This subsection contains compositions for several guitars.
Guitar ensembles… Until recently, I have tended to favour the solo guitar, an instrument that not only accompanies, but is also able to produce a full sound (melody, harmony, rhythm) without the involvement of other instruments or voice. This is evident in the several hundreds of my arrangements disposed in the rubrics «Vocals & Guitar», «Sheet Music + Tabs», and «Popular Music» from the section «Guitarist’s Library».
However, there are many compositions that were originally recorded specifically for ensembles and cannot be performed by one guitar to achieve the desired effect. This is because an arranger cannot express all features (polyphony and rhythm) of the original composition using only one single guitar. The result would only vaguely resemble the original composition. I cannot give endless examples, but take my word for it: if an arranger could do that, he would. Unfortunately, an arranger has only five fingers on each hand with which to play the guitar, as do the guitarists who play his arrangements. And even five fingers are sometimes not sufficient to express everything the author intends, especially if we are talking about symphonic compositions.
Here’s where collaborative creativity in the form of guitar ensembles goes to the aid, providing, on the one hand, the audience (and themselves) with the possibility to enjoy the excellent guitar sound, and, on the other hand, express melody and rhythm of the original composition without any distortion.
I have great plans for guitar ensembles. I hope I will be able to realize them.
Arrangements for guitar ensembles have a medium or higher level of difficulty. The most difficult part usually falls on first guitar (this happens, most often, due to the appearance of virtuosic monophonic passages). The parts of other guitars are less difficult and can be played by any qualified guitar player.
However, exceptions are possible, both in the form of complication (for example, in compositions where several guitars have the same high complication), and simplification (for example, in the classical guitar nominally related to the educational repertoire). But regardless of the complexity of the compositions, any episode in them is completely playable, and you’ll surely get the feel of it, maybe just not on the first try (of course, upon condition of sufficient capabilities). You can be absolutely sure of this, since, apart from the selection of sounds and other elements that make up the notion «Musical arrangement for guitar ensembles», I am scrupulous about the development of the most convenient performance version, reinforcing it with a very detailed fingering. Thus, you won’t feel despair, which is frequent in case of insurmountable difficulties (again, upon condition of sufficient capabilities). Perhaps, here my duties as a music sheet writer are over, and your area of responsibility, the responsibility of the performers begins: the choice of composition of the appropriate level of complexity, and, of course, successful reproduction of printed music. By the way, you can check your abilities by playing the 1st page of the composition of interest (the «Sheet music presentation» button), or simply by listening to it (the «Listen» button).
For those who want to play music in ensembles, it should be noted that there is a possibility to create duets for guitar and any solo instrument based on the sheet music available in the rubric «Songs and Romances». Detailed information can be found on the page «Songs and Romances» (see «My thoughts on…»).
Alternatively, I would advise to consider the possibility of replacing one of the guitars (say, the 1st guitar, most often reproducing the melody) with another musical instrument, which may be relevant for compositions of high technical difficulty. Yes, the key of the replacing musical instrument may differ from the key used to write down sheet music for guitar. And you’ll have a job to create a performance variant. But it’s worth it: you won’t have to search for the sheet music of this particular piece of music for this particular composition of instruments. If you manage to find it at all, of course. After all, the right sheet music, even for the most popular ensembles – guitar, is sometimes a big problem. Good luck!
What kind of repertoire can you expect from the rubric «Guitar Ensembles»? Everything what you can call «beautiful music» regardless of its form and genre. Here you will be able to find the best examples of classical music, popular music (including film soundtracks, songs and dances from around the world), jazz. I also plan to include some adaptions of the compositions which were initially written for guitar solo (including guitar ensembles for beginners). All of these will soon be available, just give me some time…
Please tell me what you would want to see on this web-page (the email address is specified in the section «Contacts»). And don’t forget to subscribe to my (Andrei Nosov’s) channel on YouTube, if you want to get news about my new arrangements firsthand (the link is at the bottom of the repertoire list).
Sheet music samples in the rubric «Guitar Ensembles» are paid, but the price for them is quite affordable as you can see in the section «Information» > «Payment.»
Andrey Nosov