Some pieces hand you everything you need to play them well, right there in the first two measures. Larghetto by Ferdinando Carulli is one of them. It is a real little gem of the early classical guitar repertoire: melodic, elegant, and short enough to learn in a week or two, yet rich enough to teach you skills you will use in music for years to come.
In this guide, drawn from a full video lesson at Classical Guitar Corner, we will walk through the piece the way a teacher would: first the basics, then the musical building blocks, and finally the expressive details that turn a correct performance into a beautiful one.
First, the basics: tempo, time, and key
Larghetto is a tempo marking meaning “a little slow.” You will often see largo and adagio as the slow indications in classical music; larghetto sits above them. Slightly slow, but not too slow.
The piece is in 2/4 time. The top number tells you there are two beats in each bar, and the bottom number tells you each beat is a quarter note.
The key is E minor, and its key signature carries one sharp: every F in the score is played F sharp unless a natural sign says otherwise. But wait, G major also has one sharp. How do we know we are in E minor? Look at the first and last harmonies. The opening chord is E, G, and B, which spells E minor, and the final chord is E minor too. When the first and last harmonies agree like that, you have a very clear answer.
The DNA of the piece
Here is what makes Larghetto such a rewarding study: the opening two measures contain the material that builds the entire piece. Learn to recognize three elements at the start and you will find them everywhere.
1. The anacrusis. The piece begins with an anacrusis, also called an upbeat or pickup note: a single eighth note in an incomplete measure, leading into the first full bar. Count it as “and one.” That little upbeat is not a one-off. It returns again and again throughout the piece, and it gives the music its forward momentum, always leading you into the next measure. Notice how the notation helps you: the beaming separates the pickup note from the notes before it, showing you visually that it belongs to what comes next, not what came before. Feeling that connection will tie your phrasing together across the whole piece.
2. The block chords. After the single-note anacrusis, Carulli punctuates the music with block chords, played p-i-m-a with all the notes sounding at once. These chords return throughout the piece, so how you play them matters. If you choose to roll one, consider rolling the others in a similar way as the music progresses, so the ornamentation stays cohesive rather than random.
3. Stepwise motion. The opening melody moves G, F sharp, E: the third, second, and first degrees of the E minor scale, walking down by step. This simple, elegant scale fragment permeates the whole piece. Once you know it is there, you will hear it everywhere: sometimes on top, sometimes in the bass, and near the end, hidden somewhere surprising.
Get the sheet music (free). Larghetto appears in Easy Classical Guitar, Volume One, and you can download the collection free here: Easy Classical Guitar Vol. 1 (prefer TAB? There is a TAB edition too).
Contrary motion and a beautiful suspension
As the first section unfolds, Carulli adds a lovely device: contrary motion. A descending stepwise line in the upper voice is answered by a rising bass line, somewhat chromatic on the way up. One line falling, one line rising, and the result is a beautiful sounding passage.
There is also an expressive suspension worth bringing out. A G, prepared as part of one harmony, is held over a B7 chord where it becomes dissonant, then resolves down to F sharp. The simple rule with suspensions: play the dissonance a little louder and the resolution softer. Your fingers will want to do the opposite, because the resolution often falls on a beat with nothing else to play. Resist that. Playing the resolution gently is what makes the moment expressive, and it may even change your right-hand fingering: a thumb stroke can exaggerate the very note you want to soften, so a lighter finger may serve the music better. This is a perfect example of musical intention informing fingering choices.
The second phrase: singing tenths
From the pickup to measure 9, the texture changes, but the DNA is intact. The anacrusis returns in nearly every measure. A constant B sits in the middle voice, almost like a pedal tone, while the treble and bass move together in the interval of a tenth: a sweet, singing interval that may remind you of Tárrega’s Lágrima, which uses the same device in E major.
Shaping this passage is satisfyingly simple. As a broad generalization (with many exceptions) when shaping dynamics on the classical guitar, a rising melodic line can grow louder, and a falling line can soften. Here it works beautifully, creating a wave over each four-measure phrase. And here is an underused tip: do not only shape the moving melody. That repeated B in the middle voice gives you more points of information than any other line, so let it swell and recede with the phrase too. On the second statement of the phrase, try shifting your right hand toward the bridge for a touch of ponticello color.
The offbeat variation
Next, the melody shifts onto the offbeats while the bass takes over the more active, interesting line. The scale figures are still there, just offset, and the block chords thin out. Because the rhythm here is quite even, this section is the ripest candidate in the piece for some gentle tempo fluctuation: a little push as the line rises, a little relaxation as it falls, with the dynamics moving in tandem.
The final passage: a hidden melody
The closing measures look like pure arpeggios, and this is where you put on your detective hat. The block chords have not disappeared; they have been arpeggiated, played p-m-a in flowing figures. And the melody has not disappeared either. Hidden inside the arpeggio texture is the same stepwise line from the very beginning: G, F sharp, E.
You can play this passage straightforwardly and it will still work. But to make it special, try leaving your left-hand fingers down so the melody notes sustain into each other, creating the illusion of a singing line inside the texture. You do not even need to hold each note for its full duration; just a little longer than normal. Add a light accent with the right-hand finger that plays each melody note, and the line emerges as if by magic. Composers like Bach hide melodies inside arpeggios this way all the time, so this skill will repay you far beyond this one piece.
Bringing it all together
Once you can name the ingredients (the anacrusis, the block chords, the stepwise melody, the contrary motion, the suspension), listen to the piece again. You will hear it with a different pair of ears, and your playing will show it.
You can download the full score free in Easy Classical Guitar, Volume One, part of our Easy Classical Guitar Collection. If you enjoyed this piece, try Poco Allegretto by Carulli next. And if you enjoy learning this way, with the music broken down step by step, this is exactly how we teach inside CGC Academy, where the Cornerstone Method gives you a clear, structured path through the whole repertoire.
Fascinating. I’m not a classical guitarist, rather a jazz guitarist who likes chord melodies in which chords and melody played simultaneously. Voice leading (jazz) is analyzing each voice. This piece has beautiful voice leading: contrary motion, pedal point… Ted Greene (chord genius) suggests studying Bach… to learn arranging, chord melodies. Thanks for the Video. Very informative.
Simon, you play the easy piece so beautifully and explain every essential details in it. We learn a lot from your lesson. Thank you for your generosity.
Hello Simon.
You are doing fantastic job about guitar technique and overall work for us, who want to learn piece by piece.
Thank you very much for all, you are doing.
Love your lessons!!!!
Nice! Thank you very much Simon.
Thank you for such an inspiring lesson. Please, I’m just wondering how you keep your guitar so stable in its playing position.