BWV 999 is one of
Bach's most popular pieces played on
guitar,
composed in 1720. The
prelude was originally written for the
lute
in the
key of Cm. It was
transposed to the
key of Dm and
arranged for the
guitar by
Andres Segovia.
This piece is not very difficult, although there are a few hairy
places in the transcription, and the intended tempo is a bit hard to
keep up with - so this prelude is for intermediate guitarists.
The tablature of BWV 999 is available at
http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/music/classtab/jsb0999p.txt; I have an
aversion towards data duplication, and so I will not repeat the tab
here. However, I play some measures differently and feel that most
people will find my approach easier, so read on.
Segovia had real big hands, so his fingering for the piece, while
indeed exactly like the original, is hard to pull off for people with
smaller hands. Measure 15 in the tablature is where this first
becomes apparent:
|-------5-----------------|
|-----5---5---5-----1---1-|
|---5-------5---5-2-------|
|---------------------3---|
|-------------------------|
|-1-----------------------|
Segovia played this measure by fretting the low E string on fret 1,
and using his pinky to barre the 5th fret. Personally, I find
this next to impossible to pull-off (a little pun intended) cleanly,
and so have to play this measure differently. Unfortunately, there is
no way to modify it for an easier fingering while staying true to the
original. But, if we raise the F in the bass by an octave, we can
then fret it on the 4th string, much closer to the barre on 5th fret,
and thus much easier to fret cleanly:
|-------5-----------------|
|-----5---5---5-----1---1-|
|---5-------5---5-2-------|
|-3-------------------3---|
|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|
The measure still sounds good - even though the bass is an octave
higher, it is still the lowest note in the measure.
I find measure 16 (the very next one) easier to play if the second
bass is fretted on the 6th string with the pinky, instead of the 5th
string with the index finger. This way, the left hand stays in
position and it's less of a stretch:
|-------5-----------------|
|-----6---6---6-----------|
|---4-------4---4---4---4-|
|-0---------------0-------|
|-------------------------|
|---------------------7---|
Of course, this sounds exactly the same as the original.
The rest of the piece is quite easy, up until measures 31-34. In
these measures, Segovia's huge hands again become apparent:
|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------3-----------------|-------3-----------------|-------3-----------------|
|-----4---4---4-----2---2-|-----4---4---4-----1---1-|-----4---4---4-----1---1-|
|---7-------7---7-3---0---|---6-------6---6-2-------|---6-------6---6-3---0---|
|-------------------------|---------------------2---|-0-----------------------|
|-0-----------------------|-0-----------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|
|-------3-2---2-----------|
|-----4-----2---2---2---2-|
|---7-------------2-------|
|-0-------------------4---|
|-------------------------|
It's not easy to fret this cleanly, but a different fingering can
be applied using hammer-ons and pull-offs:
|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|----0h3p0---0------------|----0h3p0---0------------|----0h3p0---0------------|
|---2------2---2---2---2--|---1------1---1---1---1--|---1------1---1---1---1--|
|----------------3---0----|----------------2--------|----------------3---0----|
|-------------------------|--------------------2----|-0-----------------------|
|-0-----------------------|-0-----------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|
|----2h3p2---2------------|
|---2------2---2---2---2--|
|----------------2--------|
|-0------------------4----|
|-------------------------|
This sounds a little different from the original, and while some
perfectionists (or more advanced guitarists) may not like the accents
added by hammer-ons and pull-offs, it sounds much better than
squeaking and muted strings caused by less-than-perfect fretting.
With these changes, it becomes much easier to play this beautiful
piece in fast tempo. Measures 11 and 12 are still problematic, but
that fingering is the best you're going to get.
Enjoy! More Bach and classical guitar tablature can be found at:
http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/music/classtab/ .