Guillaume De Machaut - Douce Dame Jolie - Guitar Tab

Musica Ioculatorum

2013 3:55

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About Douce Dame Jolie

Arranging a 14th-century virelai for guitar is a rewarding but genuinely unusual challenge. "Douce Dame Jolie," originally composed by Guillaume De Machaut, sits in F major and was written for voice and possibly plucked strings, which means a classical fingerstyle approach translates naturally to the guitar. The melody line needs to sing cleanly above any inner voices or bass movement, so right-hand control is the central discipline here. Separating the melodic phrases from the accompaniment texture takes careful attention to finger independence, and the ornamental figures that suit this style of Classical repertoire require clean, deliberate fretting. The rhythmic feel is modal and flowing rather than metrically strict, so resist the urge to drive the beat too hard. If a particular phrase with a run or a large left-hand stretch is giving you trouble, isolate it using the Practice Toolbar, loop it slowed down, and build the muscle memory before returning it to full speed.

• A fingerstyle approach on classical guitar suits this piece well, as the original was written for voice with plucked string accompaniment.
• The flowing, non-metrically-driven feel of medieval virelai style asks you to phrase each line like a singer rather than locking rigidly to a grid.
• Work on right-hand finger independence early: keeping the melody prominent above any inner voices is the core technical challenge throughout.