La-Catedral (preludiosaudade) by Agustín Barrios (1885- 1944)
 Barrios’s compositions can be divided into three basic categories: folkloric, imitative and religious. Barrios paid tribute to the music and people of his native land by composing pieces modeled after folk songs from South America and Central America. Imitating the compositional style and techniques of the Baroque and Romantic periods was another side to his craftsmanship. |
Notes
Preludio saudade is the first of 3 movements of Barrios’ la Catedral. A slow piece of arpeggios with a bach undertone. Preludio Saudade is a song of great emotional depth and emote many deep feelings. This movement is technical and demands a wide coverage of the guitar neck. (Preludio Saudade) is part before part 2 (Andante Religioso) followed by part 3 (Allegro Solemne). Barrios wrote many difficult but beautiful compositions to showcase his technical brillance to the world. Augustin Barrios was from-a little known, back then-paraguay, and he prefers his classical guitar strung with 6 metal strings. A Normal guitar as you know has 3 nylon (bass), 3 metal(treble).
Lento means slow. Preludio saudade is definitely a “think ahead” song. If you start too fast, you may fumble at the latter part with the many chord transition. 48 bars. Right hand plucking consists mostly of the (amipimam) pattern. Focus more on the left hand fingering as there are truckloads of chords at the higher frets of the guitar. At the closure, Bar[47] there are a series of harmonics at the high end 19th fret.
using it more comfortable. There are some tight chords, your left fingers will all bunched together. Play slow and place each finger acuurately to optimise space. Also experiment with thumb (back of neck) position
Guitar Demo
Guitar Pro Playthrough
La Catedral Movements
Further Reading: The Story of La Catedral