Roland Dyens Tango en Skaï: A Complete Guide

Roland Dyens, Tango en Skaï

Tango en Skaï is a showpiece, and it is not hard the whole way through. It is hard in a handful of specific places. Once you know which bars are going to stop you, and why, the piece becomes genuinely learnable.

This series breaks the whole thing down across four lessons: the passages that cause the most trouble, the rhythm and articulation that make it sound like a tango instead of a fast study, and a bar by bar walk through both sections.

Lesson 1: the three hardest passages

The three passages that stop most players, taken one at a time.

For each one I give you more than one fingering, because hands differ and the fingering that works for me may not be the one that works for you. Each comes with a practice template that builds speed and control without letting the accuracy slip, which is the usual trade when people try to push the tempo on this piece.

Lesson 2: rhythm, harmonics and tango staccato

The next two technical obstacles, plus the things that make it sound like a tango.

3:2 polyrhythms. How to lock two contrasting rhythms together so they stop fighting each other and start feeling natural.

Natural and artificial harmonics. Where every harmonic sits on the fretboard, including a few in places you would not expect, and how to make each one speak cleanly.

Tango staccato. The crisp, percussive articulation the style depends on. Get this wrong and the piece sounds like a study played quickly.

Lesson 3: Section A, bar by bar

A close look at the A section.

String damping. Exactly where to stop the bass strings so notes do not ring on into the next bar and blur the texture.

Anticipation. Where you need to be reading and thinking ahead of your hands, because the shifts come faster than you can react to them.

Nuance. Where Dyens’ dynamic writing wants you to push and where it wants you to pull back.

Lesson 4: Section B and the fretboard work

Section B is where the fast fingerwork lives, moving right up and across the neck.

Position shifts. How to navigate the quickest passages in the piece without losing your place or your tone.

Precision. The extra technical work that keeps rapid runs clean and secure rather than approximate, which is what usually happens when this section is taken at speed too early.

The study guide

The videos work on their own, but the study guide is what makes them stick. It has:

• The full score and TAB, matching every example in the videos.
• The exercise templates for building speed and security.
• A bonus lesson on the history and performance style of the tango, so you play it with the right character and not just the right notes.

Get the study guide on Patreon