"Patio de los leones": "Lions' patio", La Alhambra

Recuerdos de la Alhambra $
Remembrances of the Alhambra

Recuerdos de la Alhambra is the one piece that every committed guitar player must play in order to feel like his fingers can do just about anything. "Recuerdos is a major achievement for the guitar player".

Francisco Tárrega is "the first real guitar composer". He was a Spaniard and he knew the guitar thoroughly.  His composition skills were simply perfect for the modern guitar. Unlike Sor and Giuliani, Tarrega's pieces were "the perfect match between the modern guitar and the soul of Spain."

Recuerdos de la Alhambra is a tremolo piece. Tremolo is a musical idea that comes from the mandolin family of instruments. As the player plays the tremolo with the a, m and i fingers, the thumb plays a nostalgic melody in a contrapuntal style.

You do not learn tremolo first and then you play Recuerdos. You learn tremolo as you learn Recuerdos. 

Play the tremolo sequence as 3 consecutive notes. Do not force speed on the tremolo because speed is supposed to come naturally with tremolo after a few days. As you are learning the piece, put a little accent on the second note of the tremolo. This will help even out the overall sound by the time you pick up speed.

Feel the string with every strike of the right hand fingers and plant the a finger precisely because, depending on how precise you are with the a finger, your tremolo will be more or less fluid. 

In order to achieve fluidity in Recuerdos de la Alhambra, I worked on several fingering possibilities. The one I publish below is the best I have come up with to this date. 

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Recuerdos de la Alhambra, FranciscoTarrega, 
TV program, Punta del Este Uruguay 2001.  2.73 MB
 

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