The Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 is perhaps Chopin’s best-known nocturne. It was written for piano, but the melody sings so beautifully that it begs to be played on other instruments. This classical guitar arrangement keeps the singing melody and the delicate accompaniment, without losing the lightness of the original.
Above you’ll find the free PDF with standard notation and tablature. If you’d prefer the Guitar Pro version, write to me and I’ll send it to you.
Listen and watch
It’s also one of the tracks on my album Cordas em Movimento, released in 2017.
About the piece
At the piano, Chopin combined a deeply singing melody with a free use of time — rubato — and harmonies full of chromaticism. He took the nocturne, a salon genre created by the Irish composer John Field, and raised it to a level of sophistication no one had reached before. On the guitar, the challenge is to keep that singing quality and that breathing with just six strings.
Practice tip
Start with the melody on its own, until you can make it “sing” on the guitar. Then add the accompaniment, slowly and with a metronome. Speed comes with time; what matters most is that the melody always stands out above everything else.
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