Tremolo

Foundation

Six RH/LH control studies that should run in parallel with, or just before, Level 0. Study 5 names tremolo directly as one of the techniques it prepares.

1. 01

   

   MasterMicro Study 1

   Master Micro Study 1: a right-hand-only drill, the start of the Tremolo Roadmap's foundation level before the hands work together.

2. 02

   

   MasterMicro Study 2

   Master Micro Study 2: a left-hand-only drill, continuing the Tremolo Roadmap's foundation level.

3. 03

   

   MasterMicro Study 3

   Master Micro Study 3: bringing both hands together, the third step in the Tremolo Roadmap's foundation level.

4. 04

   

   MasterMicro Study 4

   Master Micro Study 4: both hands together in octaves, continuing the Tremolo Roadmap's foundation level.

5. 05

   

   MasterMicro Study 5

   Master Micro Study 5: training left-hand slurs and right-hand/left-hand coordination on common fingers — step 5 of the Tremolo Roadmap's foundation.

6. 06

   

   MasterMicro Study 6

   Master Micro Study 6: right-hand string crossing and picado technique — the last of six foundation drills before the Tremolo Roadmap's first real piece.

Level 0 — Carcassi, Etude No. 2, Op. 60

Why it's first: 19th-century harmony (simple i–V7–i, ii–V cadence), so the ear and the left hand are never the limiting factor — every difficulty is isolated to the right hand. Trains RH arpeggio/tremolo/picado technique, the "Mighty 5" rhythm displacements, and konnokol for odd groupings.

Approaching Etude No. 2 by Carcassi Part 1

Approaching Carcassi's Etude No. 2, Op. 60: arpeggio shapes, guide fingers for the tricky parts, and Konokol — Indian rhythmic solfège — for its tuplets.

Level 1 — Tárrega, Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Composed 1896, after Tárrega and his patron Doña Concha Martínez walked through the Alhambra Palace — the tremolo imitates the palace's fountains. Learn the left hand with no tremolo first: break the piece into chord shapes and play it as a straight chordal study before tremolo goes anywhere near it.

Learn Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Tarrega

Learn Recuerdos de la Alhambra: left-hand shifts and chord shapes, why you should not learn it with tremolo, and four micro studies from my CG Magazine article.

Level 2 — Barrios, Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios

The most advanced tremolo piece from the early 20th-century "learnable" tier. Barrios pushes past Tárrega's ideas — heavier hinge-barre and barre-to-fingers work, and a harmony where bass, middle voice, inner melody and the tremolo voice all move independently.

Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios by Barrios

Barrios' Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios, section by section — a tremolo masterpiece broken into fingering and technique videos.