You may not know the song Recuredos de la Alhambra by its name, but you may very well have heard this striking piece. It is one of those pieces that nearly every classical guitarist aspires to master. Like many classical pieces, it also lends itself to being played on an acoustic, pick style.

Pieces of this sort are much easier to play classical style, since a classical player will use their thumb to play the melody notes and will use their ring, middle and index finger to play the tremelo-picked notes. Playing the piece pick style on an acoustic is another story alltogether. Essentially, you need to shift your picking hand extremely rapidly when switching strings in order to maintain evenness between the melody and the tremelo notes. It is certainly a daunting feat but with dedication it is definitely achievable.

In this lesson I will break the piece into its 3 logical sections. You will find that the skills you gain from practicing the first section will translate to the other sections since the entire piece repeats similar picking/melody patterns.

I hope you enjoy learning this brilliant piece! You will need tremendous patience with this one...

If you persevered through the first section of Recuerdos de la Alhambra then you are well armed to take on the middle section. In this middle section, you will continue to move through a series of chord forms where the lower notes form a melody line while the upper notes are played tremelo style. In this section, the piece takes on more of a major tonlity compared to the minor tonality of the opening section. This dichotomy between sorrow and uplifting contributes to the sheer emotional energy of the piece.

The tab above is based on a transcription by Paul Henry in his book The Francisco Tarrega Collection: Book/CD Pack.You may find some of the fingerings a bit awkward, but they lend themselves very well to smooth execution, which is of course a must for this piece!

You should listen to several renditions of this piece to get a feel for tempos that the piece is played at. On Rhapsody there are many renditions including ones by other instrumentalists. Click here for Rhapsody.

Hopefully by now you have a feel for recurring picking pattern of the piece. Again, you should start off by simply practicing the first measure of this section until you get a feel for the rapid shifting of your pick required as you move from melody notes to the tremelo picked notes. You will find that some of the chord shapes are a bit awkward. You will certainly want to hone in on the trouble spots and give them more attention as you work your way through the piece. I hope you enjoy continuing to learn this beautiful, challenging piece!

Later,

Brian Huether