Prelude in C-major by Ludovico Roncalli

This is the prelude to the eighth of nine guitar suites published together in 1692 as Capricci Armonicci Sopra La Chitarra Spagnola.

The guitar is a Takamine dreadnought on which the top three strings (E, A, D) are tuned an octave higher than standard tuning. Naturally I'm not using the normal E, A, and D strings because they would snap--not to mention what that would do to the neck. Rather what would normally be the bass E is a D string tuned one note higher, similarly with the A that's really a treble G string, and so on. This produces an overall sound closer to that of the Baroque era instrument, allowing for the use of more unison sounds that simulate the double-strung courses of early instruments. Also, melodic runs can be played with much greater use of open or barred strings.

A note about the sound quality: Apologies are in order as I didn't have a decent mic available, and this was recorded directly into a smartphone. To listen to this you may need to crank up the volume very high...REMEMBER TO TURN IT DOWN before you listen to anything else on the device you are using now. This all depends partly on the device being used. When I played it through my Roku box and HDTV, the volume was fine.

As far as I can tell, nobody has uploaded himself/herself playing this particular prelude to YouTube, so I'm pleased to take this opportunity to do so.