A rousing collection of flatpicking guitar solos in notation and tablature. Melodies were drawn from Ireland, Scotland, and the border countries of Northumberland, Durham, and Cumbria. the tunes are all traditional and would normally be played for dancing.

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.

Adam Granger self-published the first edition of Granger’s Fiddle Tunes for Guitar in 1979. A second edition was published in 1994. Now Mel Bay Publications presents the third edition of the book. This 236-page book is the most extensive and best-documented collection of fiddle tunes for the flatpicking guitar player in existence, and includes reels, hoedowns, hornpipes, rags, breakdowns, jigs and slip-jigs, presented in Southern, Northern, Irish, Canadian, Texas and Old-time styles. There are 508 fiddle tunes referenced under 2500 titles and alternate titles. The titles are fully indexed, making the book doubly valuable as a reference book and a source book. In this new edition, all tunes are typeset, instead of being handwritten as they were in the previous editions, making the tabs easier to read. The tunes in Granger’s Fiddle Tunes for Guitar are presented in Easytab, a streamlined tablature notation system designed by Adam specifically for fiddle tunes. The book comes with a link which gives access to mp3 recordings by Adam of all 508 tunes, each played once at a moderate tempo, with rhythm on one channel and lead on the other. Also included in Granger’s Fiddle Tunes for Guitar are instructions for reading Easytab, descriptions of tune types presented in the book, and primers on traditional flatpicking and rhythm guitar. Additionally, there are sections on timing, ornamentation, technique, and fingering, as well as information on tune sources and a history of the collection. Mel Bay also offers, The Granger Collection, by Bill Nicholson, the same 508 tunes in standard music notation.

Presents 24 carols skillfully arranged by flatpicking guitar champion Steve Kaufman that range in treatment from beautiful, lyrical guitar settings to rousing, joyous flatpicking solos. In notation and tablature. the CD is designed as a listening recording first and instructional tool second. All 24 songs are played through three times at least. the first time is as it appears in the book and the two versions that follow are improvised versions. Making this a listening tool and an ear training tool. Recorded Digital to Analog in true stereo sound.

This anthology includes both new pieces and outstanding previously published fingerstyle tunes. Veteran performers and talented young upstarts are given a forum for their best work. Intermediate to advanced in difficulty with nearly all pieces appearing in standard notation with tablature. Includes access to extensive online audio. The contributors are: Jonathan Adams, Muriel Anderson, Seth Austen,D.R. Auten, Douglas Back, Duck Baker, Steve Baughman, William Bay, Pierre Bensusan, Larry Bolles, Ben Bolt, Bill Brennan, Thom Bresh, Rolly Brown, Robin Bullock, Jonathan Burchfield, Michael Chapdelaine, Mike Christiansen,William Coulter, Marcel Dadi, Peppino D'Agostino, Craig Dobbins, Pat Donohue, Doyle Dykes, Steven Eckels, Tim Farrell, Peter Finger, Tommy Flint, Rick Foster, Stefan Grossman, Ole Halen, Todd Hallawell, Roger Hudson, JackJezzro, Buster B. Jones, Laurence Juber, Phil Keaggy, Pat Kirtley, Jean-Felix Lalanne, Jay Leach, Paul Lolax, Woody Mann, Dennis McCorkle, El McMeen, Dale Miller, Franco Morone, Stevan Pasero, Ken Perlman, Al Petteway, Bill Piburn, Chris Proctor, Harvey Reid, John Renbourn, Don Ross, Vincent Sadovksy, Dylan Schorer, John Sherman, Martin Simpson, Johnny Smith, Fred Sokolow, Tim Sparks, John Standefer, David Surette, Guy Van Duser, Al Viola, Paul Yandell, Andrew York, and John Zaradin.

A rousing collection of flatpicking guitar solos in notation and tablature. Melodieswere drawn from Ireland, Scotland, and the border countries of Northumberland, Durham, and Cumbria. The tunes are all traditional and would normally be played for dancing. Audio download available online