Guitar - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1177383 By Frederic Chopin. By Fre�de�ric Chopin. Arranged by Brian Streckfus. 19th Century,Classical,Contemporary,Instructional,Romantic Period. Guitar Tab. 6 pages. Brian Streckfus #776814. Published by Brian Streckfus (A0.1177383). Key: Changed from B minor to A minorCapo: 2 (If you want original key, but I wasn't a fan of capo 2; it felt like there was no bass notes.)1. Arranged for guitar. 2. Piano pedal markings removed 3. Phrase markings removed and opted for commas. 4. Re-harmonized 5. Key changed from B minor to A minor. 6. Slurs 7. Left hand fingers 8. Tablature9. Harmonics added when advantageous, but playing the regular note would work as well.10. Piano pedal markings removed and replaced with commas. It's a flaw of sheet music that slurs, ties, and phrase markings are all the same symbol, and having all three happening can clutter a score.Compromises This may sound obvious, but of course I had to make some alterations to make this flow properly on guitar. Many of the original chord inversions on the piano were not kept. However, many harmonies were kept intact as far as following the chord nomenclature name. Measure 50 was originally an A minor chord, the irony is that the F major suprise is an homage to Chopin anyways, suprised he didn't opt for it. To be honest, I don't like how there is a perfect authentic cadence in measure 50. I think modern audiences would want to clap too badly, so I believe that ending needs to be slightly messed up to propel the music forward, and give a sense that there is still a problem. The other chord that was changed was an E7b9 to a Ddim7 in measure 78. If you know your theory well, you'll realize these chords have the same exact function and nearly the same notes, it's just that Ddim7 flowed a bit better on guitar. I'd rather have guitarists play the rhythms correctly and with musicality, than have guitarist clunkily go though overly large chords in order to mantain historical accuracy.  Measure 15 was hard to keep the original chord intact. A Bb/D with a G in the melody as a suspension sounds more like a g minor chord. That is cliche Chopinesque neopolitan moment so the Bb is crucial to mantain. Having some rough sort of Bbmaj7 or G minor chord while mantaining the melody seemed to sound the best even though the name of the chord might have gotten a little off. I tried chord charts, but they seemed messier than what it was worth. I also could have the denser tablature in the sheet music, but that does make it look 10x more intimidating. So this version is unique in that the tablature is my denser arrangement, whereas the sheet music would allow someone to quickly make a new arrangement. I like this ethos because most guitarists are likely to be much better at playing chord quickly when they don't have to have an exact voicing. This makes this arrangement easier to further perfect since I am naming the harmonies, which often isn't done in classical music.BackstoryThis is one of my favorite pieces, and also my favorite composer. I feel classical guitar repertoire is lacking easily playable music in the romantic style. Often, if it is romantic guitar music, it is extemely difficult and therefore only a select few can enjoy performing it. Also, I sometimes get my hopes up to find a romantic guitar composer, but then after listening, there's nothing quite like Chopin. Obviously, you will have to have some chops to play this since it's one of the most ambitious undertakings a guitarist could take, but it's also not so hard that you have to be train for a decade because I changed the key.

Easy Guitar (with TAB) - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1276814 Composed by Traditional Anon. Arranged by Brian Streckfus. Classical,Instructional,Romantic Period. Tablature. 2 pages. Brian Streckfus #868501. Published by Brian Streckfus (A0.1276814). Key: A minor (harmonic)Pages: 2This is a medium difficulty finger style piece. It reminds me of the difficulty of Fernando Sor or Matteo Carcassi etudes, so it's great to use this to fine tune technical aspects of your playing. 1. Arranged for guitar. 2. Guitar tablature added. 3. Slurs/slides/stacatto added. 4. Fingerings added. 5. Chord nomenclature added. (classical music doesn't normal have these. They tend to never summarize the notes perfectly, but it's clear to me that they aid in playing the music better in many aspects.)6. Position markers added7. Letter names on white note heads addedTips:1. I imagine E would be played louder.2. Generally, minor chords are played quieter.3. The form is ABA.4. The key change is to the parallel major, A Major. This is a romantic key change (basically Beethoven and after).  5. This piece is beautiful and easy to engrave since it symmetrical.  4 measure phrases. 32 measures fits perfectly on two pages. I say this somewhat jokingly, but the time signature is 32/16/8/4/2 (look into hypermeter).  I enjoy when pieces of music are 4 measure phrases, because then the staff lines themselves actually represent true musical phrases. The opposite of this is called upbeat phrasing, which is when a phrase starts in the middle of a measure.

