Bach's solo cello suites are essential studies for many instruments, and the great advantage of playing them on the Mandola is that both instruments share the same tuning: CGDA. In this edition, the bass clef has been transposed to the alto clef, commonly used for the mandola part in mandolin orchestras and other ensembles. This edition provides great practice in reading the alto clef, and TAB notation is also included. Both the Alto clef and the TAB are presented separately, thus avoiding...

Tuned a perfect fifth lower than the mandolin —CGDA low-to-high—the mandola takes the role of the viola in a mandolin orchestra or other ensemble. Given the mandola’s unique tessitura, the alto clef, with middle C on the third ledger line of the staff, is required. This collection of 40 pieces from the Classical through early Romantic periods aims to help you become proficient in reading the alto clef from easy to advanced levels, while simultaneously improving your technical abilities.

In this book, multi-instrumentalist and music historian Rob MacKillop explores an unexpected aspect of the 5-string banjo repertoire with slower, expressive, and even sentimental qualities. Drawing upon various 19th and 20th century resources, MacKillop offers 27 engaging international melodies in gDGBD or gCGBD tuning that can be played on any 5-string banjo, whether old or modern, with either fingertips or picks.In contrast to the hard-driving bluegrass “Dueling Banjos” approach,...

Seasoned music educator and multi-instrumentalist, Rob MacKillop presents this introductory classical repertoire for the intermediate tenor banjoist. Derived from method books for the mandolin, cello and guitar, these progressive melodic studies are typeset in standard notation and tablature. Readers are encouraged to start at the beginning and listen to the author’s online recordings for guidance. Various keys, rhythms and time signatures are represented for a thorough grounding in note r...

Most instrumentalists would agree with the author’s introductory statement that the six Bach cello suites are “…one of the greatest collections of solo instrumental music ever written.”Many amateur classical guitarists have endeavored to play favorite movements of the suites, and a few professionals have recorded all six in their entirety. The author himself has played them on various plucked-string instruments. Here, for the first time, Rob MacKillop and Mel Bay Publications prese...

Rob MacKillop presents 20 classic lute transcriptions; the "greatest hits" of the Renaissance and Baroque lute repertoire arranged for pick acoustic, electric, or classical guitar. MacKillop has for many years played all these pieces on the lute, and has created sensitive guitar arrangements that lose nothing from the original scores. Composers include Bach, Weiss, Dowland, Spinacino, among others. Finally, we have a book of lute-to-plectrum guitar transcriptions by an arranger who is deep...

This book counters the claim that the Devil gets all the best tunes!Rob MacKillop has arranged these well-known carols in chord-melody style with jazz chords, folk, and classical influences, engaging countermelodies beneath the principal theme, and more.Written in standard notation and tablature, these intermediate-level arrangements are not only enjoyable to play and hear but will enhance your technique as you learn them. Rob's performance notes are full of insights, and h...

This book is devoted to playing the soprano, concert, or tenor ukulele tuned in perfect fifths as used by the string and mandolin families of instruments, as well as the cittern and tenor banjo. The book’s scores are all in tablature; you’ll have no trouble adapting to the tuning and playing in the book’s various styles.The 55 pieces in Play Ukulele in 5ths Tuning progress from simple to advanced and can be played fingerstyle or with a pick. To help you come to grips with the tunin...

This book contains the 50 late 19th century tunes in Albert Baur’s 1883 anthology, The Banjoist’s Budget. The collection has roots in four main sources: minstrel songs, Irish popular and folk traditions, clog dancing tunes, and Gilbert and Sullivan favorites- all expertly played by Rob MacKillop on the accompanying online audio recording.The music is clearly typeset in standard notation and tablature for the 5-string banjo in Baur’s original eAEG#B tuning; observing the tablature, ...

This book is aimed at beginner lute and guitar players interested in playing Renaissance lute music on either instrument. Lute and guitar tablature are included, along with notes on technique, biographies of 16th-century lute composers, and general advice on buying, stringing, and tuning a lute. The book starts with single-line melodies, before progressing to two-part and full repertoire pieces. Selections include works by great Renaissance composers such as John Dowland, Francesco da Mila...

20 favorite Scottish and Irish tunes, brilliantly arranged for fingerstyle ukulele by Rob MacKillop. Titles include such well-known session tunes as Drowsy Maggie, The Kesh Jig, The Connaught Man's Rambles and The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Rob is a master of the campanella style of ukulele fingering, which exploits the unique tuning of the ukulele, and which helps these airs, jigs and reels flow across the fingerboard effortlessly, at times sounding like a small Celtic harp. The compani...

Gaspar Sanz (1640–1710), widely regarded as the most famous Baroque-period guitarist, published three influential volumes of music characterized by memorable melodies, lively Spanish cross-rhythms, and cascading scale passages. Due to shared characteristics, the Baroque guitar is a close relative of the modern ukulele; for instance, the smaller four-course Baroque guitar utilized a similar re-entrant tuning.Sanz frequently employed the campanella style, a technique where scale note...