This page of the website contains compositions of various musical genres written specifically for the SOLO guitar or arranged for it. The collection is regularly updated.
Solo, as is well-known, means «alone» or «on one’s own.» Therefore, any composition of this subsection is adopted for producing a full sound by only one guitar without the involvement of voice or other musical instruments.
In the heading «Sheet music + Tabs», you can find song adaptations for the guitar that will suit any taste: rock, jazz, the finest examples of song music, and soundtracks. The wide selection of choices will definitely give you an opportunity to find something interesting, especially if you are browsing by sampling audio files and not searching for a specific name. Even so, the same composition can have different titles in other countries sometimes. Therefore, it’s better to listen to the audio files, and you may find what you have been seeking for a long time.
Soundtrack arrangements for guitar solo. Have you ever thought about the role that music plays in films? If you haven’t, just try to switch off the sound while you are watching a film. You will immediately feel emptiness. You will find that actors’ lines no longer seem to be as moving and impressive. Why? Because music greatly magnifies our perception of what is going on onscreen, providing scenes with much more feeling and emotion. Making the world brighter and more beautiful is one feature of music, and of course, every soundtrack can certainly be considered as an independent composition, which deserves to be played by guitar (a wide variety of film music arrangements proves this). Brilliant music accompanied by a sophisticated instrument is the best combination you could ever imagine.
Song arrangements for guitar solo. Almost all guitar players are concerned with song arrangements. But what is the difference between my arrangements and others? My answer is: the quality of my arrangements and the attention to detail. More specifically, I not only show the melody or the harmony—this can be done by anyone who makes their own arrangements—but I also insert secondary parts, especially if they are essential to the original version. Then add original bass, ease of performance in any part and you’ll get my (Andrey Nosov’s) arrangement.
Classic music arrangements for guitar solo. The success here lies in the accurate preservation of all features of the original version. How can we possibly correct the composers whose works have already become classics? The least we can do is to treat their works of art with the utmost respect. But little insertions of intros in some small pieces or insignificant changes in the harmony to heighten the emotion won’t count, will they?
Jazz arrangements for guitar solo. The most attractive feature of jazz, as we know, is the opportunity for improvisation (in other words, composing music while you are playing on stage). But as practice shows, composition parts that are learned from sheet music and similar to improvisation (in modern music they are defined as fantasy composition parts organically combined with brilliant passages) may be even more successful. The success is, of course, dependent on the arranger’s skills in arranging the proper sheet music and on the performer’s ability to play. And that is where the problem sometimes arises…
Level of performance difficulty. Arrangements contained in this heading are, for the most part, at a medium level of performance difficulty and assume that the player already has a skilled hand in the most common guitar techniques, such as «barre,» «legato,» “natural harmonics,” «appoggiatura,» and «mordant.» This is the required minimum that enables ME to present the peculiar features that affect the recognition of a composition and allows YOU to consider yourself as a guitar player (for you cannot call yourself a guitar player if you don’t know the main techniques of guitar playing, just as you cannot call yourself a driver if you cannot turn or park a car).
If suddenly it appears that my arrangements seem too difficult for you to play, please keep your spirit up. Performance skills will come with time. There is no need to search for training materials on other websites because all necessary materials can be found in «Andrey Nosov’s Guitar School» (see Section «Guitar Lessons»). By «all», I seriously mean all. The manual includes a large amount of exercises focused on developing strength, hardiness, and mobility of your fingers, as well as detailed explanations of all training aspects, including even specifics of applying muscular force. The manual has plenty of pictures and also gives you an opportunity to study notation and analyze compositions disposed in accordance with their level of difficulty. By the end of your study you could become a skilled guitar player capable of playing compositions of any level of difficulty. See you in «Guitar Lessons»!
Any compositions under the heading «Sheet music + Tabs» can be viewed by opening a presentation (only the first page is available for free viewing). Here, I would like to address those guitarists who have a strong dislike for tablature: «Dear friends, yes, all compositions do contain tabs. But firstly, it should not be regarded as an indicator of a beginner’s level composition. Secondly, a version without tabs is included in each sample of sheet music, so please, don’t criticize this heading so much.
I also highly recommend that you listen to the audio files even if you already know or own some of the compositions. It’s not about the title of the composition, it’s about the content. You’ll have a chance to compare an arrangement with other versions. Furthermore, I would advise you not to stop listening to a composition after two or three seconds. A few seconds are not enough to understand the whole composition (especially its adaptation). «The Sicilian Clan» (Collection No.9), for example, gets started with a 40-second intro without any accompaniment, which is probably boring for those experienced guitar players who are looking for something special. But after that part… you will be rewarded with the music performed by the genius Ennio Morricone, and… well, basically, just listen to it.
Sheet music samples in the heading «Sheet Music + Tabs» are paid, but their price is not that high – just $1 each. Without any exaggeration, this is the lowest price for an author’s arrangement on the Internet, affordable for anyone. Click «Payment info» to learn more.
Andrey Nosov