Free guitar scores

All the guitar scores posted in this blog are listed bellow.

This list is always updated after each new score addition.

Last update: May 06, 2008
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ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS

Suite Madeirense

1. Prelude
2. Cantiga de embalar
3. Polca
4. Interlude
5. Bailinho (to be added soon)


Guitar pieces for children

- Tuatara
- Feather Flight
- The Ho-Oh Bird
- April Sea


Student guitar pieces

- Misterioso
- Prelude


EDITED AND REVISED WORKS

Anonym - Romance

Matteo Carcassi - Andantino in C major (from the guitar method, opus 59)

Fernando Sor - Study in B minor, opus 35, No.22

Francisco Tárrega
- Lágrima
- Adelita


ARRANGEMENTS FOR GUITAR

Traditional
- Good Morning to All (Happy Birthday)
- Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (guitar duo)

Misterioso for guitar

Here's one more guitar piece that wrote for my students. It is called Misterioso which is the Portuguese translation for Mysterious. It is named like that because that's how it sounds!

Click on the link to get the score: Misterious for guitar.

This composition, which acts as a guitar study, is meant for guitar students who have been already introduced to the basic concepts of dynamic, agogics and, consequently, phrasing. As it is clear in the sheet music, I indicate the whole process of dynamics and agogics until the end of the piece.

Misterioso is also a technical study that emphasizes the use of double-note playing - including parallel thirds. The right hand must provide a very clean and focused sound, whereas the left hand faces the problematics of shifting as smoothly as possible.

This guitar piece ends with two harmonics played in sequence. They can be played either naturally or artificially. The former way is the safer, but the artificial harmonics are preferable because they allow the left hand to keep alive some notes of the suspended E-minor harmony.

Have fun :)

Tuatara for guitar beginners

Here I present you Tuatara, a short guitar piece destined to children who just started learning the instrument.

Download the files:

- Tuatara in standard music notation
- Tuatara with a guitar tab added


Some notes about the composition:

The rhythmical pattern created for this guitar piece was created with the intention of allowing the student to momentarily rest and hence be given the opportunity to concentrate him/herself for the execution of the following measures. The last articulation inside a measure happens on the third beat in the shape of a half-note (minim). This pattern goes on throughout the whole piece with some exceptions.

Used in this little guitar piece are only the natural notes found in the first position of the fingerboard on the first and second strings. From lowest to highest: b, c, d (2nd string), and e, f, g (1st string). The bass notes are made up only of the fifth and sixth open strings - a and e correspondingly.

The basses are obviously plucked by the thumb. The twice articulated notes on the upper voice are to be plucked with fingers i and m correspondingly.


Some practice tips (for teaching it to children):

• let the student play the whole piece without the bass notes at the beginning
• aim for good left hand position in which the fingertips target the places where they are to land
• although the right hand fingering is originally p i m, don't hesitate trying out other fingerings such as p m i, p m a, and p a m
• don't be too perfectionist and have fun :)

More guitar pieces like this will be posted soon. Stay tuned!

:)

The Ho-Oh Bird for guitar beginners

Here is a small guitar piece written for children. I prepared the guitar scores in 2 formats.

Choose one (or both if you prefer):

• In standard music notation
• With a guitar tab added to it

The fun of it is that it is only required the use of the left-hand 2nd finger to stop some notes on the fingerboard. Of course, with a combination of open strings.

Rhythmically is also very simple. It lightly combines crochets (quarter notes) with quavers (eighth notes).

This guitar piece sounds quite oriental. That have inspired me to title it The Ho-Oh Bird. According to Chinese mythology, the legendary founder of music in ancient China, Ling Lun, is believed to have made bamboo pipes tuned to the sounds of birds.

One of his main inspirations was the phoenix, a bird used as a sacred symbol in several cultures. In China it is referred as Fenghuang and it is, after the dragon, the most respected legendary creature.

In Japan it is known as Ho-Oh ("Immortal Bird") and that's where I got the name from. Nothing else than my personal choise. For me music, not just guitar music, is an immortal thing.

I hope guitar beginners will find this composition amusing of playing. I've tried it already with some of my guitar students. This is how I combine enjoyment with guitar learning.

Have fun, little guitarists!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

It is one of the most famous English nursery rhymes. The original melody is from the 1761 French tune Ah ! vous dirai-je, Maman. Today is better known with the English text The Star - a poem written by Jane Taylor (1783 - 1824).

