Lagrima & Adelita Classical Guitar

The word Lágrima means tear. Francisco Tarrega wrote this piece between 1889-1909, the exact date never having been catalogued. It is his most played piece and many times given as a beginner piece for people starting to play the guitar. However, as easy as the opening bars are, there are some quite challenging passages which involve bar chords and half bar chords that are not easily executed.

There are two stories that are said to have inspired the writing of Lágrima. The first: It is said to have been written while Tárrega was touring in London, and that the English fog and overall lousy weather were at the root of it. The second: It was written as an homage to his daughter’s passing. Either way, the melancholic and delicate characters of this piece is ideal for learning the fundamentals of romantic phrasing and rubato on the classical guitar. You will learn about tone production, sustaining the notes in a lyrical way and the right vibrato. If you are an advanced-beginner to an intermediate level guitarist, this is an ideal piece for you to have under your belt especially for entertaining friends at a party as well as a great encore in a concert.

Adelita and Lagrima have always made a perfect pair. They fall in a unique category of their own in the sense that they are both "simple" miniature pieces but are by no means on a beginner level. Adelita is slightly more challenging than Lagrima due to its tricky B section where we have some tough bar chords and stretches for the left hand.

A very poetic and romantic piece in nature, titled as a Mazurka, a Polish dance in origin, usually quite up-beat, is somewhat sending a mixed message by having the tempo marking set at Lento. Some believe playing it too slowly gives it a completely different meaning and feel, taking it away from the natural character of the Mazurka. This is also an ideal piece to learn about romantic phrasing and rubato. The guitar repertoire is hard pressed to find pieces that pay their respects to the great composers that did not write for the guitar such as Frederick Chopin, Piotr Illich Tchaikovsky and Franz Schubert. We can hear the echoes of these giants in Adelita but in an intimate setting transmitted with the natural poetry of the guitar.

In this lesson you will learn about phrasing, tone production and interpretation in the romantic style. Since the realm of interpretation is not a science, but an art form, this lesson will set you on the path of looking and thinking about romantic music in a way that will allow you to explore your own ideas, after having grasped the main principles. There are some challenging hammer-ons and pull-offs for an advanced-beginner level player that require diligent and patient practice, but they will pay off in the way of advancing your technique.

In this lesson Adam del Monte is playing a classical guitar by the master luthier Erez Perelman with spruce top, Indian rosewood back and sides