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Guitar and Ensemble Arrangements
There is a lot of great music out there, but much of it was not made to be played on guitar (piano players get to have all of the fun!). I have made arrangements of great classical and popular music to be played on guitar. The arrangements are completed in full music notation with fingerings and can be purchased using the links below the descriptions. I sell these arrangements through Bergmann Edition, Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct. There are also recordings of each arrangement. I hope that guitarists will find this music to be useful and add it to their repertoire. There are also Ensemble Arrangements for various instruments below.
Solo guitar arrangements
Bergmann Editions: https://bergmann-edition.com/collections/mordal-nick
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/category/arrangeme/936/nick-mordal/
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/Search.aspx?query=Nick%20Mordal
Latest project:
3 Irish folk song arrangements
Whiskey In The Jar - Traditional Irish
I first heard this song through Metallica's version when I was a young boy. My arrangement is much more traditional, and I composed a short few sections to sound like and Irish jig. It is a great piece for classical guitarists that want to play something that all audiences can enjoy listening to.
Purchase the sheet music here:
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1534567/Product.aspx
Irish folk arrangements
The Irish Rover - Traditional Irish
This is a traditional tune that I heard through the Pogues' and guest band The Dubliners rendition on their album If I Should Fall From Grace With God. I again composed some original parts in this arrangement. The mood starts out marked "wistful" and changes suddenly into a more uplifted pub party atmosphere.
Purchase the sheet music here:
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1534569/Product.aspx
The Parting Glass - Traditional Scottish
Purchase the sheet music here:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/product-22761499.html
This is the final of the 3 Celtic Folk songs arrangements for classical guitar. This tune was difficult to do because I wanted to keep the harmony minimalistic, yet keep everything moving along in interesting ways.
And So It Goes - Billy Joel
Transposed from C to D. Billy's piano chord voicings and counterpoint are preserved in this guitar arrangement. Techniques include a precise right hand for string selection of the thick chord voicings, barre and bringing out melodies amidst the chords. It works as accompaniment with a singer or by itself as a solo performance. If you know the music of Billy Joel well, then you know this song. The lyrics are sad and true to anyone that has experienced heartbreak.
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1042588/Product.aspx
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/and-so-it-goes-21982425.html
And so it Goes
00:00 / 03:13
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) - Billy Joel
This arrangement can be played in the original key by using a capo and has preserved all of the piano voicings from the recording. Because the melody is in the guitar part, it works well to accompany a singer or by itself as a solo performance. Techniques include the use of precise and dense chord voicings, barre and repetitive simultaneous i,m,a articulation. Learning this piece will improve your accompaniment skills. Mr. Joel composed this song for his daughter.
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1042590/Product.aspx
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/lullabye-goodnight-my-angel-21982427.html
Lullabye
00:00 / 03:25
Prelude (BWV 999) - JS Bach
Bach's Prelude in C Minor for lute has been transposed to D minor. This is a great piece to learn arpeggio technique and familiarity with the higher notes on the fretboard. It is common in the guitar repertoire and a version of it can also be found in the Modern Approach to Classical Guitar book 2 by Charles Duncan. However, I have made my arrangement of this piece by staying slightly truer to the original. It is very similar to Duncan's version, but a little more advanced.
Prelude 999
00:00 / 01:39
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1246333/Product.aspx
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/prelude-bwv-999-22414505.html
Largo from Keyboard Concerto no. 5 (BWV 1056) - JS Bach
This is one of Bach's great melodies and the way that it is preserved in this guitar arrangement is done very specifically. If played with a capo on 1st fret, it will be in the original key of Ab. Techniques used in the arrangement include many slurs, cross string trills and barres. I am very happy with the way that this arrangement fits on guitar.
Prelude to Cello Suite no. 5 excerpt (BWV 1011)
-JS Bach
This is a mere excerpt from one of Bach's longest fugues. It is the prelude to the fugue and is a wonderfully moody baroque lute piece in A minor. Like most well written minor pieces, it utilizes natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor scales throughout. Techniques used in the arrangement include slurs, cross string trills, barre and familiarity with the higher notes of the fretboard. Bach wrote a lot of great solo cello music, and many guitar players have arranged that music for guitar. The reason it is an excerpt is that I stopped before the fugue section. Maybe one day I will get around to arranging it. It is quite long, but very doable on guitar.
Prelude 995 excerpt
00:00 / 02:10
Larghetto from Piano Concerto no. 27 - Mozart
This is a combined piano and orchestra guitar solo piece. It is a very full arrangement and captures the entire movement on solo guitar. The difficulty is Advanced, and it is worth learning for performance as well as building skills in barre, arpeggio and scale techniques. Mozart's piano concertos are some of the first classical music that I really got into. The melodies are unforgettable and sound so natural.
Bergmann Edition: https://bergmann-edition.com/products/mozart-mordal-larghetto
Menuet Antique (excerpt) - Ravel
This is an excerpt from the larger piano work by Ravel called Menuet Antique. It is the folk melody section in the middle of the piece. It has been transposed from B to D major. The chords are full of Romanticism and venture away from the major tonality on multiple occasions. Techniques used include many neck positions, barres, hinge barres, dense chord voicings, hemiola rhythm and flamenco rasgueado. It is an advanced piece that sounds gorgeous with the resonance of a good nylon string classical guitar.
