English Music & Song Books

This 4-volume teaching series continues to be enormously successful and popular. It aims to stimulate young players in particular, with all the new technical and musical ideas introduced one by one in a lucid and logical fashion.The light heartedillustrations by Peter Nuttall and Gerald Garcia are another attractive feature of the series.

Musick’s Delight on the Modern Cittern is intended for the beginner seeking a collection of simple yet attractive tunes that are enjoyable to play; the more intermediate player desirous of widening their repertoire; and any player in want of a collection of tunes upon which they can build further. All tunes are presented in both notation and tablature, together with chords for an accompaniment, in GDGDG for cittern and GDAE for mandolin and octave mandola, plus two hundred and fifty chords each for GDGDG and GDAE. Bouzouki and tenor mandola players can also play these tunes via the tablature. From the age of knights, castles and courtly love; from the palaces and gardens of Renaissance Europe; and from the assemblies, playhouses and noisy streets of seventeenth and eighteenth-century London: Musick’s Delight on the Modern Cittern presents a repertoire spanning 600 years – as delightfully playable and addictive now as it was then.

In this outstanding words and music book you will find the best of George Formby's numbers, including 'Chinese Laundry Blues', 'When I'm Cleaning Windows', 'Little Ukulele', 'Leaning On A Lamp Post'...and many others. Every song is arranged for piano/vocal, with chord symbols and 'uke' boxes.

25 great tunes from the English Folk Dance repertoire. All selections in clear, easy to read Tab and played note for note on the accompanying 25 track CD. Tunes include Jigs, Hornpipes, Morris, Polka and Schottische. Many of the tunes have never been arranged for the Banjo before. These arrangements make a refreshing change from the usual 'Bluegrass' material and are great to play on the old 5 string. All tunes are played in standard 'G' Tuning, in the usual Fiddle keys and without a Capo.

101 Tunes: Core repertoire for English pub sessions, country dances, ceilidhs, barn dances and hoe downs. Only 14 notes required to play all 101 tunes. With guitar chords.

KATE RUSBY SONGBOOK 3 CHRISTMAS is a book of written music (single line melodies and chord letter symbols) and lyrics containing songs from Kate’s 3 Christmas albums; The Frost is all Over, While Mortals Sleep and Sweet Bells. Thirty four songs from Kate’s repertoire.

Kate’s Christmas concerts have become as much a part of the festivities as Christmas pudding itself! Now you can have your very own songbook so you can sing along.

First published in 2001, this book has become a best seller worldwide. A beautiful book, and a must for any song collection. Inclues melodies, chords, song notes and photos.

The latest instalment in Kate's songbook collection, this brand new book of written music (single line melodies and chord letter symbols) and lyrics containing songs from Kate’s 4 recent albums;

Make the Light,

Ghost,

Life in a Paper Boat &

Philosophers, Poets & Kings. 

_________

A total of 44 songs from Kate’s repertoire.

This book contains twenty-one of the most popular traditional melodies, both dance tunes and song airs, from around Britain and Ireland. Each tune is arranges with a harmony part for a second melody instrument as well as a chord accompaniment. Soundtrack available.

In this book you’ll find the holy grail of pub session tunes, the very backbone and life blood of the English traditional music scene.

The Banjo Play-Along Series will help you play your favorite songs quickly and easily with incredible backing tracks to help you sound like a bona fide pro! Just follow the banjo tab, listen to the demo track on the CD to hear how the banjo should sound, and then play along with the separate backing tracks. The CD is playable on any CD player and also is enhanced so Mac and PC users can adjust the recording to any tempo without changing the pitch! Each Banjo Play-Along pack features eight cream of the crop songs. This volume includes: Ain't It Enough · The Cave · Forget the Flowers · Ho Hey · Little Lion Man · Live and Die · Switzerland · Wagon Wheel.

This fingerstyle guitar collection features 20 engaging lyrical tunes from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales plus three original pieces by accomplished guitarist, trumpeter and composer William A. Bay, president, and editor-in-chief at Mel Bay Publications. Tasked with writing intermediate-level arrangements in either standard or dropped-D tuning, guitarist/arranger Raymond Gonzalez displays uncommon music rethinking skills while preserving the plaintive and lilting nature of these enduring melodies. Unique to these settings, you will find sparse, open-chord harmonies accentuated by double hammer-ons and pull-offs, and the odd harmonic mixed with normal tones within a melodic line— all reminiscent of gentle waves washing up against a rocky island shore. Conceived to be played on either steel or nylon-string guitar, these pieces are written in both standard notation and tablature. Includes online access to the author’s own audio recordings.

