This one is tricky! The bass notes divide each measure in 3+3+2 while the melody floats independently above, so you have to stay concentrated to make it till the end.
Pupil Marit was asked to play for in the music lesson at her high school. It’s so old! It’s not easy!! And it’s super fast!!! So made a sort of playable version (the original has more guitars playing, and it’s a little hard to decide what to put in and what to leave out when playing it on one guitar). Anyway, the trick to mastering this is to start slow, and be really sure about what you do. And then gradually build up the tempo. But never exceed your personal speed limit: so stay in control and don’t play it any faster than you can handle. When you start making mistakes, you’re going too fast. Slow down an
d play it without mistakes. You can treat this little guitar lesson as a summary. Or as a game to test your level: practice with a metronome, and then try the video to see how far you get. I start at MM = 30 and end at MM = 120. Happy plucking!
These are the famous two menuets from the music book for Anna Magdalena Bach. I arranged them for two guitar – very easy parts! – and put the score on the Free Scores and Tabs page of my website. Three clicks before I start playing, so it’s actually a play along video!
This is an easy and attractive arrangement of the famous Sarabande by Händel: just the theme, just the melody+bass, enough to make it real but not so much that it gets out of reach for a beginner.
Later this year I will visit Taiwan for concerts (Baroque music on lute) so I asked a friend in Taiwan what would be a popular song among the older generation Taiwanese, but still be known by younger people as well. He came with this song by Sarah Chen. Some years ago I already arranged her song Have You Dreamed Of Me, so this one feels appropriate to me.
Someone mentioned #SaintAgnesandtheBurningTrain by #Sting. It’s from a movie, but what do I know of these things Anyway, it certainly is a cute song for ukulele.
Tabs are for sale my website. All proceeds go to the charity @theukulelekidsclub
This sweet romance comes from a duet in several movements for guitar and piano. I made an arrangement for two guitars. The first guitar (the one on the left) is the original part, though I did simplify it slightly. The second guitar (the one on the right) is adapted from the piano part and is a bit more difficult, but still very ‘doable’.
Two lovely Torres/Romanillos models by Daniel Slaman. And a big shout out to my brother for playing along. Two pairs of T9 In Ear Monitors by @XviveAudio to keep track of each other.
This one is for Thomas again. Capo in 8 only of you like to match the original key and think it’s nice. Otherwise please make your own choice. It’s not a really easy arrangement, so playing it without capo, or capo in a lower position, will help to gain a little better access to the frets.
T9 In Ear Monitors with click track by @XviveAudio
Of course, capo in 8 is nonsense on a classical guitar. And yet, I like it for this song, as it gives it a special, music box like quality. And of course now it’s in the same key as Laufey sings it, which is my aim in all fingerstyle covers I make. Partly because some of my pupils – for whom I make these arrangements – like to play along with the original, and partly because I think it’s a sport to make it as easy as possible, yet also as accurate as possible. And that includes the key.