This book presents 37 pieces of Renaissance guitar music transcribed for solo fingerstyle ukulele together with the author’s recordings of every transcription. Moreover, a generous introduction provides a brief history of the Renaissance guitar, tips on period ornamentation and musicianship, recommended recordings, and invaluable resources for further research of your own. Throughout Europe, the Renaissance guitar was a popular instrument in the middle of the sixteenth century. Its composers left us a treasure-trove of music, from rustic dances to chansons and elaborate fantasias. Five-hundred years later, this music fits beautifully on the Renaissance guitar’s musical descendant, the ukulele. The Renaissance guitar and the ukulele share an almost identical tuning. As the transcriptions in this book are written in standard notation and tablature, any type of ukulele, from soprano to baritone—as well as the top four strings of the guitar— can be used to play them. Most of the pieces are in standard gCEA or GCEA tuning; the seven pieces in the second section of the book, however, require low-G tuning to render the counterpoint as written. It’s also possible for guitar and baritone uke players to read the tablature provided. The music will sound a perfect 4th lower than the notation, but as there was no standard pitch in the time of the Renaissance guitar, modern players should feel no obligation to play this music at fixed pitch. If you wish to read from the tablature and sound in the same key as the notation for ensemble purposes, guitar and baritone uke players merely need to place a capo at the fifth fret. With a certain sense of historical irony, the music of the Renaissance guitar is here reborn on modern fretted instruments.

This book reveals the most popular instrument in the world as it was in the age of Elizabeth I and Shakespeare.

Gaspar Sanz (1640 –1710) is the most famous baroque-period guitarist. His works are tuneful and memorable, with fiery cross-rhythms and cascading scale passages. He published three books of guitar music.The baroque guitar could be viewed as a close relative of the ukulele. Indeed, the two instruments have much in common. the smaller four-course guitar actually had the same tuning as the ukulele, for example, although it was largely double-strung.Sanz enjoyed playing scales in the campanella style, with the notes of a scale set out on different strings, sonically overlapping slightly in the style of little bells. This is a technique the ukulele excels at, and is used to good effect in these arrangements.Sanz' music for baroque guitar transfers exceptionally well to the uke, as these arrangements demonstrate. It is hoped that this repertoire will bring a refreshing addition to the repertoire of the ukulele, just as the little instrument can bring a freshness to these old but lively pieces.

James Tyler offers a practical manual to aid guitar players and lutenists in transitioning from modern stringed instruments to the baroque guitar. He begins with the physical aspects of the instrument, addressing tuning and stringing arrangements and technique before considering the fundamentals of baroque guitar tablature. In the second part of the book Tyler provides an anthology of representative works from the repertoire. Each piece is introduced with an explanation of the idiosyncrasies of the particular manuscript or source and information regarding any performance practice issues related to the piece itself -- represented in both tablature and staff notation. Tyler's thorough yet practical approach facilitates access to this complex body of work.

Ukulele Picking Tunes: Classical Gems, by professional ukulele player and composer Paul Mansell, provides a unique collection of 20 favorite classical pieces arranged for both high-G and low-G ukulele. All the arrangements appear in both ukulele tablature and standard music notation. Selections include compositions by well-known composers such as J. S. Bach and Beethoven, as well as some lesser-known gems by Dowland, Sor and Carcassi. The book includes access to video footage of the author performing each piece.

John Dowland (1563 – 1626), a contemporary of both William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I, was recognized as one of the greatest musicians of his time, writing songs, ensemble music and solos for the lute. Early music has long been part of the classic guitar repertoire and more recently, it has been adopted with enthusiasm by ukulele players. This book presents sixteen of Dowland's most beautiful lute songs that can be performed by ukulele players, with or without a vocalist. Two versions of each song – one easier and another more advanced—are offered in both standard notation and tablature for soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles in re-entrant (gCEA) tuning. Various vocal ensemble renditions of the songs, as well as the author’s video performances of each solo arrangement are available online. For vocalists and their audiences, and for all musicians and songwriters to fully connect with the emotion of the songs, Dowland’s sublime lyrics are also included.

Believed to be the first banjo book of its kind, consisting entirely of Renaissance music, Renaissance and Early Music for Banjo provides the banjo player with growing material – the opportunity to play in a number of different keys besides G major, thus expanding their horizon by using unusual chords. the player will utilize different tempos that banjoists are not usually familiar with. Provides material for Classical Banjo enthusiasts who want to expand their playing, it also allows the player to deal with what was perhaps the earliest type of music theory known – that of the modal scales. It will teach the student the different types of form structures, and to get away from relying on the 5th string too much. This type of music would be extremely difficult to learn by ear, and so a book of tablatures would prove to be invaluable. Every piece is presented first in a vertical chordal arrangement, which was the way it was originally intended, and then arranged in a more linear horizontal style, using perpetual motion which is much more familiar with toda's player. Thus they are great for finger limbering exercises. Every tune is provided with analytical commentaries and the book has a glossary of terms. In tablature only.

Early Music Gems contains 49 tunes dating from 1300-1791, including Medieval, Renaissance, and ancient melodies as well as a "best of" John Playford's The Dancing Master. These delightful melodies are perfect for contradance, English country dance and concert settings. Suggested bowings, chords, tempos, and variations are included. An audio recording of each of the tunes includes the fiddle melody with guitar accompaniment. Includes access to online audio.

A comprehensive collection of solos written early in the evolution of the guitar. These are not lute transcriptions but actual early guitar pieces. Written in standard notation.