Guitar - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1150935 Composed by Matteo Carcassi. Arranged by Brian Streckfus. Classical. Guitar Tab. 4 pages. Brian Streckfus #751121. Published by Brian Streckfus (A0.1150935). Important: This include two versions, a heavily notated version, and a blank version.1. Added tablature. 2. Fingerings added (Counterintuitive fingerings are left blank for the performer to realize first hand that it will be an awkard passage).3. Chord nomenclature added4. Fonts made larger and more appealing5. Position and Bar markings addedTips:1. Measure 13 is a good example of melodic minor as scale degrees 6 and 7 are rasied by a half step on an upward scale run, and then lowered on the way back down.2. Measures 23-27 is an example of a sequence. I recommend making the catchiness and repetition as obvious as possible as the audience is expecting the sequence to complete. For example, if there is a slur happening on a certain beat, I'll make sure it is mantained for every repetition, which is why measure 20 is more difficult with a fretted B instead of an open string. It's more work, but it sounds better to my ears.3. There is a certain order that the right hand fingers should be following depending on if you are going to thicker or thinner strings. Since this is an etude designed to get a player used to classical guitar technique, it made sense to show the a novice finger-style player which right hand fingers to use and when. Example: 2nd thinnest to thinnest string...Should be i m...not m iTo Do:1. Theoretical explanations in the score? Especially on the heavily notated version?

Guitar - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.841181 By James Taylor. By James Taylor. Arranged by John Murphy C.S.M.V. Rock. Guitar Tab. 4 pages. John Murphy #5793043. Published by John Murphy (A0.841181). You can close your eyes     James TaylorLearn this classic James Taylor song and master his characteristic finger picking guitar technique.You will learn: 4/4 Fingerpicking rhythm patterns that you can use in many other songs and other genres.Popular and widely used great guitar chord inversions (also sometimes called slash chords, e.g. G/B )to create interesting bass lines that complement the melody of the tune and give direction and forward momentum to the song’s chord progression. Bass driven chord progressions are a characteristic feature of accomplished guitarists like James Taylor and Chet Atkins.‘Clawhammer’ technique or ‘Travis picking’ are the names often given to a style of playing four bass notes to the bar (usually alternating from root to fifth of the chord played with the R.H.thumb). If you listen to the great country guitarist Chet Atkins you will hear this ‘clawhammer’ style in most of his guitar arrangements.Useful hammer-ons/pull-offs and passing notes that will improve your technique and add a professional touch to enhance your guitar performances. See bar for 8 hammer on the A sus chord and also on the B minor in bar 32. Note the pull off on G chord in bar 11.Intro and outro sections are included in this James Taylor guitar arrangement of ‘You can close your eyes’Most songs have intros and outros so that the singer can get the tempo and start in the right key. However, many published arrangements often just start on a pick-up note or two on the last beat of the bar with no chord indicated and end the song on a chord that is not the tonic or main key chord that tells the listener the song has ended. ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ by John Denver is a good example. In the key of ‘D’ the song starts with the notes ‘C#’ and ‘E’ and then the first bar is indicated as ‘D’ major chord. If you start the song playing a ‘D’ chord you will most likely sing the wrong notes because ‘C#’ and ‘E’ belong to the A7 chord of the song. So a simple 2 bar intro of ‘D’ , A7 (start singing on the last beat) and back to ‘D’ would help the singer to get the tempo and sing the correct pick-up notes. The printed sheet music of ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ ends on an ‘A7’ chord of the chorus and as such does not indicate that the end chord should be ‘D’. So it is not always safe to assume that the end chord in printed music indicates the key of the song. Lyrics with chord symbols to show when to change chords. Matching the fingerpicking tab or sheet music to the lyrics can sometimes prove difficult so I have included a lyrics sheet of ‘You can close your eyes’ with chord