These short Preludes for guitar are intended to illustrate a particular technical point or points. It may be either technical or compositional or both and I would have to say that I have been influenced by Tarrega’s Preludes which he wrote mostly for his students and so have called them Preludes rather than Studies. I learnt Tarrega’s pieces such as Adelita and Lagrima early in my study of the guitar and always enjoyed their nature as both technical exercises but also performance pieces. I have tried to emulate that with these pieces.

This piece makes extensive use of open strings but is essentially a set of variations. The melody keeps returning but with small alterations as does the accompaniment. There is also a B section in E minor before a return to the opening melody. The use of different strings is also an illustration of variation in the melody and an essential feature of the guitar. The return to the opening section has, as a variation, a change in bass and harmony. The original C major7 chord becomes E minor by changing the bass and the E minor chord becomes C major7 in the same fashion. The effect is subtle but attractive and is no harder to play.