Guitar Picking Tunes Blues Jazz Jam Tunes

This is a collection of 48 original jazz tunes in different styles, with fun melodies ideal for jamming. The pieces are in a variety of keys and are presented in standard notation and tablature. Includes access to online audio.

This book in the Guitar Picking Tunes series presents 29 favorite hymns arranged for guitar solo. The material spans the centuries, but reflects a deep faith, including lyrically-beautiful hymns such as “Just as I Am”, to the powerful “Crown Him with Many Crowns”. These solos work well as preludes, offertories, communion hymns and even recessionals, or simply for enjoyment. All solos are written in standard notation and tablature. Includes access to online audio.

In this book, journalist, composer, songwriter, teacher, and 2003 Winfield Flatpicking Guitar Champion, Jeff Troxel, delivers a masterclass in arranging fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar. These 20 themes and variations on favorite bluegrass melodies are designed to improve overall musicianship and augment your own arranging skills. Ideal for the intermediate to advanced flatpicking guitarist, the author reveals techniques for enabling readers to create their own theme and variations settings. Suggested rhythm guitar chords and light left-hand fingerings are also provided. Troxel points out that one of the unexpected benefits of learning and memorizing themes with variations is that the process will ultimately facilitate linear and harmonic improvisation. It would be a painstaking process to learn this skill from a teacher or a harmony textbook, but once memorized, the scale and arpeggio patterns within these tunes and variations will set you on a viable path towards original improvised lines. As a bonus, the author includes a generous appendix containing several of his Flatpicking Guitar Magazine articles that deal with aspects of musicianship that every guitarist should know. While written in standard notation and tab, if you have relied solely on tablature and recordings in the past, this book can provide the key to understanding essential music theory and reading standard notation. If you’re not quite ready to learn to read standard notation, you can still use the tab and the author’s excellent online recordings to learn these delightful arrangements. In any case, it will be fun to get these settings of standard bluegrass tunes “in-hand” and use them in future jam sessions.

This is a collection of 22 old-time gospel favorites arranged for solo flatpicking guitar. All arrangements are in notation and tablature with chords included and work well when played with another guitarist, banjo, or mandolin player.

Many great Scottish traditional tunes can be traced back to 17th century lute music. In this collection, multi-instrumentalist Rob MacKillop has transcribed and arranged 25 popular tunes derived from various lute manuscripts. While idiomatic to the guitar, some of these arrangements include fast runs and chord changes, so are best suited to the intermediate-level flatpicking guitarist. This guitar collection consists of the same melodies in the same keys found in its mandolin counterpart, Tunes From 17th Century Scotland Arranged for Mandolin (Mel Bay Publications). In both books, suggested chords are provided wherever appropriate. Consequently, the settings work fine as either mandolin/violin and guitar duets, or as solos for either instrument. Until now, most of these appealing dance tunes and airs have not been available as guitar arrangements. Here, except for two tunes in drop-D tuning, all are in standard guitar tuning. With MacKillop’s spirited online recording, generous performance notes and standard notation and tablature for each selection, get ready to explore a wonderful new take on an old repertoire! Includes access to online audio.

A collection of all time Gospel favorites scored for guitar melody. Chords, tablature and lyrics are included along with a companion audio. A Glorious Church; All the Way My Savior Leads Me; Angel Band; Blessed Assurance; Blessed Quietness; Death Has No Terrors; Drifting too Far from the Shore; Every Bridge is Burned Behind Me; Every Day and Every Hour; Glory to His Name; Hallelujah, We Shall Rise; He Abides and many more. Includes access to online audio.

This is a collection of 25 beloved “old-time” Gospel songs arranged for flatpick guitar solo. The selections feature beautiful, lyrical melodies and many have a pleasing “Gospel swing feeling”. These solos work well as preludes or offertories at church services or just as fun pieces to play, regardless of the setting. All solos are in notation and tablature. Includes access to online audio recorded by the author for each solo.

Rob MacKillop presents 20 classic lute transcriptions; the "greatest hits" of the Renaissance and Baroque lute repertoire arranged for pick acoustic, electric, or classical guitar. MacKillop has for many years played all these pieces on the lute, and has created sensitive guitar arrangements that lose nothing from the original scores. Composers include Bach, Weiss, Dowland, Spinacino, among others. Finally, we have a book of lute-to-plectrum guitar transcriptions by an arranger who is deeply familiar with and respectful of both instruments. Includes access to online audio for every item recorded by Rob MacKillop in plectrum style.