symbols. This is a very popular format to give an indication when to change chords. However, the drawback is that there is no way of knowing how long each chord lasts as the bar structure is missing. But once you learn the bar structure from the sheet music or tab part you will find this Lyrics and chords sheet of ‘You can close your eyes’ your go to page for performing the song until you know it from memory.Downloads available Include:Score Tab Chords Lyrics For GuitarNotes Chords Lyrics  For GuitarTab Chords Lyrics  For GuitarIf you like or buy this arrangement it helps if you leave even a brief review- two words( very good) or even better one word (Awesome) :)Contact me at info@guitarlessonsdundrum.com

Guitar - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.841182 By James Taylor. By James Taylor. Arranged by John Murphy C.S.M.V. Rock. Guitar Tab. 4 pages. John Murphy #5793051. Published by John Murphy (A0.841182). You can close your eyes     James TaylorLearn this classic James Taylor song and master his characteristic finger picking guitar technique.You will learn: 4/4 Fingerpicking rhythm patterns that you can use in many other songs and other genres.Popular and widely used great guitar chord inversions (also sometimes called slash chords, e.g. G/B )to create interesting bass lines that complement the melody of the tune and give direction and forward momentum to the song’s chord progression. Bass driven chord progressions are a characteristic feature of accomplished guitarists like James Taylor and Chet Atkins.‘Clawhammer’ technique or ‘Travis picking’ are the names often given to a style of playing four bass notes to the bar (usually alternating from root to fifth of the chord played with the R.H.thumb). If you listen to the great country guitarist Chet Atkins you will hear this ‘clawhammer’ style in most of his guitar arrangements.Useful hammer-ons/pull-offs and passing notes that will improve your technique and add a professional touch to enhance your guitar performances. See bar for 8 hammer on the A sus chord and also on the B minor in bar 32. Note the pull off on G chord in bar 11.Intro and outro sections are included in this James Taylor guitar arrangement of ‘You can close your eyes’Most songs have intros and outros so that the singer can get the tempo and start in the right key. However, many published arrangements often just start on a pick-up note or two on the last beat of the bar with no chord indicated and end the song on a chord that is not the tonic or main key chord that tells the listener the song has ended. ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ by John Denver is a good example. In the key of ‘D’ the song starts with the notes ‘C#’ and ‘E’ and then the first bar is indicated as ‘D’ major chord. If you start the song playing a ‘D’ chord you will most likely sing the wrong notes because ‘C#’ and ‘E’ belong to the A7 chord of the song. So a simple 2 bar intro of ‘D’ , A7 (start singing on the last beat) and back to ‘D’ would help the singer to get the tempo and sing the correct pick-up notes. The printed sheet music of ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ ends on an ‘A7’ chord of the chorus and as such does not indicate that the end chord should be ‘D’. So it is not always safe to assume that the end chord in printed music indicates the key of the song. Lyrics with chord symbols to show when to change chords. Matching the fingerpicking tab or sheet music to the lyrics can sometimes prove difficult so I have included a lyrics sheet of ‘You can close your eyes’ with chord symbols. This is a very popular format to give an indication when to change chords. However, the drawback is that there is no way of knowing how long each chord lasts as the bar structure is missing. But once you learn the bar structure from the sheet music or tab part you will find this Lyrics and chords sheet of ‘You can close your eyes’ your go to page for performing the song until you know it from memory.Downloads available Include:Score Tab Chords Lyrics For GuitarNotes Chords Lyrics For GuitarTab Chords Lyrics For GuitarIf you like or buy this arrangement it helps if you leave even a brief review- two words( very good) or even better one word (Awesome) :)Contact me at info@guitarlessonsdundrum.comTags :    Sheet music, Tab,  Pop/Rock, Folk , Country, Acoustic Guitar,  Easy  Intermediate

