A Guide to Playing the Baroque Guitar, Paperback

James Tyler offers a practical manual to aid guitar players and lutenists in transitioning from modern stringed instruments to the baroque guitar. He begins with the physical aspects of the instrument, addressing tuning and stringing arrangements and technique before considering the fundamentals of baroque guitar tablature. In the second part of the book Tyler provides an anthology of representative works from the repertoire. Each piece is introduced with an explanation of the idiosyncrasies of the particular manuscript or source and information regarding any performance practice issues related to the piece itself--represented in both tablature and staff notation. Tyler's thorough yet practical approach facilitates access to this complex body of work.

About author(s):

James Tyler (1940-2010) was Professor Emeritus of Music History and Literature and served as Director of the Early Music Program and of the Thornton Baroque Sinfonia at the University of Southern California. He is author (with Paul Sparks) of The Guitar and Its Music and The Early Mandolin.