Books:

Toru Takemishu: 12 songs for guitar

contains four Beatles songs. Takemishu is a we
ll known composer, and his arrangements are a little more than that
they are alm
ost new compositions. Musically they are no doubt the best arrangements availabl
e. But Takemishu s arrangements are quite difficult to play.
Joe Washington: The Beatles for Classical Guitar, originally in two volumes. The
y contain totally 31 songs, and were published in 1974 and 1977. The arrangement
s are mostly quite creative. He is trying to make them sound like typical classi
cal guitar pieces, with tremolo or arpeggios in Trrega style, some bossa nova, et
c. I would say these are intermediate level. A few are difficult to play.
Beatles for Guitar , arr. Theodor Ross, published in 1980 by Universal Edition. The
book contains 12 songs. These are also creative arrangements. Many have a jazzy
feel. I think many of these arrangements are quite good
I prefer some songs her
e to the other arrangements I have. But I wouldn t have this book as my only sourc
e. The technical level is mostly intermediate, but there are some quite difficul
t arrangements here also. This book might be difficult to find, but it did pop u
p at a German webstore. I bought mine many years ago.
Beatles for Classical Guitar , arranged by Larry Beekman and published in 1988 by H
al Leonard. This book contains 30 songs. Beekman s transcriptions are more true to
the original Beatles arrangements than the books mentioned above. But they are
very good arrangements. These are also intermediate level arrangements.
The Beatles for Classical Guitar , arranged by John Hill and published by Hal Leona
rd in 2007. This book contains 31 songs in standard notation and tablature. Thes
e are quite simple arrangements, and they also sound simplified musically. But n
ot all songs are easy - I can t play a couple of bars in one of the songs because
of a too long stretch for my fingers.
There are a couple of unofficial sources:
Stanley Yates has been generous enough to publish his Beatles arrangements for f
ree on his website. He has transcribed 30 songs. His arrangements are also quite
literal, using many elements from the original Beatles songs. I find his arrang
ements easier to play than Beekman and Washington, but more difficult than the J
ohn Hill book. They sound very nice, as you can hear on his YouTube clips.
Hiroshi Masuda has made all his transcriptions available for free for anyone tha
t buys one of his CDs. He has 30 Beatles and 4 John Lennon songs, plus 10 Simon
and Garfunkel, and several other popular songs. Masuda s arrangements aren't stric
tly classical arrangements, but rather finger style . But they don't really sound ver
y different from many of the other arrangements. Most songs are easier to play t
echnically than the arrangements mentioned above (except, perhaps, John Hill s boo
k).
Then there are a few arrangements that I can t find any sources for now:
Beatles Guitar
.

- 10 songs arr. by Luciano Zuccheri (Edizioni Musicali Fama, Milan)

Popular Pieces for Guitar Solo , arranged by Noriyasu Takeuchi (Gendai Guitar, Toky
o). This is a series in 6 volumes, and a couple of them have some Beatles songs.
I think these are out of print also.
Per-Olov Kindgren had a book with an arrangement of
now out of print.
I haven t checked out these:

Here comes the sun , but it is

The Beatles, 10 Songs for Classical Guitar, arr. Gerd Maesmanns. They are easy a
rrangements.
The Beatles Book for Classical Guitar - Kids Edition arr. Javier Marc.
Plus a couple of books called Fingerpicking Beatles.
Then to the recordings: I have been concentrating on solo guitar arrangements, a
nd this is what I have found and listened to:
Gran Sllcher: Here, there and everywhere . This album contains all the four Beatles s
ongs from Toru Takemishu s 12 songs for guitar . The rest of the arrangements are don
e by Sllcher himself or his college at Malm Music Academy, Brje Sandquist, and one
piece is done by Noriyasu Takeuchi. This CD is no doubt the best album available
that I have heard. Sllcher is a head and a half ahead of the rest, I think. The
arrangements are all high class. Apart from the Takemishu pieces, I particularly
like Sllchers own arrangements. His playing is, as always, outstanding.
Sllcher has also made a second Beatles album: From Yesterday to Penny Lane . This al
bum has four solos, plus Leo Brouwer s orchestra suite, a George Martin piece and
some duets with Norwegian bandeonist Per-Arne Glorvigen.
Kresten Korsbk plays Beatles. Guitar Recital, a Suite by Lennon & McCartney . Korsbk
(you might have to spell it Korsbaek in a search), is a Danish guitarist who was
active in the 1980 s. This album was released in 1985. Korsbk plays 14 of Joe Wash
ington s arrangements. Washington arranged these pieces using typical idioms from
the classical guitar literature. Korsbk has approached these pieces like he would
do to any classical piece, without looking too much to the Beatles originals. H
e plays in a romantic style, taking liberties with tempi and rhythms. I think it
works very well. If I should be nitpicking, it would be that his guitar sounds
out of tune on a couple of the tracks.
A more recent recording of the Washington arrangements is Franz Helfersdorfer: Le
t it Beatle , from 2010. He recorded 16 songs. I haven t heard this in full, only th
e 30 seconds clips at the webstore. But it sounds quite good.
Michael Lucarelli Plays the Beatles . Lucarelli plays half Washington and half Beek
man arrangements; totally 14 songs. Lucarelli plays these pieces more straight f
orward than Korsbk, and is mostly keeping the original tempi and sticking to the
original rhythms. He has done some twists to the original arrangements, making t
hem his own.
Kevin Knelman: Vintage Beatles . This is a 10 song album. There is also a 5 song ve
rsion of the album called Classic Beatles . Knelman is a Canadian composer for tele
vision and film as well as a guitarist. He has made his own creative arrangement
s, which are top class. Knelman also plays them very well.
Pedro Guasti: Living with the Beatles . This is another good guitarist from Mexico,
playing his own arrangements. They also sound good. This album has 24 songs.
Joseph Breznikar: George Harrison Remembered: A Touch of Class . This album has 12
George Harrison songs, 5 of them are from his post Beatles career. Breznikar is
a friend of George Harrison s sister, Louise, and the album was originally prepare
d as a gift to George Harrison to cheer him up when he was sick. Unfortunately H
arrison died before it was finished. Breznikar is also a composer, and his arran
gements are very good and quite advanced. On most of the arrangements he uses a
low tuning in the lowest strings
on Something he even goes down to C. It is nice t
o hear more of Harrison s songs on classical guitar - they work just as well as an
y Lennon/McCartney song. And Breznikar plays very well too.
Hiroshi Masuda: Here Comes the Sun and Good Day Sunshine . Both CDs have 15 songs. I
only have the last one of these. Masuda labels himself as a fingerstyle guitarist

rather than a classical . The main difference is probably the arrangements and the
tone production, plus that Masuda plays with the rhythmic precision of a rock gu
itarist. I think this is a very enjoyable album. It shows that his seemingly sim
ple arrangements work very well. It is not easy to play like him in any case; he
is a very good guitarist. After the recent disaster in Japan he donates 100 yen
pr CD sold to the victims.