Heliotrope Bouquet - Joplin Ragtime Guitar

[alliejaffe]

Hi, Allan Jaffe here.

You played my arrangement really nicely! Very relaxed and nice feel. It's interesting to hear it swung.

I'm starting to put my rags up on Youtube. Just search my name; it's my Rag in E. Please check it out.

[zacharron]

@alliejaffe Hi Allan, thanks for your kind words and thanks for the nice transcriptions of all the ragtime pieces. I also learned Frog Legs Rag, which was a blast to play but I've since forgotten it! It's nice to see this form of music live on with all the tapping and wacking on the guitar these days. :^)

[hookie48]

Having been a Scott Joplin junkie for over 30 years, listened to this song hundreds of times on the piano, i'm floored at how great you made this sound. Hats off to you.

[gbass352]

A fabulous rendition of this not so easy piece...played with skill and feeling. I can only dream of mastering this piece with the same panache demonstrated here

[zacharron]

@gbass352 Thanks. I haven't watched this video in forever, but despite the few glitches it doesn't sound too bad! Amazing that one can hear the good things after putting some distance between oneself and the music. :^)

[explodefaceman]

This song makes me think of bubbles EVERYWHERE like a national-disaster level of bubbles just encompassing the city... it would be the happiest catastrophe. I've watched this vid probably 32 times on repeat, I vow to learn this

[zacharron]

@explodefaceman That's one of the strangest comments I've seen on one of my videos. But I like it. :^)

[guitarslim56]

Don't look at the camera! Don't look at the camera!

[textpilot]

You play Heliotrope Bouquet exquisitely!!! I have Allen Jaffe's ragtime guitar book and am just starting to learn this piece. It's very helpful to me to see how you use your left hand and what surrounding chord patterns you use, since Jaffe's book doesn't give guidance on this front. Extremely well done and thanks again!

[OnlineSpellChecker]

You look just like Bobcat Goldthwait during his Police Academy years!

[supersonicchair]

i love your right hand! :D you keep the sound real crisp.

[slogans777]

Great arrangement and nicely played.

[Egmond67]

Brill!

[martifingers]

It takes time and effort to get this good so I reckon you have earned the right to play it as you feel it... and its hard not to get a sense of the tragedy that was Joplins life as well as his exquisite musicality even though my understanding is the this came from a successful period in his life.

[dainbramage777]

extremely well played! i've just started playing some Joplin-tunes myself and i find this very very inspiring. thanks for the video, and keep up the good work :)

[scholha]

Thank you for that clip and rag on ;-) Happy to hear you playing ...

Ha-Pe from Germany

[bluesfan69]

why do so many people feel they need to play rags in swing time. Joplin didn't write them as swingtime. Much of the syncopation feel is lost when not played straight time  !

[zacharron]

I agree with you, to an extent. I don't always play it swung though. I am not a purist. I think there is certainly value in preserving the composers intentions, but certain influences, such as swing and jazz, can't simply be ruled out. If this was the case we'd still only have Dylan's original nasally version of All Along the Watchtower instead of the Jimi version or even the Michael Hedges version. I find it fascinating to see how others interperet a piece of music.

[DragonSlayerOmega]

Well said.

Kudos to the Hindrix reference. I love that song.

[SteveMcBill]

Ragtime tabs can be found over at:

triple 'w' dot stevemcwilliam dot co dot uk slash guitar slash tab dot htm

Hope you enjpy them

Steve

[vsalazarsoares]

Where can i find the book? i am in love with Rag time music (i just play the entertainer)

[zacharron]

You should be able to mail order from the US.

[marvinbnaylor]

Ragtime Guitar by Allen Jaffe is the BEST ragtime guitar book there is. I got mine from ebay. The arrangements are first class and true to the original piano ones. You get the tab and a cd of Allan playing them all. The best there is!

[zwrdl]

I also have the book, but I appreciate the clarity of your video. As a relative beginner, I have difficulty finding the left hand positions and the chord voicings, and when I see you do them, they become within the range of possibility. All your songs are like that and it's a great service to us. Thank you very, very much.

[zacharron]

You are very, very welcome! Thanks for the kind compliments.

[tgirlmegaly]

besides of your really great sound and musicality this is also a very nice video

[CrossEyedTerry]

That was great, well played sir! I'm gonna buy that book for sure! Need to learn some ragtime!

Thanks for posting.

[gstrings50]

i have the same book what all songs can you play without looking my favs are sunburst rag, als slow rag, frog legs, you should try the joplin rag

[choonbug]

you are great, but I think you would sound better playing a resonator guitar just to give it that 1930's sound. keep up the good work!

[ddanze]

that's an extremely straight-forward, easy-fingering

arrangement: just what you DONT often see in piano

rags put on guitar. nice to hear. wont set out to

copy that one.

[zacharron]

There are few tricky moments, mostly in the C and D sections, but the arrangement as a whole isn't too bad, just long (usually takes me about 5.5-6 minutes to play, depending on how fast I take it). I think Heliotrope arranged for the guitar has never been one of the more difficult rags anyway.

[ddanze]

Say, what BOOK was it in? Would appreciate knowing.

Nice smooth playing.

[zacharron]

Thanks for the compliment. The book is Ragtime Guitar by Allan Jaffe. Highly recommended.

[Gangly1]

Great piece Zane. I really enjoyed your interpretation.

Regards,

Paul

[vardamin]

I've spent a lot of time with that book ( I practice rags everyday) and you do the song justice (even if it is in two parts). Curiously back a while ago I was telling Allan how that song (part B in particular) made my skin creep. It is a haunting tune. Currently I'm getting a handle on "Frog Leg Rag", an other great composition. The two pieces I really have to work on most are "Dill Pickles" and "Grace and Beauty". Have you gotten to those rags? Good Job, keep practicing, Bernie.

[zacharron]

Frog Legs Rag is actually the next one I'm going to learn. That A part in it is so much fun to play and fun sounding. That whole book is great, probably overall the best book of rags I've seen. So many great, varied pieces in it.

[momma1964laa]

The rocking chair analogy was perfect . This piece sways easily gently moving you along . Thanks . Great job!

[troubleclef]

what a great arrangement. nice job. i like a lot of things you do with it. really works nicely with the swing, eh?

[zacharron]

While the song hardly 'grooves', I find it moves me and others a bit more with that gentle swing to it, like being in a rocking chair. Moving but relaxed.