My version of it is a score for guitar duo. The melody is played by the 2nd guitar and it is meant for the guitar student. The 1st guitar should be played by the guitar teacher or an advanced student. It is basically a counterpoint in a higher pitch.

Click here to download the guitar duo score


For those who don't know the song lyrics (is it possible?), here is the most widely known verse:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

Some classical composers used this song in their works. Maybe the most famous usage of it is Mozart's Variations on "Ah vous dirais-je, Maman". You can hear an audio excerpt of the piece here.

This version for guitar duo is a very simple one. It was written with the pedagogical goal of introducing the guitar beginner with melody playing, making it so an amusing way of using the C major scale in the first position of the fingerboard.

That's an important think because children need motivation to learn how to play guitar.

:)

April Sea for guitar beginners

This is a short guitar composition that I wrote for a student. The title was suggested by him. It was April and he had just come back from the seaside. It seams that he would rather stay there instead of coming back to practice the guitar!

This guitar work is basically a two voice composition. The lower voice (the bass line) is made up of the root notes of the harmonies. The note figures here used are just the whole note (semibreve) and the half note (minim).

For the absolute guitar beginner it is a little confusing to read a guitar score written with a two voices structure. Especially if he is a children who is still learning the basics of solfeggio. In other words, if he is still learning how to read music.

Having that in consideration I included a simplified version of this guitar piece. It sounds exactly the same but it is written as a one voice composition. Examples of guitar works written with this monodic texture can be found in the opus of the great classical guitar composers such as Francesco Molino and Mauro Giuliani. For instance, take a look at Molino's opus 16 or 61 (duos for guitar and violin) and you'll see what I mean.

Each of this two versions is written in standard notation and in guitar tablature. Here are the files for FREE download:

- In standard notation
- With tab added
- In standard notation reduced to a monodic texture
- The same but with tab added

Click here to listen a midi version of this guitar piece.

Have fun!

Adelita - mazurka for guitar by Tárrega

Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (1852-1909) was a Spanish composer, guitarist and guitar pedagogue. He is historically recognized as the father of modern classical guitar playing.

Adelita is one of the six guitar miniatures that were titled by Tárrega with female names. Each one of them is written in a dance style. This one is a mazurka - a Polish national dance in triple time.

Here is my revision of Tárrega's Adelita in 2 types of notation:

In standard notation
If you feel enough comfortable in reading sheet music without the help of a guitar tablature.

With guitar tab added
The guitar tab is attached to the note staff. This way you can view my fingering and all other elements of the music such as note duration and so on.

As a midi file
If you don't know it sounds just listen to it. You can also import this midi file into a guitar tab software.

Enjoy!

Feather Flight for guitar beginners

Here is a short piece that I wrote for one of my guitar students.

Download it here.

This guitar composition came instantaneously into existence. It happened during a guitar class when I was showing to my student the natural scale in the first position of the fingerboard.


In this piece, which is used as a guitar study for children, the melody is played by the lower voice with the thumb. The upper voice is a simple pedal on the first open string which fills up the unarticulated beats of the lower voice.

Have fun!

:)

Study in B minor for classical guitar by Fernando Sor

Here is a FREE version of Fernando Sor's study in B minor for classical guitar - opus 35, n° 22.

Click here to download it.

If you compare my revision of this guitar work with others you'll find that they don't look quite the same. Notice my note figuration in the 2nd part of the piece.

It was a recording of this composition that inspired Julian Bream to learn how to play the guitar. Can you guess who was the guitarist in that recording?

:)

Matteo Carcassi - Andantino in C major

Fell free to download this famous guitar study composed by Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853).

This short guitar piece is included in his famous guitar method (opus 59). It is a must play for all guitar beginners.

I prepared it for you in several formats. Choose the one that suits you better:

Standard notation
For those guitarists who can read music.

Standard notation with tablature added
By mixing standard notation with guitar tablature all the fingering can be learned with better precision.

In gp5 format
If you're used to play with the Guitar Pro software this is for you. There are no fingerings included. I still have to learn all Guitar Pro features before being able to take the most of it.

In midi format
In case you don't know how it sounds. Of course, you don't need to download this guitar study in midi if you already use Guitar Pro.

Have fun!

Happy Birthday for guitar beginners

Here I offer you 2 different guitar arrangements of "Good Morning to All" which is the title of the original tune of "Happy Birthday to You". One is written in C major, and the other one in D major.

Feel free to download them:

- "Good Morning to All" in C
- "Good Morning to All" in D

I wrote a post about the copyright issues concerning this famous tune. Click here to read it.

