Tárrega or modern: two paths to the same music.
Before learning a Tárrega piece, you choose the fingering of his engraving or a modern one. Here is the difference and how to choose.
A fingering tells you which finger plays each note, on which string and at which fret. In our tabs, the numbers 1 to 4 are the left-hand fingers (index, middle, ring, little finger) and the letters p, i, m, a are the right-hand fingers (thumb, index, middle, ring). The music does not change: only the path your hands take.
What Tárrega wrote
The early engravings of Tárrega’s music (Alier, Vidal Llimona y Boceta, Orfeó Català) carry his left-hand numbers, his string circles and his barres (Cª). They follow a sonic logic: keep the melody on one string to preserve its colour, move high on the neck to join two notes with a slide, hold a bass under a barre. They were conceived for the guitar of his time, strung with gut and under less tension than ours. Some stretches and long barres now call for a hand that is already trained.
What modern practice changed
Today’s teaching and recent editions look first for security: open strings whenever the music allows, first position for as long as it works, one finger per fret, fewer shifts and fewer barres. The sound changes a little, because an open string does not ring like the same note stopped on the neighbouring string. In exchange, the first readings are steadier and the hand tires less.
Which one should you learn with?
For a first encounter, the modern fingering is usually the more approachable: fewer shifts, fewer barres, landmarks close to the nut. Tárrega’s fingering is worth the detour as soon as the piece holds together: it brings out the slides, colours and slurs the composer had in mind. On every piece page we say which of the two is easier, why, and what Tárrega’s fingering brings. A good approach is to learn with one, then revisit a phrase with the other and compare.
How we checked them
Every engraving was read bar by bar by two independent readers, and our fingerings reproduce the printed numbers and circles; the rare departures are documented in each piece’s sources. Every modern fingering was compared note by note with the engraving: same pitches, same durations, same slurs. In your practice space you choose the fingering before learning the piece and can switch at any time; your choice is kept piece by piece.
Pieces offered with both fingerings
For each one, the piece page shows Tárrega’s engraving and the modern tab, with the full explanation.
Lágrima
The melody starts with the little finger in first position. Bar 5 uses separate fingers in place of the barres, and several accompaniment figures move closer to the nut. Bar 12 keeps a second-position barre to sustain the low B through the slur.
Easiest: the modern fingering. Open strings and shorter shifts simplify several passages. The high E in bar 5 still requires a shift to the twelfth fret.
Adelita
Play the ornament in bar 4 near the nut, then let the open E ring. In bar 8 the top three open strings form the whole chord. Return to first position for the cadence in bar 15.
Easiest: the modern fingering. Two fingers hold the three upper notes of bars 2 and 6. Both versions keep the long slide and the barres that sustain several voices.
Endecha
Play the first descent on the first string and let the open E ring in bar 3. In bar 5, play the slide close to the sustained bass. Keep the slur across bars 10 and 11 on the first string too.
Easiest: the modern fingering. In bar 5 you can sustain the low G through the slide without a five-fret stretch. The high-register chords still call for a barre.
Oremus
Let the two lower Gs ring on the open string in bar 2. Play the next descending melody on the first string. In bar 4 take the B flat and G on the third string.
Easiest: the modern fingering. You hold the upper G at fret 3 while the B flat below it also lies at fret 3. The engraving asks you to reach from fret 3 to fret 8 here.
Prelude No. 2 in A minor
Start with the open bass A. In bars 3 and 15, let the open strings carry the melody and its answering voices together. In the final bar, place separate fingers on the two sustained inner notes at fret 2.
Easiest: the modern fingering. The low positions shorten several shifts, and the little finger can hold the G sharp in bar 7 without a substitution. Several four-voice chords still need a barre.
Marieta
In bar 2, take F on the first string and play E open. When the theme returns in the bass, play F, E and D sharp on the fourth string over the open A. Keep the melodic slides on a single string.
Easiest: the modern fingering. Several answers fit in first position with an open A or D. The high register and the triplets still call for shifts.
