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Grade 4 Late Intermediate
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” is the English title of the 10th movement of the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Today, it is often performed at wedding ceremonies slowly and reverently, in defiance of the effect suggested by Bach in his original scoring. Whatever the tempo, this chorale movement is one of Bach’s most enduring works.

Technique
Left hand plays the major role in “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. There are many rapid succesion of chord changes. Delivery is in triplet time and needs to be quick. Good thing is there are no barred chords. Right hand having the easier task, plays the 3 predominant bass of each bar. Strike with thumb for emphasis.

Triplets Bass played quickly with thumb

Tip
Take Note that Main riff has 3 variations although slight (an extra bass note here and there). Since this song is at a lively tempo, what you won’t want to do is to fumble with the chords and lose the tempo. Pay close attention to the left hand fingering to ensure economy of hand movement between the chords.

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Further Reading
Classical for guitar is one of my first classical guitar book. Jerry Synder, the author of the book has categorized 17 songs by grades. From grade 1 (beginner) to grade 4 (late intemediate). Each song comes with a brief introduction which is helpful and informative. In this tab book, you will find many composers’ famous works. like beethovern’s “fur elise” to wedding favorites like “Canon in D” by Pachelbel and “Jesu, Man’s joy of desiring” by Bach to excerise work by Fernando Sor. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an entry level classical guitar book.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 7:49 pm and is filed under 1.SONGS, 4.GRADES, Grade 4, Johann S Bach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.