This exercise is a fine little madrigal tune using the guitar. Madrigal just means a tune for playing in harmonised parts. So here we will do 2 parts played together; bass line and melody line. This particular tune is quite medieval in theme, and is a typical example of many guitar pieces. The thumb plays the bass notes along the A string, whilst the melody is played alongside on the B string with fingers.

An important thing to learn is that the bass line and melody lines can vary quite considerably. Notice that as the bass notes descend, the melody notes get higher, and vice versa. This contrast makes for a simple but fun little tune.

Separate the bass line from the melody and take a closer look. The thumb plays the notes along the A string starting on the 7th fret. The fret numbers are simply 7-6-5-6 (repeat). If you watch this in the ActionTab, it's actually very simple. The bass line is just moving through these same 3 notes (E, D#, D) at regular intervals.

Also, looking solely at the melody on the B string; it is a little busier, but still very simple. The notes for this part are: Open B, E, E, F#, F#, G, G, F# repeat.

If you play either one of these parts on its own, it is fairly simple. In fact, they don't really sound too brilliant. But when we put them together, it starts sounding much better.

To practice playing the tune you may prefer to practice the bass line by itself first, and then have a go at the melody line by itself before adding them together.

Playing both parts together can be tricky at first. The following advice should help - because the key to understanding how to fit these parts together is in the timing.

Notice that for each one of the bass notes - 2 melody notes are played. Use the Tablature view (under Tools in the menu bar), and this becomes clearer. You should be able to see 2 melody notes per bass note shown on the strings.

So, when the E note is played in the bass (using the thumb), the melody line plays an open B at the same time, followed by the E (on the B string) - keep the original bass note sounding out during this, before continuing the tune. Look at the ActionTab and listen to where the notes are played.

The fretboard fingering for this tune isn't as simple once you are combining the bass line and melody line together. Some of the finger positioning can be quite difficult - so keep practicing before moving on the next part of the tune.