Adelita– Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909)
Grade 4– Late intermediate
 Tárrega is considered to have laid the foundations for 20th century classical guitar and for increasing interest in the guitar as a recital instrument. Tárrega preferred small intimate performances over the concert stage. Some believe this was because he played without the nails needed for volume. Others say this was related to his childhood trauma. |
Notes
The girl’s name Adelita is a variant of Adela (Old German) and Alida (Latin), and the meaning of Adelita is “noble; small winged one”. This song is colorful in tone and fun to play. If you are confident in your barre chord technique, this is the song for you. Tarrega not only wrote numerous original compositions for the instrument, he also transcripted works from other composers like Chopin. I hear a little bit of Chopin’s influence in Adelita.
Guitar Demo (Jack Sanders)
2 parts. Play as AABBA. 16 Bars in Total. Lots of Barre Chords, not for young ones with smaller hands. Lots of sliding, hammer ons and pull offs and a wide neck span on the guitar. The latter means you play from the open string to 13 fret in this song so a lot of neck movement. Overall a very good workout for both hands and highly enjoyable to play. Bar[11] and [12] have a couple of barre chords with hammer on and pull offs. I would say these 2 measures are the “make or break” section of the song. If you can pull this off, the rest of the song is easy. Otherwise try tarrega other shorter preludes instead, get into the his mode and try Adelita later.
Guitar Pro Playthrough
Taken From Spanish For Guitar by Howard Wallach.