Here you will find my arrangements of music for the Classical Guitar. Most pieces are from the Renaissance and Baroque eras and were written for the lute or related instruments.

All the music is free to download and you may use the arrangements in any way you like. But please acknowledge me as the source if you play any of this music in public or use it as the basis for your own arrangements. (A 'plug' for this web site would be welcome too!)

Some of this music is taken from facsimiles of the original manuscripts or printed sources, some is derived from modern tablature versions and some from previous arrangements (for guitar or other instruments). I aim to use the original source where possible, and for this reason some arrangements get modified as I learn more about the original music. As far as I can I will give details of these sources and comment on any alterations I have made to the music in the course of the arranging process. I have included notes about the music and its sources and I will also add to these as I come across new information.

Most of the music is for solo guitar, but there is a page of duets, a few trios and one piece for guitar and recorder; and I am beginning to include pieces in lute tablature, where there is a particular reason to do so. My aim is to make available music that I haven’t found published elsewhere in guitar arrangement or where existing arrangements are (in my view) unsatisfactory.

All the music files are available in pdf format; some are also posted as Scorch files. These can be displayed with the Scorch plug-in (more about Scorch here) which allows playback of the music and download as a Sibelius file. I now use Sibelius 6 to make arrangements and I am happy to make the original files available (use the Contact Me button in the footer of any page). If you want a file in some other format - such as earlier versions of Sibelius or Finale or Music XML or MIDI, I can usually manage this too.

I have posted some arrangements with fingering but currently most are without. I have received feedback requesting unfingered versions, suggesting that guitarists may usually prefer to work out their own. I hope in the long run to be able to make both fingered and unfingered versions available especially where the fingering is tricky and I think that a particular solution works best. If you want to suggest improvements to any of the arrangements or if you have any other comments to make about the content of the site please contact me.

I have posted a few of the John Wilson preludes in lute tablature. I'm planning to do more of this set (and to revise the appearance of the tablature now that I understand better how to do tablature in Sibelius) as these are only readily available in facsimile (which I find difficult to read). As mentioned above I hope to do some other lute versions, but only where the originals are difficult to find or problematic as there are numerous other sites providing lute editions (see Lute Links)

If you want to get straight to the music, click on one of these links:
Guitar Music Index : 10-string Guitar Index : Lute Music Index : Ensemble Index : First Drafts : Composer Index
or you can navigate around the site using the sidebar

If you like this site, keep your eye on it; I will be continuing to add pieces and I will revise arrangements where I find errors in them or think of improvements. In some cases I have indicated arrangements that are due for revision.