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Für Elise is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most popular compositions. It was written for solo piano, and is played in the key of A minor. The original "title" of the song is actually Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor. Bagatelle is a form of music, a short piece of music, and usually of a light, mellow nature. The word Bagatelle actually means a "trifle". Bagatelles are usually written for the piano.
Für Elise consists of 3 themes (movements). Our Für Elise guitar lesson will teach you only the 1st theme, since the 2nd and 3rd are very advanced. The song is played in 3/4 time, and is made up of arpeggiated chords mostly.
Our tutorial on Für Elise will teach you how to play the 1st part of the song. You should know that it is centered around chords in the key of A minor. The chords to Für Elise are very basic (A minor, E major, C major, G major), all of which you should already know at this stage. If not, head on back to our basic lesson on guitar chords to revise. And of course, you'll learn a lot about changing in between these chords as well, so if you're having difficulties in that area, this lesson will be very beneficial.
Have a look at the lesson, and make sure you download the tabs after logging in. It will give you the exact order of the parts, which might be confusing from just watching the video lesson by itself.
Song Details
Für Elise was published in 1867, 40 years after Beethoven's (1770-1827) death. It is not certain who "Elise" was, there are differing theories about it, which you can read on Wikipedia.
If you want to refine the skills you learned in Für Elise, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
arpeggios / chord changes / chords
Download tabs for Für Elise
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Download backing track for Für Elise
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Hi Tom,
Wonderful lesson. Liked the easy chord shapes and the pleasure of the arpeggio to play this composition. A request on the tablature: Would it be possible to have a regular pdf like your other lessons ? This one is an image inside the pdf and a print of it is not legible enough to see and practise when I am not in front of my laptop. Would really help. Thanks.