Bent Out of Shape: Learning Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, Part 8

Welcome to the penultimate lesson on learning Mozart's 25th symphony in G minor!

We are very close to the end, and — for everyone who has followed me with this series — I hope you've found it useful. For this lesson, much like with Part 7, we're going to play something that follows a previous section (in this case, from Part 4) but within a different relative key.

Part 8 takes the same themes from Part 4 (which is based in Bb major) but arranges the notes within the much more dramatic sounding scale of G harmonic minor.

The melodies and movement within the scale are identical but begin on a different root note. It's quite interesting to see how by changing your root within the same scale (in this case G minor) you can create a completely feel or emotion. This is the principle behind modes and is clearly demonstrated in the difference between Part 4 and Part 8. (BTW: You can find parts 1 through 7 under RELATED CONTENT — right below my photo.)

This section is mostly 8th and quarter notes, which makes very easy technically except for two bars with 16th-note phrases. By now, we have seen similar sections in previous parts so these should not pose too much trouble for you.

As an additional challenge, I have arranged the majority of the melodies on the high E string. This will help develop your skills playing on a single string and also help visualize a minor scale along a single string instead of the standard "three note per string" shapes.

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Next week will be the final lesson, cheers!

Will Wallner is a guitarist from England who now lives in Los Angeles. He recently signed a solo deal with Polish record label Metal Mind Productions for the release of his debut album, which features influential musicians from hard rock and heavy metal. He also is the lead guitarist for White Wizzard (Earache Records) and toured Japan, the US and Canada in 2012. Follow Will on Facebook and Twitter.