Renaissance Guitar – Greensleves Warm Up

Now follows a warm up routine to practice before playing my arrangement of Greensleves which I posted last month and will help with all of the renaissance guitar pieces on this site. The exercise simply separates the bass line from the melody which helps you study the technique and timing of the piece before inserting the melody. [...]

Carnival of Venice by Julius Benedict

Here is a lovely tune usually played on the trumpet as done so by Wynton Marsalis in the video bellow. I have arranged it for beginner guitar players who are looking to perform a sweet melody and more advanced players who can opt to work on their sight reading by covering up the guitar tab. [...]

Minuet in E by Robert de Visee

Here is another classical guitar piece for enjoyment and delight. Minuet In E Minor Following on from my Renaissance Guitar lessons, I have chosen a piece from the Baroque suite, a lovely tune by Robert de Visee (1650-1725). The piece presents some technical challenges, particularly towards the end so it’s worth paying close attention to the piece’s closing [...]

“Farewell My Lover You Do Me Wrong”

Okay, this song has been played, covered and sung in England for so long (since 1580 be precise) that’s it’s become a bit of a cliché. Still, Greensleeves remains a great tune and one that is perfect to arrange for acoustic guitar. My arrangement has two voices which work independently from one another in triple time. [...]

Little Spanish Tune (accompanying video)

After yesterday’s post including a guitar tab of the little Spanish tune Spagnoletta, I decided to quickly record a video for my demonstration and your delight. If you like this piece then you might want to browse to my previous renaissance guitar lessons. I do so enjoy sharing such tunes!

Little Spanish Tune

Spagnoletta is an anonymously written lute tune. It comprises of two separate lines or voices of music. The top melodic line should be heard clearly above the accompanying bass. The tune is based around dotted crotchets. The inclusion of a dotted crotchet at the start of a measure will ‘squeeze’ the second note shrinking it into [...]

Beginner’s Classical Guitar Lesson

Here’s a nice and easy warm-up for a complete beginner to have a go at. A simple little warm-up exercise using only open strings. The goal is play the exercise at a steady pace counting – 1, 2, 3, 4 | 1 &, 2& , 3&, 4 & – and tapping your foot nicely in [...]

Renaissance Guitar Lesson

Here is a short little piece to learn, a piece to dance to or to hum along to as you walk along a cobbled Seventeenth Century street. There is too, a brief video of myself having a go at the tune yesterday in my home studio. If you feel further inclined, have a short read about classical [...]