ISBN 9781619118393.

In the tradition of Django Reinhardt, Bireli Lagrene is one of most highly regarded Gypsy jazz, bebop, and fusion guitarists of recent decades. Once regarded as a child prodigy, he has performed with such legendary players as Benny Goodman, Stephan Grappelli, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin and countless others. Given that roster, one might assume that Lagrene is quite advanced in years, but this is not the case; the fact is, he was drawn to the guitar as a child of four, and after auditioning at the intermission, was invited onstage with Grapelli for the second half- when he was only ten years old. While Lagrene is primarily an ear player, he has collaborated with TAGA Publishing to produce an exceptional book filled with insightful tips on playing the Gypsy jazz style. Bireli Lagrene: Gypsy Jazz Guitar Artistry introduces the intermediate jazz guitarist to the essential rhythms used in Gypsy jazz accompaniment, as well as to the vocabulary needed to improvise in the Gypsy jazz style. Not for the faint of heart, the book includes online audio recordings of 33 rhythm exercises and licks to incorporate the right feel or panache in your own Gypsy jazz performance style. The musical examples are written in either chord symbols or standard notation and tablature. Includes access to 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

I hope you will enjoy my fingerings for Agustín Barrios' La Catedral - Andante Religioso & Allegro Solemne; the second and third movements of this great piece.
Barrios had originally composed La Catedral in 1921 as a two-movement piece and so the piece was originally known as having only these two movements. Some seventeen years later, he then composed another piece entitled 'Saudade' (available, separately, as a stand-alone piece) and then a year after composing it, decided to include it as the prelude to the already existing two-movement version. Although it is well-known that Barrios' always included Preludio 'Saudade' whenever performing La Catedral, there are actually no original written copies of the three-movement version.
In this arrangement, some liberties were taken with Allegro Solemne in the 21st measure as it was thought to make for a smoother progression.