Welcome to the final part of learning Mozart's 25th symphony in G minor!
It has taken nine lessons, but we've finally reached the end of the piece.
For everyone who has followed me throughout this series, I hope you found it rewarding and challenging. Hopefully this piece has helped you improve as a player in terms of technique and theory.
When I began learning the piece, I was looking for something easier technique-wise than my previous Paganini series. I feel this piece is a lot more accessible for beginner to intermediate players and is a really good introduction to classical music for rock/metal guitarists.
After Part 8, there's a lot of repetition of previous parts before we get to the new material I will show you in this lesson. If we look at the Soundcloud guide track below, Part 8 finishes at 7:01; following this, you should play Part 6 in full, which brings you to 7:55.
At this point, you should play the following sequence: Part 1, Part 2, Part 7 and Part 8. That sequence will finish at 9:58, where Part 9 begins.
The finale starts with the same octave theme seen at the very beginning of the piece. However, this time it expands and develops the melody within the G harmonic minor scale. I decided to play every note in this section as an octave with a hybrid picking technique. I use my pick to play the low octave and the third finger on my picking hand to play the high octave. You will need to practice this technique cleanly to achieve a consistent sound throughout the whole melody section.
Following this, we now play a quick 16th-note repetitive pattern from the first three notes of the G minor scale. This pattern is repeated for three whole bars, which will require an accurate alternate-picking technique. To make it slightly more challenging, I also play the same pattern up an octave during the second bar. To change position between octaves while maintaining consistent 16th note alternate picking will be a good challenge. Practice this very slowly and gradually increase the speed.
Once you've learned this final part, all I have left to say is congratulations! This piece is over 10 minutes long and being able to play the whole thing is a tremendous achievement. Well done!
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.
