Today we’re going to explore the pedal point section in my arrangement of Bach’s Toccata (and Fugue) in Dm. In technically demanding guitar styles, such as the neoclassical playing of guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen and Vinnie Moore, we often find the use of pedals where a melodic line is played above or below a repeated static single note (or short pattern) in an alternating fashion. This creates what I think of as a kind of “back-and-forth” motion, almost as if each note “bounces” off of the repeated pedal tone.
One helpful approach to learning a difficult or lengthy pedal point passage is to isolate the melodic line (the parts of the phrase that are moving and changing, not remaining static). This can provide you with a greater understanding of the music, and will help you hear any underlying patterns or structures within the moving notes of the melody.
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In the first part of the pedal point section of Bach’s Toccata, if we strip away the pedal tone, we find the following phrase contained within (Ex. 1):
The melody in Ex. 1 follows a common scale sequence formed by a 1-2-3-1 pattern, meaning: play the first note in a scale, followed by the second and third, finally returning to the first note. This pattern is then moved up to the next note in the scale, and repeated following the same pattern, then to the next note, etc.
This phrase is then followed by another type of sequence (Ex. 2), a scale sequence of descending thirds. (You can find more examples of sequences in Bach’s Toccata in this lesson.)
Once you’ve isolated the melody, stripping away the pedal tone, you may notice that although the passage taken as a whole sounds complex, the idea behind the musical content is very graspable. It might also give you the idea of trying to create your own pedal point licks based on very simple melodies or sequences.
By adding a pedal note in between every note of a melody, you can essentially halve the rhythmic value, since you are playing twice as many notes in the same space, making your melodic passage sound twice as fast.
Let’s combine Examples 1 and 2, to form a complete melodic phrase (Ex. 3) that makes up the first part of our pedal point passage. Remember to listen for the sound of the ascending 1-2-3-1 sequence followed by the descending thirds sequence.
Now that you’ve learned the primary melody, and observed the patterns contained within, it’s time to prepare your left hand for the task of combining the melody with the pedal tone. To do this, let’s start by holding our first finger (1) down on the pedal note, and then play the melodic line from Ex. 3, but this time using only the other remaining available fingers (Ex. 4). This will help you find the most efficient and comfortable fingering. I’ve indicated my finger preferences in the notation for Ex. 4
Next, try playing the pedal tone and melody together as double-stops (two notes played at once), simultaneously striking both notes with every melody note played. (Ex. 5)
Now that we’ve gotten a better understanding of the melodic content and have prepared the left hand for the challenges ahead, let’s look at the right hand technique.
Try playing these examples with both alternate picking (down and up) and hybrid picking (pick and fingers), as these are great exercises for both technical approaches. Hybrid picking will allow you to build up to a much faster speed with this passage, so practice all examples alternating down pick and middle finger (m). Then practice again alternating down pick and ring finger (a).
After you’ve become more comfortable with the hybrid picking technique using pick and a single finger, you can try my personal favorite approach, which is to alternate the right hand fingers between middle and ring (m,a) for each note played with the fingers. Don’t worry if this seems confusing right now – we’ll be covering more advanced approaches like this (as well as more pedal point and hybrid picking ideas in general) in future lessons!
Now, all that remains is to separate the pedal note from the melody notes by staggering them, playing one, followed by the other. (Ex. 6)
Once you’ve mastered the examples in this lesson and are ready to take things to the next level, try my entire pedal point passage from this piece. You can download the PDF tab below. I’ve included all of the examples from this lesson, as well as the complete excerpt from my arrangement, including finger and picking directions.
Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out my Mozart Pedal Exercise transcription for more pedal practice!
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Bach Toccata Pedal Point Excerpt and Exercises guitar tab
Bach Toccata Pedal Point Excerpt and Preparatory Exercises for Guitar (FREE download for all newsletter subscribers!)
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