Each one of this guitar arrangements presents a particular technical issue. Here follows some notes about them:


"Good Morning to All" for classical guitar in C

In this version the guitar student learns how to play in the first position of the fingerboard with a violin-like left hand posture. A good premeditate exercise is to play the diatonic natural scale in the 1st position of the fretboard - all the available notes that are not affected by a flat or a sharp signal.

When playing this scale the third finger should stop the notes G, C and F on the third fret of the sixth, fifth and fourth strings respectively. The fourth finger should stop the notes D and G on the third fret of the second and first strings. I guess some of you (the beginners) still don't know where to locate all the notes of the diatonic natural scale in the first position of the fingerboard.

I hope this will help you:

E - 6th open string
F - 6th string; 1st fret
G - 6th string; 3rd fret
A - 5th open string
B - 5th string; 2nd fret
C - 5th string; 3rd fret
D - 4th open string
E - 4th string; 2nd fret
F - 4th string; 3rd fret
G - 3rd open string
A - 3rd string; 2nd fret
B - 2nd open string
C - 2nd string; 1st fret
D - 2nd string; 3rd fret
E - 1st open string
F - 1st string; 1st fret
G - 1st string; 3rd fret

First finger should stop the notes located in the first fret. The second finger will, logically, stop those notes located in the second fret. To what concerns the third finger, read above.

By practicing this scale with the indicated fingering the guitar beginner will develop a basic hand posture that is used in a huge part of the guitar literature. This guitar version in C major is written with the purpose (in fact just one of several purposes) of learning that left hand posture.

The fingering for the right hand is a very simple and comprehensive one. The p finger plays the basses - of course! The upper voice is played with the fingers m and i which alternate constantly. Finger a is used only once in a quite logical situation in guitar playing.

For those guitar beginners who are not acquainted with the guitar fingering terminology here it goes:

p = thumb of the right hand
i = index of the right hand
m = middle finger of the right hand
a = ring finger of the right hand
e = little finger of the right hand

1 = index of the left hand
2 = middle finger of the left hand
3 = ring finger of the left hand
4 = little finger of the left hand


"Good Morning to All" for classical guitar in D

This version frees the left hand fingers from stopping the bass notes. They're all on open strings. The contrast here is that the guitar beginner will use a left hand posture parallel to the fingerboard located in the second position. By this I mean that all the fingers of the left hand will be distributed within an interval of four frets.

Each of the fingers should be well positioned above each fret. In this case (2nd position) the first finger should stop all eventual notes located in the second fret. Second finger will take care of all the notes located in the third fret and so on.

Watch for the palm of the left hand, it should stay parallel to the fingerboard - hence the term. This is very important because of the fourth finger. It must be well located above its corresponding fret so that it can function well.

It can be a great lesson for the guitar beginner to learn these 2 guitar arrangements. Presented are the 2 basic left hand postures - the violin-like and the parallel. In the other hand he will get acquainted with the concept of key transposing - a very useful tool for guitarists and musicians overall.

And lastly, but not less, it should be a great pleasure to be able to entertain your family and friends during a birthday party.

When I started working in this music school where I am know, I asked my students if they knew how to play the Happy Birthday tune on the guitar. None of them answer me positively.

I find it a little embarrassing to not know how to play this little and simple tune by yourself - especially if you're a guitarist used to play technically demanding music, such as that of the great classical guitar composers.

Get to work, fellow guitarists!

:)

Boije Collection of classical guitar music

Carl Oscar Boije af Gennäs (1849-1923) was an insurance agent as well as an amateur guitarist. His collection includes printed editions from the early 19th century and manuscripts, e.g. autographs by J.K. Mertz.

The collection, which was donated to the library in 1924, consists of guitar music only. It is currently being digitized in the form of pdf files by the Music Library of Sweden.

Click here to go directly to the Boije Collection's page.

Enjoy!

:)

"Lágrima" by Francisco Tárrega

Here is my edition of this famous guitar composition.

It is NOT my purpose to provide you with a version that is as similar as possible to the original. My version of Tárrega's Lágrima is my own way of fingering it. I'm
not trying to imply that it is better than all other existing fingerings. This is just my interpretation and I'm glad to share it with any guitarist who would like to try it.

Click here to download my version of Lágrima.

It is a problematic task to find out what was Tárrega's original fingering for this guitar piece. If you're looking for a more authentic version I recommend you Gangi and Carfagna's extensive work on Tárrega's guitar works.

They made a complete publication of Francisco Tárrega's works which was published in 1971 by Berben (Italy). Lágrima is included in the 1st volume which consists only of Tárrega's Preludes for the classical guitar.

