Edvard Grieg - Au Matin / Morning Mood - Guitar Tab

Grieg: Complete Symphonic Works

2019 4:04

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About Au Matin / Morning Mood

Few pieces reward fingerstyle guitar as naturally as "Morning Mood," the opening number from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite. The melody sits beautifully in E major, letting you lean on open strings and natural harmonics to catch that airy, dawn-like quality the piece demands. The main challenge is not the notes themselves but the phrasing: long, smooth legato lines that need consistent right-hand dynamics and careful control of note length. Rushing is the enemy here, and at 120 BPM the tempo feels relaxed until you try to hold that evenness across a full phrase. Fingerpicking players should work on keeping the melody voice clearly prominent above any accompaniment pattern, which takes deliberate practice to balance. If the phrasing in the middle section feels uneven, use the Practice Toolbar to loop it slowed down until the dynamic shaping becomes muscle memory. Classical technique, particularly strict alternating fingers and a firm but relaxed wrist, will serve you well throughout.

• The melody sits in E major and makes good use of open strings, giving a fingerstyle arrangement a naturally resonant, ringing tone.
• The primary technical demand is smooth legato phrasing with controlled dynamics, keeping the melody voice consistently prominent over any accompaniment.
• Practising at a tempo slower than 120 BPM first helps lock in even phrase shaping before you bring the piece up to speed.