~Early Music on the Guitar~

By Jamie Holding

*Early guitar music*

 Introduction

The pieces in this book were originally composed for the lute – the
renaissance predecessor to the modern guitar.
The rich and varied repertoire for this remarkable and beautiful
instrument deserves more attention. The handful of renaissance pieces
which are widely played at the moment do not sum up what this period had
to offer.
Great composers such as Dalza, Newsidler and Milano are not widely
known of among guitarists and yet they are some of the most famous and
respected composers among lutenists.
This book acts as an introduction to this stunning repertoire.

1
 Contents

3 - Technique

4 - The Owld Man

5 - Baloo

6 - The Moris

7 - Passe Velours

8 - Drawe Neare Me and Lowe Me

2
 Technique

None of the following concepts are mandatory for playing early music, nor
are they necessarily what sounds best either – I’ve put them in to give you an
idea of the techniques of the time in case you wish to give them a go.
Lutenists plucked with the flesh of their fingers, not their nails, to
capture a softer, more delicate sound.
Lutenists also aimed to get the alternating strong and weak beat pulse
going through their music much stronger than we do today. They would
alternate their thumb and first finger on the right hand when plucking
through passages of notes. Later on in the renaissance, this was changed to
using the first and second fingers. Due to the thumb (and likewise the
second finger) being stronger than the first finger in the plucking, an
alternating pulse would go through the music. Being a lutenist myself, I
have adopted this with my playing of early music on the guitar and find it
very satisfying.
I could go into more detail but it is not necessary when playing the
music on the guitar.

3
 The Owld Man
Anon.

 
0 0 0 2 2 0 0 5 4 0
2 3 3 3 2 3 0 0
4 2
4 0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0

3





 
0 0 0 2 2
2 3 3 3 2 0
2 1 1 2 2
0 0 4 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0

4
 Baloo
Anon.

 
0 5 0 0 2 0   0
 
2 2 3 3 1 0 1 3 1 3
4 2 2 2
4 0 0
0 0 2
0  3 3

4




0 0 2 3 3 2 0 2 0 

1 3 0 3 1 0 1 3 3 2 3
2

2 0 0 0
0 0

5
 The Moris
Anon.

0 2 4 5 7 5 4 2 0 0 2 4 5 4 5 7 5
2 3 2 2
4 2 2 2
4 0 0 0 0 0
0

4






4 2 0 2 0 0 2 3 2 0
3 2 3 2 3 3 2
2 2
0
0 0 0
0 0

8



2 0 2 0 0 2 3 2 0
3 2 3 3 2
2
0
0 0
0

6
 Passe Velours

Le Roy

 

 

 
 

0 2 0
0 2 3 3 2 3 2 2 0 2
3 2 2 1 2 2 2
4 0 0
0 0 0
0 2
2
0
2
0 0 0

8

 

 

 
 
0 0 0 

3 3 2 0 0 0 2 2
2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 2

0 0 2 2
0 0 0
0 0

15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2
1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

2 2 2
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0

23

 

 

 
 


2 0 0 0 0 2 2
2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2

2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0
0 0 0

7
 Drawe Neare Me and Lowe Me
Anon.

 

    

0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 5 0 5 3 0 2 2
2 2 2 2 3 3
3 2 2 2 2 2
4 0 0 0 0 0 0
0

5


      
5 2 5 2 0 2 2 0
2 0 2 3 2 0 3 2 3 0 2
2 2 2 2
0 4 0
0 0 0
2

11


   
0 2 0 2 0
0 3 3
2 2 2
4 0 0
0
0 2

8
 More from Jamie Holding

On the Early Guitar Arrangements website, one can find a growing resource
of lute works arranged for the guitar, sold cheaply as e-books. These books
contain not only music, but also masses of info on the playing of early music
and biographies of composers.

It is hard to find collections containing only early music and when one does,
they cost a fortune – this is a much cheaper option!

You will also find many recordings of the music played on both the classical
and acoustic guitar on the site.

http://sites.google.com/site/earlyguitararrangements/