Menuet Antique
00:00 / 02:23
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1042581/Product.aspx
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/menuet-antique-21973344.html
Asturiana - Manuel de Falla
This arrangement condenses piano and voice onto guitar. It features a motoric accompaniment of octave repetition with the thread of a harmonic minor melody. Techniques used in the arrangement include barre, right hand string skipping, long stretches and overall precision to avoid guitar noise. It is sure to improve your skills on the instrument. This is a song from Manuel de Falla's 1922 collection called Siete Canciones Populares Españolas (7 popular Spanish songs). It is a haunting melody from ancient Spanish tradition. I am very interested in the classical music of Spain from around the turn of the 20th century and it's relationship to flamenco songs around the same time. The 2 artforms of classical and flamenco music are quite different, but there are threads of similarity and origin between them. Spanish harmony is very robust and exotic sounding compared to much other European classical harmonies.
El círculo mágico - Manuel de Falla
This is the slow and melancholic part of Falla's ballet called El Amor Brujo. The quiet intimacy of guitar serves it right. Techniques used in the arrangement include barre, stretching the left hand out of conventional positioning and precise string selection for the chord voicings. One of Manuel de Falla's composition specialties was in the realm of ballet music. Most of the pieces from the ballet are fast and rhythmic, but this one is different. It fits very nicely on guitar and has not been transposed. There are a few tricky spots to bring the melody out, and one awkward stretch at the beginning of the first phrase. But it really sounds great once you get the muscle memory built up.
El círculo mágico
00:00 / 02:11
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1042587/Product.aspx
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/el-circulo-magico-el-amor-brujo-21982420.html
Las Morillas de Jaen - Federico Garcia Lorca
Garcia Lorca is the most famous name in the flamenco songwriting tradition. His compositions have been covered by countless musicians in the classical and folk flamenco world. The pieces he wrote were often short and repetitive like a folk song, but full of the rhythmic energy that characterizes flamenco. This piece is right in between, as it is fairly rubato and can be interpreted in various ways. Techniques used include barre chords, right hand precision and bringing a melody out over dense chord voicings. This is a song from his collection titled Canciones españolas antiguas. The arrangement has full barre chords with melody. Its sound is a bridge between classical Spanish and flamenco folk Spanish musics. Listen to the album 12 Canciones De Garcia Lorca Para Guitarra by Paco de Lucía and Ricardo Modrego to hear this music performed at its finest.
Las Morillas de Jaen
00:00 / 01:37
Rumores de la Caleta - Isaac Albéniz
This brilliantly rhythmic piano piece by Albéniz has been transposed up a fifth for guitar. Albéniz wrote this music with the percussion of a guitar in mind. Like another famous Albéniz guitar transcription, Asturias (Leyenda), it fits very nicely on the classical guitar. It is fairly difficult with some quick position shifts and is worth putting time into. Its' sound is a mix between classical and flamenco guitar. This piece has been done by several classical guitarists like Christopher Parkening, and this is my take on it. It features two contrasting sections. The A section is harsh, percussive and very Spanish. The B section is a melodically driven change of pace, before it finishes in a repeat of the A section.
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1431431/Product.aspx
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/rumores-de-la-caleta-22630539.html
Ensemble Arrangemet
Ensemble Arrangements
Will O The Wisp - Falla, Evans, Davis
This is from the Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain and is arranged for violin, cello and guitar. You can also find the song in Manuel de Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo. There is a vamp at the end where the violinist in encouraged to improvise chromatically and cue the final measures. The piece has several origins. I first discovered it on Miles Davis' and Gil Evans' record Sketches of Spain, and mainly based the arrangement on that version. However, the melody is from ancient Spanish folk tradition and was brought to the popular world in Manuel de Falla's Ballet El Amor Brujo. It is a very haunting and moody work in each of it's versions. I believe I captured the feeling in a trio of guitar, violin and cello. Light percussion can work very nicely with it as well, as you can hear in this version performed by Mill City Caravan.
Will O The Wisp performed by Mill City Caravan
Play Video
Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1430968/Product.aspx
Sheet Music Plus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/will-o-the-wisp-22630041.html
The Girl From Ipanema - Antonio Carlos Jobim
This arrangement for Violin, Cello and Guitar features original melodic lines and an optional solo section. It is the famous Girl From Ipanema by Jobim. In the fall of 2018 I was commissioned to arrange and compose music for Augsburg University at the Distinguished Alumni Celebration event. We had flute, saxophone, harp and drumset graduates from the Augsburg music program that can be heard on the live recording. I have 2 options for an ensemble available: Flute, Oboe, Guitar or Violin, Cello, Guitar.
Girl From Ipanema Augsburg Performance
00:00 / 04:08
for Flute, Oboe, Guitar:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/the-girl-from-ipanema-garota-de-ipanema-22643067.html
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1442904/Product.aspx
for Violin, Cello, Guitar:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/the-girl-from-ipanema-garota-de-ipanema-22643121.html
22643121.htmlhttps://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1442958/Product.aspx
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