Classical Guitar Instruction with Douglas Niedt

Douglas Niedt's
Fabulous Fingerings

Douglas Niedt, guitarist
  • My fabulous fingerings are not necessarily the easiest fingerings to play.
  • They may be easier or they may be much more difficult than other standard fingerings.
  • But, they are what SOUND BEST.

Classical Guitar Technique

FABULOUS FINGERINGS

Prelude in D Minor (BWV 999) by J.S. Bach

By Douglas Niedt

Copyright Douglas Niedt. All Rights Reserved.
This article may be reprinted, but please be considerate and give credit to Douglas Niedt.



The piece is written as an arpeggio throughout. But, beginning at measure #31, many editions of the piece show a fingering with slurs which break up the arpeggio sound of the preceding measures:

Douglas Niedt Fabulous Fingering Bach Prelude Dm Ex 1

This fingering sounds, in a word, stupid. It makes measures 31 through 34 sound completely out-of-place.

Here, I will show you:





Other guitarists have come along with improved fingerings that preserve the arpeggio texture. But the fingerings sound noisy and disjointed. They are also difficult to play fast and contain a very difficult stretch in measure #34:

Douglas Niedt Fabulous Fingering Bach Prelude Dm Ex 2

Watch, I will show you the problems with this fingering:





The preceding fingering can be improved by eliminating a few guide fingers and shifts. But there are still large jumps required of the left hand, finger noises, and the difficult stretch in measure #34:

Douglas Niedt Fabulous Fingering Bach Prelude Dm Ex 3

Watch, I will show you the problems you will still have with this fingering:





My FABULOUS FINGERING corrects the deficiencies of the other solutions. Not only does it sound great, but it is easy to play, even at fast speeds:

Douglas Niedt Fabulous Fingering Bach Prelude Dm Ex 4

This is a great fingering. Watch: