J S Bach, Allegro in A minor, BWV 1003 | Heather DeRome, guitar

Arranged by Frank Koonce and Heather DeRome. Score is available at You may have guessed from the videos, parts one, two, three, and four (!) about articulation in Early Music, that this is a topic I feel passionate about. The fact is that I am a little jealous of violin players and their centuries of pedagogy, especially with regard to the use of the bow. I have been told more than once that “We play the guitar not the violin,” but I feel convinced that there has got to be a way for us, as guitarists, to tap into some of the violin’s expertise, and use it as a springboard for interpretations of Bach on the guitar that sound natural and that have a real richness insofar as the articulation. I think the Allegro BWV 1003 lends itself very well to this because Bach’s slurs are so inventive (and fun!) and also because the left-hand fingerings in our edition of the Sonatas and Partitas allow for the articulation to happen in and of itself. Frank Koonce also gave me some great suggestions for the right-hand fingerings; see the closeups!