Writing for the classical guitar – free course

In his Treatise on Instrumentation (1844), Berlioz, himself a guitarist, observed that it is almost impossible to write well for the guitar without playing it. It is no accident that the instrument's classical repertoire was composed by guitarists: Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Matteo Carcassi, Francisco Tárrega. The guitar lays down its own laws: six strings, four fretting fingers, open strings that ring on their own. Writing well for it means turning these constraints into assets.

1. Writing for the guitar

Notation: the guitar is written in treble clef, one octave above the real sound (the "octave treble clef", clef=treble-8 in ABC). The open low E is written below the staff, with three ledger lines.
Range: from the open low E (E2) to the B at the 19th fret of string 1 (B5): three and a half octaves.
Voices: in a real score, the melody has stems up and the bass stems down. On this site, both voices are combined as chords on a single stem ([E,B]).
Right-hand fingering: p (thumb) for strings 4 to 6; i, m, a (index, middle, ring) for the treble strings.

2. The keys that ring

Key	Useful open basses	Why it rings	Examples (public domain)
E minor / E major	E (6th), A (5th), B (5th fr. 2)	The tonic is the lowest string: maximum resonance	Tárrega, Lágrima; the anonymous Romance; Adelita
A minor / A major	A (5th), E (6th), D (4th)	I, IV and V on open strings	Tárrega, Recuerdos de la Alhambra; many Carcassi studies
D major / D minor	D (4th), A (5th); 6th string lowered to D	With the 6th in D ("drop D"), a deep low tonic	Tárrega, Capricho árabe
G major / C major	G (3rd), D (4th), A (5th)	Bright, ideal for studies and minuets	Sor, Giuliani, Carulli: easy studies

Avoid at first: B♭, E♭, A♭, F minor. Almost no open string belongs to them: you have to barre everywhere, and the guitar loses its resonance.

3. Idiom no. 1: p-i-m-a arpeggios

Bass in the thumb, chord picked out by the fingers: this is the basic texture of romantic guitar music (the 120 arpeggios of Giuliani's Opus 1 explore every formula). Here, the p-i-m-a-m-i formula over the cadence Em – Am – B7 – Em.

M:3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=88
K:Em clef=treble-8
"Em"E,G Be BG | "Am"A,A ce cA | "B7"B,A Bf BA | "Em"E,G Be BG | "Em"[E,GBe]6 |]

4. Idiom no. 2: campanella

Inherited from the baroque guitar (Gaspar Sanz), campanella ("little bell") plays a scale by putting each note on a different string, mixing fretted notes and open strings. The notes overlap and ring like bells or a harp. Here, a G major scale: the tab is essential, because the position changes everything.

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=72
K:G clef=treble-8
G A B c d e f g | g f e d c B A G | "G"[G,B,DGBg]8 |]

e |----------------0-----3-|-3-----0----------------|-3----------------------|
B |-------0-----3-----7----|----7-----3-----0-------|-0----------------------|
G |-0--------5-------------|-------------5--------0-|-0----------------------|
D |----7-------------------|-------------------7----|-0----------------------|
A |------------------------|------------------------|-2----------------------|
E |------------------------|------------------------|-3----------------------|

5. Idiom no. 3: natural harmonics

By lightly touching a string just above fret 12, 7 or 5 (without pressing), then plucking it, you get a crystalline sound: the octave (fret 12), the octave + fifth (fret 7) or the double octave (fret 5) of the open string. Ending a piece in harmonics is a classic.

M:3/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=60
K:G clef=treble-8
"^XII"!style=harmonic!d !style=harmonic!g !style=harmonic!b | !style=harmonic!e'3 | "^VII"!style=harmonic!a !style=harmonic!d' !style=harmonic!f' | "^XII"!style=harmonic![dgb]3 |]

e |------------------|-<12>-------|---------------|------------|
B |-------------<12>-|------------|-----------<7>-|-<12>-------|
G |-------<12>-------|------------|------<7>------|-<12>-------|
D |-<12>-------------|------------|-<7>-----------|-<12>-------|
A |------------------|------------|---------------|------------|
E |------------------|------------|---------------|------------|

The fret-12 harmonics on strings 4, 3 and 2 form a G major chord (D, G, B); those at fret 7 give A, D, F♯, a D major chord. Think of harmonics as distant bells: they ring long and softly.

6. Checking playability

Four fingers on the fretting hand, not one more; only one barre at a time.
Stretches: four frets in low positions, five higher up, no more.
One note per string: two simultaneous notes cannot be on the same string. Check every chord.
Position shifts: plan an open note or a rest to give the hand time to move.
Other idioms: slurs (for legato), an open-string pedal under a melody, and tremolo (for a melody that seems sustained).

Composer's tip: always write guitar in hand. Every time you write down a chord, play it. If a passage is too hard, look for the same harmony in another position or with an open string: there is almost always a more idiomatic solution, and it sounds better.

Common mistakes:

Writing for guitar as for piano: close chords in the bass, crossing voices, ten notes at once. The guitar prefers airy textures.
Forgetting that open strings ring: an open bass keeps vibrating under the next chord; if it does not belong to it, plan to damp it.
Choosing the key at random: E, A, D, G, C first.

Your workshop

Compose a 16-bar study in E minor or A minor, in A A' B A form.
Harmonic plan: A on i – iv – V7 – i; B in the relative major (G or C).
Choose a single arpeggio formula (p-i-m-a-m-i, or p-i-m-i) and keep it from start to finish: that is the rule of Giuliani's and Carcassi's studies.
End with a chord in harmonics or a campanella scale.
Write it in the ABC editor with K:Em clef=treble-8, then play it: fix every unplayable bar.

Self-check: play your piece slowly, listening only to the bass. Is it as beautiful and logical as the melody?