The Adagio Sostenuto from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
is probably one of the most famous solo piano pieces of
all times, and as with most of his works, it is nearly
impossible to transcribe it for solo guitar without
making at least a few more or less significant changes
to the original score. I started learning the piece
with two transcriptions from www.free-scores.com and
found myself struggling with some of the position
changes and fingering suggestions, so I started
looking for solutions ...(+)
The Adagio Sostenuto from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
is probably one of the most famous solo piano pieces of
all times, and as with most of his works, it is nearly
impossible to transcribe it for solo guitar without
making at least a few more or less significant changes
to the original score. I started learning the piece
with two transcriptions from www.free-scores.com and
found myself struggling with some of the position
changes and fingering suggestions, so I started
looking for solutions and more convenient ways to play
those passages without changing the essence of the
composition. After transposing and studying the
original piano score, I finally ended up working out my
own arrangement in a minor with some alternative
fingerings, and allowing myself to slightly modify
some of the accompaniment notes in order to achieve an
improved and more "guitaristic" playability wherever it
seemed conducive to a pleasant and enjoyable
performance. To make it easier and more transparent for
you to compare my arrangement to the original
composition I created a PDF that also contains my
transcription and the piano score transposed to a
minor. You'll also find two editions without the piano
score, the second version contains a few more
modifications which I personally find helpful.
