History:
Lagrima (meaning teardrop in Spanish) is a beautiful yet short piece composed by the seminal Spanish guitar composer of the romantic period - Francisco Tarrega. The piece was written as a 'miniature' and is only 16 bars long!
It is broken into 2 distinct sections based on key - the first section is in E minor and then in the second section it modulates to the tonic major - E major. It is believed that it was written in either the latter part of the 19th century of perhaps the early part of the 20th century. Although it is so short and has a tempo marking of Andante it still bears some of Tarrega's idiosyncratic technical challenges.
Performance Tips:
- Keep pull offs strong and clear
- Relax and try to reduce excess string noise
- Use timbral variation to add depth and contrast
- Stretch out when doing the quick trill from the 9th to the 11th frets whilst holding the B7 chord at the 7th fret and snap the 4th finger quickly
- Use an audible ligado near the end when sliding from the 4th to the 13th fret on the G string
- Experiment with staccato and legato phrasing
Here is a link to my Classical Guitar Tutorials Playlist:
Conclusion:
My full transcription including tablature and notation is available for free to my Youtube subscribers. So, if you wish to have a copy just subscribe to my channel and leave a comment or send me a message with your email address and I will happily send you my transcription. Be sure to watch my tutorials for the song and have the transcription beside you so that you can learn this wonderful song quickly and easily.
Let your fingers fly!
