Galilei Vincenzo, "Saltarello"

Saltarello is one of my all-time favorites. The melody, joyous and upbeat, contrasts with a pedal like bass line that moves on the open 6th, 5th and 4th strings. The bass line resembles a horn pipe sound. Saltarello -from the Italian saltare= to jump- is an antique dance and most likely a popular pastoral tune.
The piece is striking and trains the musician to acquire independence in his right hand thumb versus the up-pulling a-m and i. The performer should play with the timbre of the instrument to enhance the beauty of the piece. Saltarello will draw the applause from your audience.

Saltarello, Vincenzo Galilei, Renato Bellucci Live in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Saltarello's main challenge is to achieve well performed hammer ons and pull offs. These constitute the main melodic line and the technique associated with them is very simple and can be achieved by isolating the single hammer ons and pull offs in exercises that you create. These exercises must be very simple and must focus on the slur that you are trying to perform. Below is a video I made to show how to work Ascending and Descending slurs.