The Pink Panther, guitar transcription

Its impossible to describe the smell of a wet cat

The Pink Panther
Henry Mancini

Pink Panther

The piece struck me when I heard Argentinean guitarist Cacho Tirao play the piece in Buenos Aires at the San Martin hall in 1985. I made the transcription based on Tirao's interpretation of the piece. It is simply genial and it makes the audience thrilled and children LOVE IT !
The piece poses a challenge in the bass that has to create the illusion of a jazz bass. This is achieved using the flesh in the right hand and using dampers to keep the duration short. The jazzy tempo with syncopation creates a FABULOUS aural sensation that will definitely make "The Pink Panther" one of your encore/applause magnet pieces....
I consider it a must in today's repertoire.

VIDEO 1

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Analysis:
The piece is very moody and you need to use some jazz technical means like the double slide at the very beginning to bond the 16th note to the eight note. Use the flesh of the right thumb to create the illusion of an upright bass and use staccato to make it short in duration. The alternative fingering for the opening double stop (G# and the C#) can be left hand finger 1 for both notes. The fingering is more in the jazz style but allows for much less (even none) squeaking of the strings.

Asuncion, Friday, February 22nd 2008

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