Get the officially-licensed guitar tab for "Canon in D":
Guitar Tab Available Here
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"Canon in D" by Johann Pachalbel (For other videos in this series: Click here)
Artist: Originally written by Johann Pachelbel (likely between 1690-1700), and was first published in print in 1919
Performed by:
Adam Lomeo
Difficulty: Intermediate
Guitar Tab: Available Here
The Guitar Tab:
Accurate, officially-licensed guitar tab for “Canon in D” available here:
Canon in D Guitar Tab. The first 100 users get a free officially-licensed tab PLUS everyone else gets 50%-off until midnight the day this video is first posted at Premier Guitar.
About the Song:
Although this song is played at just about every wedding in the U.S. today, it was lost for centuries before being found and published by Gustav Beckmann in 1919. And, unfortunately, the actual circumstances behind why Pachelbel composed Canon in D have been lost to history.
The Tone:
The Yamaha nylon string guitar used in this performance includes some very powerful tone controls, and Adam rolled the treble back a bit to create a warm classical guitar sound. To record the song, Adam ran the guitar into a Logic Pro 9 digital audio workstation via an M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface. Although it would have been more authentic to put a good quality mic on a classical guitar, Adam used a strong direct signal so that this piece would be well suited for the online listening format.
Adam achieved a warm and “singing” tone with well-sculpted fingernails, and by positioning his picking hand near the bottom of the fretboard. In live situations this Yamaha acoustic guitar sounds best through a high quality acoustic amp (Adam uses an AER compact 60 for gigs). Although this guitar's acoustic sound is no louder than an unplugged Stratocaster, it is very important to play this instrument as if it were a traditional acoustic guitar - if you do not dig into the strings at the emotional high points of the song, the playing will sound tentative.
The Gear:
- Yamaha Silent Nylon String Classical Guitar
Player Tips:
From UWT's Adam Lomeo – “Although Canon in D has a lot of textural complexity (and the melody becomes quite intricate in places), although a quick study of the bass-line demonstrates the extremely simple and repetitive foundation on which this piece is built.
My first priority with this piece was to bring out each voice clearly. Around the 0:57 mark, it is essential to plan out fingerings that allow the bass notes to ring for their full value while the more intricate melody glides above. For the block chord section at 1:25, it is helpful to view each voicing as a familiar grip and focus on bringing out the inner voice movement. This section, with the melody in the bass and the harmony in the treble strings, can be tricky, but this arranging technique offers a pleasant contrast to the preceding section and it is definitely worth the extra effort. The tremelo picking section at 2:40 is the technical highpoint of the piece. I used a p.i.m.a technique: Thumb (bass note), Index, Middle, Pointer. If you have spent many hours playing scales on the piano then you may favor the p.a.m.i approach: Thumb (bass note), Pointer, Middle, Index. In either case, the thumb plays the bass note and the other fingers strike the same string (usually E or B) in rapid succession. I choose to roll the chords in the final section. I felt that this gave the section a sense of relaxation and finality.”
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