Summertime comes from the opera, Porgy and Bess, with music composed by George Gershwin. This song has been covered by many artists including Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, and even Ricky Nelson.
I’ve always loved Gershwin’s music and finally got around to arranging one of his songs. The first of many arrangements hopefully.
I composed Moroccan Nights using the double harmonic scale. The scale goes by a variety of names but what makes it stand out is that it has two large intervals in the scale called augmented 2nds.
I also use some basic rasgueados (strumming) in certain sections of the song as well as a different type of tremolo, compared to what most classical guitarists are used to.
Scarborough Fair is an old traditional English Ballad and nobody knows who actually composed the piece. I’ve always loved the version by Simon and Garfunkel and their recording inspired me to make a solo guitar arrangement of the melody.
Are you going to Scarborough Faire?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lived there.
She once was a true love of mine….
Dee is a beautiful piece of music composed by one of my favorite guitarists, Randy Rhoads. He helped form the band Quiet Riot before joining Ozzy Osbourne. Dee appears on The Blizzard of Ozz album and shows Rhoads’ classical guitar chops. There is even a reference of the opening of the Bach Bouree in the middle of Dee.
Ecossaise (Op. 33 No. 2) was composed by the great guitar Italian virtuoso and composer, Mauro Giuliani. An Ecossaise is a type of dance that has Scottish origins. Giuliani composed around 150 works for the guitar that range from pieces written for the beginner all the way to the concert guitarist.
Una Limosna Por El Amor de Dios is a beautiful piece of music composed by the Paraguayan guitarist/composer, Agustin Barrios Mangore. This is one of his last compositions and really shows how great of a composer he really was. Other than the first couple of measures and the last measure, it makes use of the tremolo technique throughout. I have a few tremolo exercises that can help here: https://robertlunn.com/guitar-school-exercises
A Time for Us is a beautiful piece of music composed by Nino Rota for the movie, Romeo and Juliet.
Fernando Sor was one of the best composers for the classical guitar. He was a Spanish composer and virtuoso who spent time in Paris, London and Moscow. His composed many pieces ranging from pieces for beginners all the way through concert level pieces.
Siciliana is a beautiful little piece by the Italian composer, Ferdinando Carulli. He composed over 400 works and many of them are perfect for the student guitarist. This particular one works well for the late-beginner/early intermediate guitarist.
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