Play ‘Clair de Lune’ by Debussy on Classical Guitar

Edited by Neil Smith

Clair de Lune is from Claude Debussy‘s Suite Bergamasque, which was composed for piano solo between the years 1890 and 1905. The arrangement here by Rodri Protheroe attempts to mimic the effect of the depressed sustain pedal on the piano by allowing adjacent notes, played on separate strings, to sound on together on classical guitar. This gives a warm, rich sound; hold the right hand away from the sound hole to allow the full sonority to emerge. A certain amount of stretching is required, for example in the first chord of line two.

The player can take advantage of the closeness of the frets in higher positions, especially in the last two chords, in which a two-fret stretch can be comfortably reached between the second and third left hand fingers.

Strings are circled numbers, left hand fingers plain numbers. The arranger has used the device of an inclined line(/ or \) to indicate changes of position.

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Check out more classical guitar music to play here

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This music supplement was originally printed in the July 1993 issue of Classical Guitar.

Classical Guitar Music to Play: ‘Reverie’ by Debussy (arr. Peter Newbery)

Video Pick of the Week: Julian Bream and John Williams Play Debussy’s ‘Clair de lune’