Antonio Vivaldi - Summer (Four Seasons) - Guitar Tab

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons • Concertos for Bassoon & Violin 'in tromba marina'

2015 2:48

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About Summer (Four Seasons)

Tackling a guitar arrangement of "Summer" from Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons means coming to terms with rapid, relentless sixteenth-note runs that were originally written for solo violin. In G minor, those runs demand clean left-hand fingering and a relaxed but precise picking hand, because any tension will cause the fast passages to fall apart. The famous storm section is the centerpiece: cascading scalar lines at 140 BPM that test both your alternate picking stamina and your ability to stay in time when the melodic shapes get awkward across strings. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop that section slowed right down, building the muscle memory before you attempt it at full tempo. The opening melody, by contrast, rewards a slightly singing, legato touch, so think about where you use pull-offs to let notes breathe rather than picking every single one. Arranging or reading a tab of a Classical piece like this also means paying close attention to phrasing marks, since the dynamics are baked into the composition and ignoring them flattens the whole thing.

• The storm section features rapid scalar runs in G minor that are best approached with strict alternate picking to keep the sixteenth notes even at 140 BPM.
• Legato technique, including hammer-ons and pull-offs, can help replicate the smooth, singing quality of the original violin lines on guitar.
• Looping the most technically demanding passages slowed down in the Practice Toolbar is essential before attempting the full-tempo run-through.