Starter Classical Songs

Well, try these:

Greensleeves - the version attributed to Henry 8th
Anything with "Etude" or "Study" in the title by Fernando Sor
Anything with "Etude" or "Study" in the title by Ferdinando Carulli

Check out http://www.eythorsson.com

for loads of free sheet music dowloads, particularly graded material (ignore work by Bach - Bach and easy, even easy-ish, do not go together)

Tabs? Not sure. You'll have to look. OLGA used to boast classical tabs, but I can read the little black dots so I never looked.

Best,

A :-)

as usual, thanks Alan.

this is an interesting site, you might be interested. Loads and loads of tab on here....plenty of etude's for me to look at! http://www.wussu.com/classtab/

thanks and all the best

Matt

First classical song? For me it's got to be Romanza by Anonymous (great composer ;) ). The first section is quite easy to play even if you have no experience. The second section is more challenging, and does feature some stretches, but is definitely within the grasp of a determined beginner. Also it sounds like a "proper" classical song, unlike many of the etudes you may come across. Definitely one that will have the ladies swooning at your feet after a few weeks. The next pieces I learned after that are Tarrega's Lagrima and Adelita - they are rated as grade 4/5 but they are both quite short and not impossible if you are prepared to start slowly and put in 10 minutes each day.

By the way I am ashamed to say I learned these pieces off wussu.com's tabs (but proud to say, it worked!)

Do take it gently if you're using Romanza as a first classical piece - it's on the Grade 5 syllabus and it's not easy to keep the triplets going steady throughout.

Best,

A :-)

You should get the Aaron Shearer book called Learning the Classical Guitar part Two. You'll learn lots of stuff in there.

Fernando Sor did a series of 20 some-odd classical guitar studies for the beginning level. Many are available online in powertab on *cough* ultimate-guitar.com

Hmm... when I started learning the guitar back in 2001, I learned simple songs by Giuliani, Fernando Sor and Carulli. Bach's most simple song is the Bach's Bourree II (Cello Suite BWV1010)...

Mattypretends116 - are you thinking of the Segovia Studies, by Fernando Sor? If so, they're a reasonable way of building up your classical guitar skillset but it helps if you have a teacher onside to help with some of the concepts.

Bach is always very technical, which is why I don't really like playing his work. A Bourree is a dance, and a pretty fast one at that. So, fast and technical - good luck.

Robert de Visee's Suite in Dm is popular with classical guitar beginners. It's been a few years since I played it but there's a good feeling when you can play it all the way through. Again, don't stretch yourself too much, the Gavotte is on the Grade 4 syllabus, and the Prelude is at Grade 5 (presumably because it uses higher positions and provides ample opportunity to use trills).

If you fancy something Spanish, check out Bartolome Calatuyud - everything from really easy to quite advanced.

Best,

A :-)

thanks for all the contributions, some interesting stuff here!

all the best

Matt

Mattypretends116 - are you thinking of the Segovia Studies, by Fernando Sor? If so, they're a reasonable way of building up your classical guitar skillset but it helps if you have a teacher onside to help with some of the concepts.
I'm not sure if they are the Segovia studies; they are simply called "Estudio no. 1, no. 2" etc. I'm more interested in hybrid picking, and am learning some classical pieces which are on the easy side and are capable of being picked in that manner.

Paccabel's Cannon in D (please excuse the spelling) is easy to play using arpegioed chords.....yikes you can tell its Monday.