How to play Bach’s Prelude in D Minor (TAB + Guitar Pro files)

The arepeggiated patterns and complex harmonies of this short but evocative prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) make it a natural fit for the guitar.

Yet it is thought to be originally written for the lute-harpsichord by Bach sometime between 1717 and 1723. The original is in C minor and, played on the piano, sounds significantly different.

It was Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) who transposed the original Prelude (BWV 999) from C minor to D minor for the guitar in the late-1920s. You can hear Segovia’s fast, metronomic version here while a young Julian Bream plays a slightly slower, more expressive version here.

Guitarist Taso Comanescu’s version below is also relatively fast but with more rhythmic freedom and dynamics. Whether you play this at a steady pace (fast or slow), or with more freedom, is a matter of personal choice.

How to play Prelude in D minor (BMV 999) on the guitar

This prelude is not technically difficult although a few bars pose challenging stretches for the left hand. The right hand pattern is largely the same with sixteenth notes repeated throughout. There are two clear voices: a bass line and arpeggiated melody.

The bass line

Each bar contains a bass line consisting of three notes played with the thumb. While the first note is technically held for one beat, in practice, it’s rare to hear it played like this on guitar. (On piano, it’s a different story – see the video above or listen to Glenn Gould’s version.) You can hear an example of a guitarist observing the bass line rest note in the video below.

This is a good technical exercise in muting the bass string but I think the harmony sounds better when the first bass note is allowed to ring freely.

Regardless, a great way to begin this prelude is to play through the bass line with the thumb. This ensures you’ll never lose the foundation on which Bach builds some complex harmonies.

The first 12 bars are printed below (you can download the entire bass line as a PDF and Guitar Pro file at the end of this article). Stick with the left hand fingering as you’ll need the other fingers free when we add the melody.

Once the bass line starts to become second nature, you can add the melody.

The right hand pattern remains the same throughout the prelude (with a small adjustment at bars 31-34). The right hand pattern is shown below, played with open strings. While there are many ways to interpret this piece, it’s best to initially play it strictly in time with a metronome.

Bars 1-4: The first four bars set the foundation for the prelude. Bars 1 is a D minor chord (repeated in bar 2) while bar 3 is a G minor chord (repeated in bar 4).

Bars 5-6: Only the melody changes on these bars – the bass line is the same as preceding bars 3-4 but in a different position. This section requires a slightly tricky left hand jump to play the B flat-C#-G-C# with the right hand thumb and index finger. It requires more practice to make it as smooth as the other bars.

Bars 7-10: The prelude returns to D minor. Listen to the building dynamics that guitarist Taso Comanescu above uses to emphasize this section as the bass line descends. Keep your left hand’s second and fourth fingers in place throughout this section. Bar 9 requires a barre on the first fret.

Bars 11-12: This G#dim chord requires a left hand stretch, which is difficult to reach quickly after bar 10. I think many guitarists slow the prelude down here because of this technical rather than musical reason. Diligent practice makes all the difference.

Bars 13-15: The way the harmony shifts at the end of bar 11 and into the A minor add 9 in bar 12 is one of the my favorite moments in this prelude. Bar 15 can be played in two ways. The way it is transcribed here has the low F on the first string, which requires a significant stretch with the left hand, barring the treble strings with your fourth finger. Lower your thumb on the back of the neck to help make the stretch.

However, there is an easier way to play this by shifting the F up an octave, as transcribed below. This is the way I prefer to play the piece.

Bars 16-24: Bar 16 is a Dm6 chord. Bars 17 and 18 is an E7 chord and marks the beginning of an ascending sequence that peaks with a higher-voiced E7 chord in bar 22. The prelude then begins a descending harmonic sequence from bar 23 (which ends in bar 27 back on the original E7 shape from bar 17). It’s possible to think of this prelude in other ways, but breaking it up in a logical way is essential to commit it to memory. Julian Bream wasn’t looking at sheet music when he played the piece for a crowd. Note that bars 19, 20 and 22 need first finger barres.

Bars 25-30

Bars 31-34: Each bar in this section requires playing two notes on the same string, which subtly changes how you play the repeating pattern that occurs throughout the prelude. This transcription suggests using hammer-ons, which keeps the right hand pattern consistent. The challenge is to keep the dynamics the same between the plucked note and the hammer-on. The faster the piece is played, the less noticeable it is.

However, there’s two alternative ways to play this which ensures every note is still plucked, keeping the dynamics smoother. The first alternative requires a significant stretch in the left hand, which is just as uncomfortable as the stretch in bar 15. The final alternative ensures every note is plucked and removes the uncomfortable stretch, but at the price of a new right hand pattern. You can download these below.

Notice how the tonal centre changes from E to A in bar 33. This continues throughout the rest of the prelude until it ends in bar 43 on an A major chord.

You can download the full version, including Guitar Pro files and PDF, below.