classical music for electric guitars
-warning- very lo-fi recordings ahead
I’ll pay you to EQ my tracks.
Hi, here are my recordings of classical music for electric guitars along with my handwritten tabs. I am seeking any players, including drum kit — write to 𝓎 𝓪 𝐫 𝕓 г 𝕠 ⓤ 𝔤 ᕼ 𝓲 𝕊 𝓶 at g mail
Bach, J.S. (Germany, 1685-1750)
Sarabande, Violin Sonata No. 1 in B minor (1720)
Tab forthcoming
recorded oct 2023
Ravel (France, 1875-1937)
🎵 Oiseaux Tristes (1905), for 2.09 guitars
Tab forthcoming
sep 2020
Shostakovich (Russia, 1906-1975)
🎵 Piano Quintet in G minor, op. 57, III. Scherzo - Allegretto (1940), for two electric guitars
Tab forthcoming
jun 2020
Bach, J.S. (Germany, 1685-1750)
Bach Cello Suite No 3 in C, Courante, BWV 1009
Tab forthcoming
march 2020
Bach, J.S. (Germany, 1685-1750)
Tab forthcoming
march 2020
Bartók (Hungary, 1881-1945)
🎵 String Quartet No. 6, II. Mesto - Marcia (1939), for electric guitars
Tab forthcoming
aug 2019
… time passes with no guitar playing. Teachers work 70-80 hours a week. …
Shostakovich (Russia, 1906-1975)
🎵 String Quartet No. 3 in F major, op. 73, III. Allegro non troppo (1946), for 3.14 guitars
summer 2017
Hindemith (Germany, 1895-1963)
🎵 Piano Sonata 2, I. Mäßig schnell (1936), for two guitars
fall 2016
Tchaikovsky (Russia, 1840-1893)
🎵String Quartet No. 1 in D major, op.11, III. Scherzo (1871), for three guitars
summer 2016
The Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich string quartet movements are played with three guitars, and the Ravel and Hindemith piano works are played with one guitar for each hand. The Shostakovich Quintet movement is missing the piano part (looking for someone to record it!), and each one of the two guitars is able to play most of two of the quartet parts. The recordings are rough, sorry — they are the first I've ever done, and I have taught myself how to do this. I memorize the parts, and they were recorded in Audacity, with my computer microphone, a 1992 Ibanez RT 150, Electro Harmonix Pitch Fork octaver pedal, and a Pignose G40V, played with a pick except for a few measures here and there, and I do not touch the guitar volume knob.
These transcriptions are part of an effort to study and promote classical music on electric guitar, and has produced many interesting findings. 1) Playing this is very fun, and it sounds good. 2) With the choice of pieces that aren’t too difficult, this music is playable by intermediate guitarists. 3) The guitar can play more than the standard string instruments, doing the work of two instruments, chords, with double stops, and even counterpoint with a pick (see below). 4) It is instructive for any other style of playing, in the huge variety of chord and melodic shapes, large organization schemes, chord types, and so on. 5) Harmonic analysis is accomplished using the score and to some extent, the tab, and familiarity with chord and scale shapes.
Whyyy would one arrange a piece for four players for a three piece ensemble? 1) A general theory in psychoacoustics is that the ear can perceive no more than three melodic parts at once, and music does indeed observe this principle, even in the standard rock band ensemble. 2) The guitar is well-suited to play double stops and chords, and can thus capture the material from two instruments. Given that a piece usually contains three melodic parts, the fourth voice typically doubles another part to provide a fuller tone; it plays the same rhythmic figure, but at an octave apart, or, say, harmonizing at thirds. This provides interest or texture, and for guitar, it is just cool, and figures in octaves or thirds are not uncommon on guitar. Thus, finally, attempting to play challenging things on guitar simply reveals frontiers for guitar playing.
Reasons for painstakingly tabbing this music are: One of the chief tasks in playing any classical music on guitar is finding positions and shapes that are comfortable and not impossible to play, and which preserve legato. But mainly, as a lover of classical music and electric guitar, my purpose is to promulgate classical music far and wide, to non-score readers, to electric guitar players and those who play rock music, to reveal the delightful variety of expressive playing and composing available but not quite seen elsewhere, and to hopefully instruct guitarists in possibilities for composing. The union of classical music and an electrified rock sound can be more exciting than either alone, as I hope to have captured in the recordings.
Nashville, 2018
Counterpoint with a pick:
Tchaikovsky: guitar II, especially measures 37-44, and 83-98.
Hindemith: guitar I, throughout, especially 95-112.
Shostakovich Quartet: Guitar II 137-148, 220-227, guitar I 210-211, guitar III 228 to the end.
Ravel: Throughout. At 2”47-2”54 the right hand guitar plays three voices.