Guitar - Digital Download SKU: A0.841180 By James Taylor. By James Taylor. Arranged by John Murphy C.S.M.V. Rock. Guitar Tab. 6 pages. John Murphy #5792957. Published by John Murphy (A0.841180). You Can Close Your Eyes     James TaylorLearn this classic James Taylor song and master his characteristic finger picking guitar technique.You will learn: 4/4 Fingerpicking rhythm patterns that you can use in many other songs and other genres.Popular and widely used great guitar chord inversions (also sometimes called slash chords, e.g. G/B )to create interesting bass lines that complement the melody of the tune and give direction and forward momentum to the song’s chord progression. Bass driven chord progressions are a characteristic feature of accomplished guitarists like James Taylor and Chet Atkins.‘Clawhammer’ technique or ‘Travis picking’ are the names often given to a style of playing four bass notes to the bar (usually alternating from root to fifth of the chord played with the R.H.thumb). If you listen to the great country guitarist Chet Atkins you will hear this ‘clawhammer’ style in most of his guitar arrangements.Useful hammer-ons/pull-offs and passing notes that will improve your technique and add a professional touch to enhance your guitar performances. See bar for 8 hammer on the A sus chord and also on the B minor in bar 32. Note the pull off on G chord in bar 11.Intro and outro sections are included in this James Taylor guitar arrangement of ‘You can close your eyes’Most songs have intros and outros so that the singer can get the tempo and start in the right key. However, many published arrangements often just start on a pick-up note or two on the last beat of the bar with no chord indicated and end the song on a chord that is not the tonic or main key chord that tells the listener the song has ended. ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ by John Denver is a good example. In the key of ‘D’ the song starts with the notes ‘C#’ and ‘E’ and then the first bar is indicated as ‘D’ major chord. If you start the song playing a ‘D’ chord you will most likely sing the wrong notes because ‘C#’ and ‘E’ belong to the A7 chord of the song. So a simple 2 bar intro of ‘D’ , A7 (start singing on the last beat) and back to ‘D’ would help the singer to get the tempo and sing the correct pick-up notes. The printed sheet music of ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ ends on an ‘A7’ chord of the chorus and as such does not indicate that the end chord should be ‘D’. So it is not always safe to assume that the end chord in printed music indicates the key of the song. Lyrics with chord symbols to show when to change chords. Matching the fingerpicking tab or sheet music to the lyrics can sometimes prove difficult so I have included a lyrics sheet of ‘You can close your eyes’ with chord symbols. This is a very popular format to give an indication when to change chords. However, the drawback is that there is no way of knowing how long each chord lasts as the bar structure is missing. But once you learn the bar structure from the sheet music or tab part you will find this Lyrics and chords sheet of ‘You can close your eyes’ your go to page for performing the song until you know it from memory.Downloads available Include:Score Tab Chords Lyrics For GuitarNotes Chords Lyrics For GuitarTab Chords Lyrics For GuitarIf you like or buy this arrangement it helps if you leave even a brief review- two words( very good) or even better one word (Awesome) :) Contact me at info@guitarlessonsdundrum.com

Easy Guitar (with TAB) - Level 1 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1162928 Composed by Brian Streckfus. Instructional. Tablature. 1 pages. Brian Streckfus #763279. Published by Brian Streckfus (A0.1162928). Color-coded cadences included:1. Perfect : good for inducing the audience to clap2. Imperfect: good for inducing the audience to wait in suspense3. Half : good for inducing the audience to wait in suspense4. Deceptive: good for suprising the audience with an unexpected emotionUnderstanding these cadences can make you a better composer because you will be able to control the audience's expectations, such as controlling when they want or do not want to applaud.This worksheet is also a good opportunity to talk about smooth voice leading, which is rare to see in guitar culture. Even classical guitarists before Mauro Giuliani were not that good at following 18th century part writing rules. Unfortunately, the giant stereotypical guitar chords tend to break these rules, which is why I often recommend keeping chords to four notes on guitar.