Giuliani Op. 50 No. 1: a first piece for classical guitar
The first sixteen bars of the first piece in Mauro Giuliani's Le Papillon, Op. 50: a melody in C on the top two strings over a bass in the thumb, the two voices often moving together in thirds. It's one of the first real pieces classical guitarists learn, and it teaches what every later piece needs: two voices at once, each held for its full length.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with the metronome on, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 100 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 100 bpm
- Starts at
- 60 bpm
- Length
- 16 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
- Time
- 3/4
- Level
- Beginner
- Plays with
- A metronome
How to play it
Thumb on the bass, fingers on the melody: hold each half note for two full beats while the other voice moves.
There are two voices: the melody on the top two strings, played with i and m, and the bass, played with the thumb. They often move together a third or a sixth apart: bar 1 is C at the B string's 1st fret over E at the D string's 2nd, and bar 3 is the melody E, F, E on the top string over C, D, C on the B string.
Hold every note for its full length. A half note takes two beats, so the melody's C in bar 1 is still sounding when the second C is played on beat 3. The tab's stems show which voice a note belongs to: melody up, bass down.
The excerpt is two eight-bar phrases, each ending on a long note followed by a rest: let the long note ring, and use the rest to prepare the next bar.
Mistakes to watch for
- Cutting the half notes short to get ready for the next ones.
- Playing both voices at the same volume. The melody leads; the bass supports it.
- Playing the bass with a finger when it climbs to the B string, in bars 3, 11 and 13: the thumb plays every bass note, wherever it is.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 60
- 65
- 70
- 75
- 80
- 85
- 90
- 95
- 100
That's 16 loops and about 10 minutes before you're playing at 100 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play Giuliani: Op. 50 No. 1?
The goal is 100 bpm in quarter notes, which is 1.7 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 60 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
What is Le Papillon?
The title of Mauro Giuliani's Op. 50, a set of 32 short, easy pieces for guitar published in the early 19th century. No. 1 is often the first real piece a classical guitarist learns.
Is this the whole piece?
No, it's the first sixteen bars. The rest adds a moving accompaniment in eighths under the melody. Once these bars are at tempo, the whole piece is the next step: it's in the public domain.
More classical exercises
All 12 classical exercises · Fretboard notes trainer · All 107 exercises