers and cultural appropriators.

I don't know what all them basic witches are doing over there with that sage and that crystal wand, but these blitches over here? They know their shit!

by YaMamasNkindi November 06, 2018 

The Urban Dictionary definition is actually taken from TheAfroMystic.com website. From these two examples, it can be seen that blitch lends itself to being a portmanteau word as words like blitz of glitches, black witch and (to use my own example) bloody bitch become fused. However, it's exact meaning is yet to be pinned down, it remains protean.

Let's look at a word in two syllable section: magwitch. This turns out to be the surname of a character by the name of Abel Magwitch in the Charles Dickens novel "Great Expectations". See Figure 2.

The following actors have portrayed Magwitch in films, an impressive list:

• 

  
  Figure 2

  Frank Losee (1917)
• Henry Hull (1934)
• Finlay Currie (1946)
• James Mason (1974): see Figure 3
• Stratford Johns (1981)
• Anthony Hopkins (1991)
• Robert De Niro (1998)
• Bernard Hill (1999)
• Ray Winstone (2011)
• Ralph Fiennes (2012)

Let's look at a word from the three syllable list: lubavich. This Jewish organisation is notorious and downright dangerous, representing a crazy extreme of Judaism. To quote from its own website:

Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch, is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic groups and Jewish religious organizations in the world.

While the organisation might sound innocent enough, it's anything but. However, let's move on to the four syllable rhyming phrases where the phrase without a stitch was the first to catch my eye. Figure 3 illustrates its meaning.

Figure 3

Also from this section is absolute pitch defined as:

Perfect pitch (technically known as absolute pitch) is the ability to identify, without effort, the pitch of a note. Let's say someone plays a D on the piano. A person with perfect pitch—and the musical training to be able to name the notes—would be able to identify the note as a D without any reference.

For five syllable phrases we have the lazy daisy stitch as explained in the following video:

The ending ich is often at the end of Slavic surnames e.g. Shostakovich. The following excerpt is from the beginning of an article titled Are Names Ending in 'ich' Really Slavic?

The Slavs pretend that the ending ich, in which many localities and Istrian family names end, is a Slavic characteristic and therefore all the names ending in it are Slavic and all who bear those names are of Slavic origin. Such a claim is so universally accepted that neither in Istria, much less in Italy, has anyone thought to doubt that the names ending in ich are decidedly Slavic and only in the most absurd instances is it admitted that ich has caught on, as for example in Fabbrich, Mianich, Marinich, etc.

We could on forever looking at all the words that rhyme with kitsch but that will have to do it for now.