This lesson comes from my new book Classical Guitar Repertoire Lessons Grade 3 – Seven pieces at the grade three level with dedicated lessons preparing you for each piece.
Andantino, Op.44, No.3 by Fernando Sor (1778-1839) – YouTube Video Lesson Link – This etude or study should be fairly straight forward but does have some increased activity along with an elegant musical feel. It also has two distinct and independant musical voices (counterpoint) but the texture sounds classical era due to the legato phrasing, prominent melody, and slow harmonic movement (rate of chord changes).
Play the melody and bass voice separately to hear them as legato and independent musical lines.
Right hand fingering – The right hand fingering is not difficult but it is specific so make sure you dedicate some practice time to figuring it out. When pieces have two distinct voices (melody and bass here), I try to keep the thumb (p) on the lower voice and i-m-a on the upper voice. This helps to keep the sound consistent. Notice how I try to use i-m for most of the melodic material but when an arpeggio or jump across the strings occur I start including the a finger. In the final bar however, the Alberti bass accompaniment (the arpeggiated C chord in the lower voice) is best played with the i finger. The fingering in parenthesis is an optional alternative.