I believe that Tárrega's Lágrima is a must play for all guitarists.

Enjoy!

Suite Madeirense for Guitar - IV. Interlude

Here is the 4th movement of this guitar suite. It should be played in a very mystical manner.

Has indicated in the musical score use the campanella effect as much as possible until the 2nd beat in measure 16. The harmonics are always done with the left hand (in case you didn't figure it out at first).

To know more about the guitar suite, read "Suite Madeirense for Guitar - 1st movement".

Click here to download the Interlude.

Don't be hesitate in commenting on this guitar movement.

Greetings to all guitarists and guitar lovers!

Romance for Guitar

Romance (also known as Spanish Romance) is probably the most famous guitar piece that was anonymously written. Any classical guitarist must have played this composition at least once.

This guitar tune was made famous in the 1950's film Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Pleasures). It was performed on the soundtrack by the Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes.

Many guitarists have problems in playing this composition in a fluent way.
There are 2 main reasons for so:

guitar technique and fingering.

With my version of this guitar romance I can already help you concerning the fingering issue.

Click here to download my arrangement.

About guitar technique... well, I suggest you to try my arrangement and then send me a comment specifying what troubles you the most. I'll reply to you as soon as possible with insights on the issue.

Many well know guitarists have performed and recorded Romance for Guitar. Last time I searched Amazon for results on guitar recordings containing this piece I found something like 80 results!

Click here to take a look at those results.

Included are recordings of great guitarists like Narciso Yepes, John Williams, Pepe Romero, Christopher Parkening, Liona Boyd, Eduardo Fernandez, Goran Sollscher, Norbert Kraft, and many others.

Great enjoyment in playing and/or listening to Romance for Guitar is all I wish you!

Cheers!

Suite Madeirense for Guitar - 3rd movement

This one is called Polca which means, guess... Polka. If you enjoy playing rasgueados on the guitar, then you should try this movement.

To know more about the guitar suite, read "Suite Madeirense for Guitar - 1st movement".

Click here to download this nice polka.

Have fun!

Guitar scores updated

The scores of the 1st and 2nd movements from Suite Madeirense for Guitar have been updated today (13th of June 2007). Some dynamic and tempo marks weren't displayed after the pdf conversion.

That problem is resolved and now the music scores are properly displaying all the marks.

It seems that I have a problem either with my music notation software or with the printer driver (needed to convert documents to pdf format). I use Encore to notate my music. This music notation software haven't been updated for a long time. It is obviously bugged!

I apologise to those who had already downloaded the previous versions. I'll make sure this will not happen again.

Here are the direct links to the music scores:

I. Prelude
II. Cantiga de embalar (Lullaby)

To read more about my Suite Madeirense for Guitar click here.

Cheers!

Suite Madeirense for Guitar - 2nd movement

Here is the 2nd movement of my Suite Madeirense for Guitar. It is called Cantiga de embalar (Lullaby).

To know more about this guitar suite, read my previous post Suite Madeirense for guitar - 1st movement.

To download Cantiga de embalar, click here.

Enjoy!

Suite Madeirense for Guitar - 1st movement

Here I offer you the 1st movement of my Suite Madeirense, a guitar work in 5 movements. This composition is based in 5 themes from the traditional music of Madeira - the island where I was born.

Each movement contains one of those 5 themes and they are as follows:

1. Prelude - contains the theme "Cantiga do preto" (Black Man's Song)
2. Cantiga de embalar - named after the theme which means Lullaby
3. Polca - named after the theme (Polka)
4. Interlude - contains the theme "Abadessa"
5. Bailinnho - contains the theme "Bailinho da Madeira" (Little Madeiran Dance)

Click here to download the Prelude.

I'll be posting each of the following movements as soon as I finish notating them with my music notation software.

I must warn you, this is not an easy piece to play in the guitar. I performed it in my diploma concert as the virtuoso composition - as demanded by the jury. This guitar suite has been performed by me in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Portugal. It has always received the best critics.

Another guitarist intends to play it in Portugal. His name is Kresimir Bedek - a young virtuoso who has won the first prize from Guitarmania 2007 (Almada, Portugal). He will give two concerts in Portugal and one of them will be in Madeira.

Any brave guitarist is welcome to try this guitar suite.

Enjoy!

:)

A prelude for guitar

Here is a small piece I wrote for a student. It is used as a study but it is also quite musical.

Click here to download it in PDF format.

Feel free to comment it.

:)