J.S. Bach - Prelude in C minor, BWV 999 - Guitar Tab

About Prelude in C minor, BWV 999

Few pieces reward slow, deliberate practice as clearly as this Prelude in C minor by J.S. Bach. Written for lute, it has become a staple of the Classical guitar repertoire, and the fingerstyle demands are considerable even though the piece looks deceptively simple on the page. The entire work unfolds through a continuous broken-chord, or arpeggio, pattern in the right hand while the left hand shifts through a series of carefully voiced positions across the neck in C minor. Getting those left-hand changes smooth and silent, without interrupting the flow of the arpeggio, is the real challenge here. Your picking-hand fingers need to stay relaxed and consistent in their assignment to strings throughout. Use the Practice Toolbar to isolate the trickier position shifts and loop them slowed down until the motion feels automatic. Once the mechanics settle, the phrasing and dynamics become the real work.

• The piece is built entirely on a repeating broken-chord arpeggio pattern, so right-hand finger consistency is the single most important technical focus.
• Playing in E Standard tuning in C minor means several chord shapes involve awkward stretches in the lower positions, worth isolating early in practice.
• Originally composed for lute, the guitar transcription requires careful attention to voice leading so inner melodic movements within each chord shape are not lost.