Pavana
In bars 7 and 14, leave the second string after D sharp and play open E. At the ends of bars 20 and 21, ascend on the first string. Shift your index to fret 7 for the final B of bar 21.
Easiest: the modern fingering. The open E gives you time to prepare F sharp, and the end of the scale lies on one string.
Rosita
Play the scale in bar 11 with open B and E. In bars 12 and 16, take the slide on the first string and finger the two inner voices separately. Let the open G and B ring in the final chord.
Easiest: the modern fingering. The open strings help with the scale and final chord. The slides reaching frets 14 and 15 in the second part still need practice.
Sueño — Mazurka
In bar 4, descend from A to G on the first string, then play open E. In bars 15–16, move the C–E third to the first two strings. Let the E ring open through the half note.
Easiest: the modern fingering. One finger holds the long third while your thumb changes bass notes.
María
Finish the ascent in bar 6 on the first string. In bar 43, hold C and A at fret 10 while you touch the harmonic.
Easiest: the modern fingering. In bar 43 you can sustain both notes without stretching from fret 5 to fret 10.
Mazurka in G
In bars 9 and 41, hold C under open E and then under F sharp on the first string. In bars 21 and 29, play F sharp–E sharp–F sharp on one string. Hold the bass F sharp with the middle finger as the index moves down.
Easiest: the modern fingering. The index moves just one fret for the melodic semitone while the middle finger steadies the bass.
Las dos hermanitas — Two Waltzes
End the triplet in bar 18 on the first string. In the descending figure in bars 23 and 31, use open E and B. In bar 28, play A–G sharp at frets 5–4 on the first string with a small barre under the melody.
Both are about as hard. Open strings lighten the descending figure, while bar 28 asks you to move between two small barres.
Paquito — original version ¡Sola!
Start with open E on the first string. In bar 3, fret only F. In bar 44, play the melody on the first string and hold D on the second.
Easiest: the modern fingering. In bar 3, D, G and B use open strings. In bars 44–45, two fingers can hold the lower voices while the melody moves.
Tango — Alier edition
In bars 40–41, play G and B flat close to the harmonic at fret 12. In bars 49 and 57, let the triplet E ring on the open first string. Keep the bass strings tuned to G and D.
Easiest: the modern fingering. The two fingers holding the third are at frets 11 and 12 when the little finger touches the harmonic.
Gran Vals
In bars 2–4, play open E then F sharp at fret 2 on the first string. In bar 37, slide on the fifth string.
Easiest: the modern fingering. The chords in bars 2–4 stay near the nut. Bar 11 still calls for a finger substitution during the slide.
Capricho Árabe
In bars 21, 31 and 69, let open G ring below the turn. In bar 65, play G sharp and A at frets 9 and 10 on the second string.
Both are about as hard. The bass is easier to sustain in bar 65. Bars 18, 28 and 66 avoid the stretch but take the slur up to fret 17.
Recuerdos de la Alhambra
In bars 5–8, play the melody on the first string and low C at fret 3 on the fifth. In bar 9, the middle finger holds the bass in place of the eighth-fret barre. In bars 15–16, low D stays on the open fourth string.
Easiest: the modern fingering. In bar 15, the thumb plays A on the third string, leaving low D free to ring. In bars 31–32, open E frees the left hand for the inner voice. The p–a–m–i tremolo stays the same.
Danza Mora
In bars 27–29, start the scale in first position, then climb the first string. In bars 54–56, play the G–A–G triplet on that string at frets 3–5–3. In bars 57–60, low B moves from fret 7 on the sixth string to fret 2 on the fifth.
Easiest: the modern fingering. Open strings reduce position changes in bars 27, 32 and 34–35. In the last bars before the return, the index holds the bass without a barre.
Estudio en forma de Minuetto
Start the theme on the first string. Use the open E to shift before the ascent. For the chords in bars 3 and 21, take D on the second string and play the upper part on the first.
Easiest: the modern fingering. The opening needs fewer string crossings and several chords lie closer to the nut. The D and B in bar 6 still ask for a stretch between the index and little fingers.