The guqin is an ancient Chinese instrument with seven strings and a warm, sonorous low register; Moon Over the Mountain Pass is a traditional guqin composition based on a poem by the Chinese poet, Li Bai. It represents soldiers on the battlefield longing for the comforts of their home and family.

In order to play this piece in the same key as the original, and more accurately achieve a guqin-like sound, the guitar should be tuned to drop C: CGCFAD, however, it has been notated in drop D tuning for ease of reading. Make sure the harmonics and open strings ring clearly, and perform all of the slides with attitude; this is an important part of the guqin sound.