Play the Most Romantic French Song Of All Time on Classical Guitar

When you first start out learning to play classical guitar - or any style of guitar for that matter - you tend to first learn how to play in what we call the 1st position. That includes the open strings and the 1st three frets or so of the guitar. If you're learning to read music (standard notation) at the same time, this is also a reason to keep you in one region of the guitar as you learn certain core theory concepts for sight reading.

I think this is kind of ironic because the 1st position can in some ways be a more difficult position than others on the guitar fretboard, due to the heightened tension of the strings near the first fret and the greater distance between frets as you travel closer to the nut. In any case, most beginner guitarists get their feet wet with a few open chords and some studies in the first position.

Playing in the 1st position usually confines us to a handful of keys that use the maximum number of open strings. The key of C major is one such key and a very common one for beginner and intermediate classical guitarist students. That's why I created a student version of the famous French "La Vie en Rose" in the 1st position and tried to minimize the difficulty with an easy piece that is fun to play. There is a little syncopation happening in this piece, but not too much and the biggest challenge you may encounter is the brief F barre chord we are required to play near the end. (In the 1st and hardest position, no less!)

In the following video, you can see exactly what my right and left hand fingers are doing as the sheet music with guitar tablature scrolls across the screen in real time. Try it out for yourself and if you need some tips on playing this lovely song, check out my explanatory tutorial here.