Tárrega is considered to have laid the foundations for 20th-century classical guitar and for increased interest in the guitar as a recital instrument.

 Born in Villarreal, Spain, he fell into an irrigation channel when he was young, which rendered him nearly blind. Partially due to this accident, the family moved to Castellon and enrolled him in music classes. Both his first music teachers, Eugeni Ruiz and Manuel Gonzalez, were blind. In 1862, guitarist Julián Arcas heard the young prodigy and encouraged him to journey to Barcelona, a hub for musicians. He entered the Madrid Conservatory in 1874, under the sponsorship of a wealthy merchant named Antonio Canesa, where he studied composition under Emilio Arrieta. By the end of the 1870s, he was teaching the guitar (Emilio Pujol and Miguel Llobet were pupils of his) and giving regular concerts.He later settled in Barcelona, and died there in 1909.

Μερικά απο τα πιο γνωστά έργα του: Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Capricho Árabe and Danza Mora