Mel Bay's Favorite Hymns for Classical Guitar [Paperback]

Joseph Castle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1978

Twenty easy solos on hymn favorites. Easy to read and play, these selections are excellent for the beginning guitarist.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph Castle (1913-1992) was born in Bloomington, Illinois. His childhood was spent on a fruit farm near Mackinaw, Illinois. When he was twelve, Joseph was "discovered" by Russel Harvey, a teacher at Illinois Wesleyan University with whom he studied violin. There were very few guitar teachers at the time Mr. Castle became interested in the guitar, so he was primarily self-taught on that instrument, using the Carcassi text. His interest in both plectrum and fingerstyle guitar started in high school. He played guitar and violin in large bands in Austin, Texas as well as violin in the Austin symphony and small chamber groups.

Joseph graduated from the University of Texas in 1953 with a Bachelor of Music degree, majoring in violin and minoring in piano. From 1951 to 1953 he was concertmaster of the University Symphony Orchestra. He taught with the University of Texas String Project from 1952 to 1953. Joseph later returned to Austin, Texas, to devote his time to the classic guitar by teaching and making arrangements of solo and group guitar pieces. In 1960 his first collection of pieces for plectrum guitar ensemble was published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. Mr. Castle edited and arranged books for clssic guitar, violin, and piano for many years for Mel Bay Publications.

In 1987, Joseph Castle was accepted into the Manuscript Archives Collection of the Fine Arts Division of the Dallas Public Lubrary. He donated the manuscript of this "Elegie for Strings" to the archives, which was one of two of his pieces performed in the Triennial Festival of Texas Composers.

In addition to his teaching and composing activities, Castle tuned pianos for many years. He was interested in the historical temparaments for tuning.

Joseph's musical activities included teaching in the string program of the public schools in Wichita Falls, Texas; professional string playing in the Castle trio and Castle String Quartet; Concertmaster, Autin Civic Orchestra; Classic guitar teacher, performer, and music editor. His "Suite in Spanish Style" for Alto Recorder or Flute and Classic Guitar was published by Loux Music in 1992. In 1991 he comleted a quartet for two recorders, viola da gamba, and classic guitar.

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Mel Bay Publications (February 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871667304
• ISBN-13: 978-0871667304
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 7.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #861,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Music > Hymns

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Resource for Sacred Guitar Music, January 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mel Bay's Favorite Hymns for Classical Guitar (Paperback)

As stated in the preface, "all transcriptions were derived from the best-known versions of the hymns." This collection of hymns and songs of praise are carefully noted with fingerings and are easy enough for late beginning - to early intermediate guitarists, since since much of the musical notation is in the first position. Both traditional and contemporary pieces are included in this good selection of familiar sacred music.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Playable Church Hymns, May 14, 2009

By 

Loveguitar (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mel Bay's Favorite Hymns for Classical Guitar (Paperback)

I was looking for some relatively non-challenging church tunes to play and hoping I could find some of those I used to hear in church when I was a kid. This thin book of 31 pages does a good job of giving me what I wanted. I didn't want to have to work too very hard to play these hymns so that I could enjoy the simplicity of them. I don't think church hymns should be complicated since they were not originally written that way.
Since you can "look inside!" this book you can see the table of contents. My three favorite hymns to play on classical guitar are: "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", "Take Time to be Holy" and "Blest Be the Tie That Binds". The reason I like these the best is because of how beautiful they come across on the guitar. The last two are especially lovely since the melody and harmony flow sweetly along. But, by far the majority of the hymns are in block chords. They are still lovely, but I like musical lines that flow a bit more smoothly. However, the block chords are absolutely wonderful for sight reading practice.

I've played all the songs several times in this book and I think the most challenging one to play is "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded", though it is not very difficult. It also contains, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" but the "Jesu" in the "Christopher Parkening Guitar Method, Vol. 1" is much better and actually a bit easier to play.

All the hymns are written in very good guitar notation giving left and right hand fingering suggestions. The first page of the book even includes a brief explanation of the abbreviations used for fingerings. However, if you are totally new to music notation this book will be challenging but for those who are at a late beginning to early intermediate levels should have few problems learning how to play the songs in this book. There is NO TAB. Also, there are no words to the songs, just the music only. I teach classical guitar and some of my students have expressed an interest in learning some church hymns. This book is a good place to start.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, June 17, 2010

By 

Kenneth Murray (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mel Bay's Favorite Hymns for Classical Guitar (Paperback)

This book is another good Jos Castle arr. suitable for beginner - somewhat advanced laid out nicely