Introduction

This has to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces written for any instrument in the late 20th century. John Williams the composer captured the emotional content of the movie perfectly in this them. Played by the virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman the piece reaches new levels of longing and beauty. This version however is my transcription of John Williams (the guitarist) version. 

Unusual Tuning:

This piece was originally written in the key of A-minor however John Williams chose to transpose it to the key of G-minor. I would think he did this to make it easier to play. Here is the tuning:

1. E

2. B

3. G

4. D

5. G

6. C

Performance Points

If you are following the tabs it shouldn't prove a problem however if you're using my transcription that has the sheet music you will have to make sure that you've adjusted your fingerings on the 5th and 6th strings to allow for the new tuning. I do recommend that you use my sheet music with tabs transcription because that version has very detailed left & right-hand fingering indications which are invaluable for guitarists that are looking to master this quickly without struggling with the burden of trying to work out how to finger it.

There are some significant stretches for the left-hand. The best way to approach these is to isolate them and make sure that your thumb is placed optimally behind the neck. Remember that if you're thumb is too high behind the neck your stretching ability will be less than optimal. After that introduce the chord just before it trying to make your finger movement as smooth as possible without lifting your fingers too high from the strings.

Finally, please note that my transcription contains a few runs that Itzhak Perlman does that are not in John Williams' transcriptions. I wanted to include them because they were fast and cool! 

Let your fingers fly!