Night Ride was written by Travis Marcum for gc.com in 2011 as an open-string level 1 piece with a teacher accompaniment part. Phil Swasey, one of our partner teachers, has been using the original piece in his beginner classes since its first publish. It has become an engaging rite of passage for his program, and still hears from his former students about their experiences with “Night Ride”. This arrangement takes the open-string level 1 part and adds in level 2 parts.
The guitar 2 part can be taught within the first couple of classes. The repetitive strokes on each string are great for establishing fundamental right-hand tone production. As students learn the level 2 left-hand notes, the other parts can be added. The bass-notes in the guitar 3 part should be taught by rote, and the C# in m.4 is notated with a 2nd finger to help younger students fret the note more easily. As always, tone, dynamic contrast, and accuracy are important.