Musick’s Delight on the Modern Cittern is intended for the beginner seeking a collection of simple yet attractive tunes that are enjoyable to play; the more intermediate player desirous of widening their repertoire; and any player in want of a collection of tunes upon which they can build further. 

All tunes are presented in both notation and tablature, together with chords for an accompaniment, in GDGDG for cittern and GDAE for mandolin and octave mandola, plus two hundred and fifty chords each for GDGDG and GDAE. Bouzouki and tenor mandola players can also play these tunes via the tablature. 

From the age of knights, castles and courtly love; from the palaces and gardens of Renaissance Europe; and from the assemblies, playhouses and noisy streets of seventeenth and eighteenth-century London: Musick’s Delight on the Modern Cittern presents a repertoire spanning 600 years – as delightfully playable and addictive now as it was then.

Strum Together songbooks feature melody, lyrics, and chord diagrams for five popular folk instruments displayed together in an easy-to-use format. With this edition, you can play 47 Dylan classics on ukulele, baritone ukulele, guitar, mandolin, and/or banjo! This is a great resource for stringed instrument players who are ready to experience the fun of making music together. Songs include: All Along the Watchtower · All I Really Want to Do · Blowin' in the Wind · Forever Young · Girl from the North Country · Gotta Serve Somebody · A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall · Highway 61 Revisited · It Ain't Me, Babe · Jokerman · Just like a Woman · Knockin' on Heaven's Door · Lay, Lady, Lay · Like a Rolling Stone · Maggie's Farm · Mr. Tambourine Man · Quinn, the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) · Tangled up in Blue · The Times They Are A-Changin' · and more.

This book of 101 easy tunes for any melody instrument has been compiled to give beginners and novices an accessible source of easy tunes. These easy but interesting tunes will give enormous pleasure to both player and listener. Only 14 notes are required to play all 101 tunes, which include folk melodies and Irish tunes.

All your favourite songs and carols in one wonderful, carefully selected edition. Newly arranged and engraved for piano, voice and guitar, these 49 songs set the mood for the festive season.

Over 40 traditional and contemporary songs from the world of folk and folk-rock, all presented with complete lyrics and a detailed chord guide.

Here we have 89 tunes, with chords from the Northumbrian tradition presented by Pauline Cato, virtuoso exponent of the Northumbrian small pipes. This collection is an excellent introduction to anyone interested in this type of music and can be seen as a survival guide to Northumbrian sessions.Recordings of all the tunes are available on 2 C.D' s ' Minstrel's Fancy' and ' Bonny at Morn'.

Band Time is the long awaited sequel to ‘Band Swing’ and is a tune book arranged for folk dance musicians who like playable tunes which work well together. Edited by piano accordion player Pete Mac, this book is an indispensable source for folk dance band

First published in the 1950s and now re-printed with Chords. The Fiddlers Tune-Book was a landmark collection edited by veteran folklorist and collector Peter Kennedy. This book is crammed with 200 core repertoire tunes for all traditional musicians. If you have no traditional music books, this is the first one you should buy.

Finally - Songbook TWO is here!
Songs from Underneath the Stars onwards. Forty six songs from Kate’s repertoire, some traditional, some original.
Includes the Christmas material from Sweet Bells. Includes melodies, chords, song notes and photos.

133 Songs from around the world including 'Auld Lang Syne', 'Danny Boy', 'Greensleeves', 'Hava Nagila', 'This Train'. Arranged for Easy Guitar.

Although the cittern has a history spanning 500 years and several countries, like its cousin the Irish bouzouki, it is a relative newcomer to contemporary traditional music. Doc Rossi, a well-known citternist in both traditional and early music, has created this book for intermediate to advanced players who want to improve their technique, develop ideas and learn new repertoire. Guitarists can play all of the tunes in this book on the guitar by tuning C F C G C F, low to high, and putting a capo at the second fret. The lowest line in the tablature then corresponds to the fifth string. The CD features all the tunes played at a medium tempo.

With the same arranging expertise shown in his other Mel Bay solo ukulele collections, Ondrej Sarek presents these 25 lyrical North American melodies. The selections are derived from popular themes by known and unknown composers from the Colonial Era to the 21st century, including folk ballads, Civil War melodies, songs by Stephen Foster, a 19th century piece by Edward MacDowell, and a half-dozen clearly modern but lyrical compositions by William Bay.  Written in standard notation and tablature for the soprano or concert ukulele tuned GCEA.