Grade 3 Lesson: Study in C by Tarrega

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.

Study in C by Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) – YouTube Video Lesson Link – This work has a clear melody, some chord shapes to navigate, and includes a new technique for the left hand: pivots in and out of barre chords.

Play the bass and melody notes – On the first lesson page I’ve written the piece with the accompaniment removed leaving only the bass and melody voice. Notice the oddity fingering in bar 3 where the 2nd finger plays F natural. This is to allow the 3rd and 1st fingers to grab the C chord in the following bar (when you play the actual piece).

Pivots and pivot barres – Sometimes the requirements of the left hand interrupt the legato sound and we have to find inventive ways to keep the notes sustaining and smoothly connected. Pivots transition you into and out of barres while sustaining particular notes so the legato sound can continue. In Bar 10 and 14 the pivot barre allows the C on the 2nd string to sustain while the upper F and E come and go from the melody. Keep the C, E, and C sustaining while you pivot (piv.) into the BI2 and then out of it.

Another lesson on Hinge Barres and Pivots

Bradford Werner
Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 94,000 subscribers and 13 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.

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  1. Well. I find the piovt bar and F bar chord are easy in this piece. The most difficult part for me is fingering in bar 3 where the 2nd finger plays sol in melody while holding the bass sol using 1 finger.