Book Description

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 classic 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 present the Six Cello Suites of J. S. Bach, transcribed for the plectrum-style acoustic or electric guitarist! According to MacKillop, Bach had an overall didactic plan and each suite increases in emotional depth and difficulty, posing specific problems to the plectrum guitarist or any instrumentalist. For example: Using a pick, how do you play a 2-note interval when there is a string in-between the two notes? MacKillop provides a good deal of fingering in the early suites suggesting solutions to this and other issues, but ultimately encourages readers to make their own decisions through careful analysis and left-hand fingering. If you stay the course and play through all six suites, you will gain a personal understanding not only of the Baroque suite, but also of left-hand digitation, picking direction, and the guitar fretboard. Written in standard notation in guitar-friendly keys for the intermediate to advanced plectrum guitarist, this book is destined to be a part of university curriculums and recitals worldwide. It deserves a place in your music library too.