ISBN 9781619116979. 8.5 X 11 inches. Frederic Chopin was one of the most original and influential composers in history. Although he only lived 39 years, he wrote music that has thoroughly embedded itself in our culture. His melodies are often instantly familiar to us and show a profound lyric sense. Many qualities of Chopin's music are ideal for guitar transcription. He wrote pieces that are short with a manageable range. The textures are mostly single melody lines with harmonic accompaniment without the complex counterpoint that can be so difficult on the guitar. His music is often soft, intimate, subtle, and full of naunces of articulation, dynamics, and phrasing. These qualities transfer quite naturally to the guitar. While remaining as faithful as possible to the composer's musical intentions, these pieces experienced some modification that is noted in the provided performance notes. Intermediate in difficulty, this book assumes the player has basic knowledge of the guitar and familiarity with either standard music notation or guitar tablature. Selections include: Prelude Op. 28, No. 7; Prelude Op. 28, No. 20; Prelude Op. 28, No. 4; Cantabile; Mazurka Op. 6, No. 2; Prelude Op. 28, No , 15; Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2; Nocturne Op. 15, No. 3; Nocturne Op. 37, No 1; and Nocturne Op. 55, No. 1. All of these beautiful pieces are included on the downloadable online audio.

TheSound of Silence isPaul Simon?s masterpiece. Released in 1965, Simon had written the track duringthe two previous years. It was well worth the wait.

Itis an obvious choice as a piece of repertoire to arrange for the intermediateguitarist, yet I have found that many arrangements include real technicaldifficulties for the learner. This is often because of the choice of key. Ifset in A minor, an F barre chord is encountered. Similarly, in D minor, a Bflat barre chord crops up. After much trial and error, I have created a versionin F sharp minor which is playable for younger and less experienced hands,without, I believe, losing any musical effect.



Ihave tried to make this arrangement flexible. Therefore, it is set in 2sections. A grade 1-2 guitarist can play just the first half, twice for acomplete performance. The second half has a thicker texture, with a ?flatpicking? technique applied to the thumb. Here, the thumb plays the lower notes onall four beats of the bar.



This downloadprovides one version with only notes, and a second in notes and TAB (in this singledownload). I am aware that many teachers dislike TAB, so you are given the choice.

Professionalplayers looking for light repertoire ? perhaps for restaurant or wedding work ?can fill out the parts spontaneously. The chord sequence is obvious to those withmore experience.

Personally speaking, I sometimes play the arrangement with a capo at fret 3 or 4 to vary the timbres heard in a concert programme.

I hope very muchthat you enjoy playing this version of The Sound of Silence. To see andhear my arrangements for learners, professionals, and ensembles, please visit www.danjonesguitarist.com.I have also written a memoir of working as a guitarist in rural France. Pleasesee www.danjonesauthor.com.

I will upload a YouTube video and lesson before the end of February 2021.

THANK YOU! DanJones, Perthshire, Scotland, February 2021