Customer Reviews

Mel Bay's Favorite Hymns for Classical Guitar

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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.

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.

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

Gave this a low rating for one reason. The cover is not the same as the photo in the description of the item. They showed a lute, book and stained glass window. The book that I received was a reprint on poor paper with a generic cover with a guitar center on the cover. They should correct the photo. I depend on accurate photos and descriptions of the items that I purchase from Amazon.Mel Bay's Favorite Hymns for Classical Guitar