Tomaso Albinoni’s original composition is in three-four time (three-quarter time). But The Doors play the Adagio in G Minor in four-four time (common time). This arrangement for solo guitar follows The Doors‘ version. To make it easier to play on the guitar, it’s not arranged in G Minor but E Minor.
I play it at 58 bpm, which makes it more of a Largo in E Minor than an Adagio in G Minor 😉 But it sounds very much like The Doors‘ original in the video I linked below. Only the first 2 minutes of the video are arranged, because this is where Albinoni’s original composition comes to an end.
Adagio in G Minor: Intermediate Level Guitar Tab
Despite the time and key change this arrangement is still not easy to play, it’s at least intermediate level. But sounds so very beautiful, if you’re willing to spend some time with it. And this is what it sounds like:
You want to play this? Get guitar tab on Sheet Music Plus!
As far as Wikipedia knows, the Adagio in G Minor was published by the Italian composer Remo Giazotto in 1958 and is only based on fragments of an Albinoni composition. Nevertheless it’s a popular piece of classical music today and mostly known as Albinoni’s. He was born in 1671 in Venice and died in 1751, he was an Italian composer and violin player of the baroque.
One of Jim’s favourite pieces of music
According to this Online Doors Forum Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor was a favourite of Jim Morrison’s so the band recorded a version at TTG Studio in 1968 as a treat for him. They quote Ray Manzarek saying: „This was one of Jim Morrison’s favourite pieces of music. He loved the melancholy mood of this almost mystical classic. We played it with La Cienaga Symphony Strings put together by Bruce Botnick’s father for this unique over dub.“
The forum administrator concludes: „When you consider Bruce Harris once asked Jim Morrison what was his favourite pop tune and Jim after a little thought said „Do you know the score to Fellini’s 8 1/2? I quite like that“, it’s no surprise that The Doors did this. They were a band that was interested in an eclectic body of music. Which is apparent in every album they did. Frankly there has never been a band ever like these guys and this version is quite breathtaking. Ray eventually went one further with his brilliant version of Carmina Burana.“
And this is what the Doors‘ recording of the Adagio sounds like:
You want to play this? Get guitar tab on Sheet Music Plus!