ROMEO & JULIET - Solo Fingerstyle Arrangement

ROMEO AND JULIET SOLO FINGERSTYLE ARRANGEMENT

Romeo and Juliet is a great piece for developing Mark Knopfler-style fingerpicking, because the challenge isn’t just playing the notes—it’s getting the touch, dynamics and flow that give the song its character.

It first appeared on the 1980 album Making Movies and was released as a single in 1981. The song subsequently appeared on the Dire Straits live albums Alchemy and On The Night, and later on Knopfler’s live duet album with Emmylou Harris, Real Live Roadrunning.

We will be taking the iconic guitar picking part and merging it with the vocal melody so that you have a stand alone solo guitar arrangement of the song. This arrangement sits perfectly alongside our Blitzing Your Fingerstyle Series.

Some of the key guitar techniques include:

• Fingerstyle picking – using the thumb and fingers independently rather than relying on a plectrum.
• Thumb independence – keeping bass notes controlled while the fingers pick chords and melodic ideas above.
• Arpeggiated chords – breaking chord shapes into flowing patterns rather than simply strumming them.
• Chord embellishments – adding and removing notes within chord shapes to create melodic movement.
• Hammer-ons and pull-offs – essential for creating Knopfler’s smooth, vocal-like phrasing.
• Dynamics and touch – controlling how hard individual strings are picked to bring melodies forward while keeping accompaniment notes softer.
• Bass and melody independence – making the guitar sound like it’s performing more than one role at once.
• Slides and position changes – connecting phrases smoothly and giving the arrangement a more expressive quality.
• Muting and note control – allowing some notes to ring while deliberately shortening others to keep the arrangement clean.

Important – We will play in standard tuning but you will need a capo for the session.

Who’s this session suitable for?

Low to high intermediate levels of acoustic, electric  guitarists who can already fingerpick.

The level is ideal for players who want to:

• further their fingerpicking
• correct/tweak existing fingerpicking skills
• take fingerpicking to totally new levels

As a guide you should be familiar with:

• Fretboard knowledge – basics (E and A strings but all strings should be the target)
• Reading TAB Yes (including basic rhythm)
• Chords – Open and basic CAGED barres
• Ability to change between chords smoothly and play basic melody
• Scales – you should be comfortable with major and minor scale as well as your common pentatonic patterns

Things you won’t need to know (but you should definitely not ignore them):

• Theory – although it’s so useful to understand the essentials as it makes learning things much faster and better when playing with others
• Reading music – this is something to strive for as a long-term project

If you are a high beginner you will find this course a little tricky, but that shouldn’t put you off. You can always buy the materials and then work through them at your own pace. Be focused and have a goal.

Materials

This online course includes:

• Lead sheet TAB/music PDF
• Access to a Zoom recording of the complete live lesson

Check out the whole series

• You can purchase all four lessons as one course for £70 which saves you £10 overall.

• Purchase lessons individually at £20 per lesson.

IMPORTANT POINTS

• You will receive the Lesson PDF and video link after your payment is confirmed. We will email it asap.
• The lesson video is a private link on YouTube. Please keep this and the Lesson PDF private. Don’t not share with others or online.