The Entertainerby Neil Hogan

Scott Joplin's music has tickled millions of listeners around the world, and created quite a challenge for guitarists since its resurgence in the 1970s.

In the late 70s I started working on an arrangement of The Entertainer by Dutch guitarist Leo Wijnkamp. I continued adding to and adjusting many parts until I finally came up with an arrangement I think Joplin would approve of.

Like most classic rags, it consists of four 16-bar sections, every one of which is a mini-masterpiece in my eyes, and I generally have students treat these as such and want them to have the perspective that each part is a separate piece and not get overwhelmed by the magnitude.

The original was in the key of C and this arrangement is in D, done in Dropped D Tuning.

Patience and perseverance are the requirements here.