Rondo Alla Turca arranged for lead guitar

I arranged this for lead guitar, meaning I took out the bass clef part of the composition.  I’ve only embedded the first page, as I’m still double-checking my work on the rest of it.  What is on this page will get you through a great deal of the song, but not the “solo” section in the middle.

Notes on technique

In the measure at the end of the first line, you should use your first, second, and fourth finger to do the hammer-ons, and then leave the second finger on that tenth fret note for the interval you have to play.

In measure eleven, I included a slide at the end which you should do with your fourth finger (fret 10 to 9).  That will leave your first and third fingers free to play the next interval.

In measure 27, the crazy octaves start.  Use your first and fourth finger for the first one, and then your first and third for the next, and work on it in small chunks.  This is one of the hardest parts of the song if you’ve never played anything like this.  Jazz players who play a lot of Wes Montgomery, on the other hand, will probably breeze right through it.

This is a pretty challenging piece, so take your time with it.  You can experiment with different note placements, but I’ve been teaching this song to students for a few years, and I’m pretty certain that the way I’ve arranged this is the easiest and most graceful way to play it.  “Graceful” meaning I’ve tried to arrange it in such a way that you don’t have to repeat the use of fingers, or can easily lay fingers across strings when necessary.  There are a few places where you’ll have to stretch your first, second, and fourth fingers across five frets, but your life as a guitar player will be a lot easier the sooner you develop the ability to do that sort of stretch.