Any short easy bach compositions for a mandolin beginner?

  1. Pasha Alden
    Pasha Alden
    Hi there

    Very new to this list and wondered are there any pieces for a beginner by Bach?
  2. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    I like playing two of his bourrees: the bourree from the lute suite in E-minor (best known from Jethro Tull) and the bourree from the third cello suite, transposed up to G major to sit better on mandolin. Both are fairly easy if played slowly and you can ramp up the speed gradually as your fingers become familiar with the notes. Sheet music for both is at the Icking Archive website and the cello suite bourree is also in TablEdit form at Mandozine.

    I recorded both of them a while ago:

    1) Lute suite:



    2) 3rd cello suite:



    You may consider using a metronome to keep the tempo steady -- I should have done so for my recording of the cello suite, where the tempo is all over the place...

    Martin
  3. Pasha Alden
    Pasha Alden
    Thanks Martin for the sound and the links to sheet music. Going to find that and start playing! Many thanks again

    Vanillamandolin
  4. Pasha Alden
    Pasha Alden
    Hi Martin
    Thanks for bourrees. Absolutely wonderful. Am inspired and going to get the sheet music. You played these wonderfully. I hope to sound like that soon.

    Vanillamandolin
  5. luckylarue
    luckylarue
    I'd recommend "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring". Not too fast or complicated. It was my gateway piece to Bach & classical mandolin (& reading notation). Good Luck!
  6. Graing
    Graing
    I'll second Lucky's suggestion. Playing with that piece now and it's great fun.
  7. crisscross
    crisscross
    The Notebook for Anna Magdalena contains some nice little pieces that also work well on mandolin, like the Minuet in G: https://soundcloud.com/tele1310/menuet-in-g-jsbach
    I have a vague idea for a children's book/CD: "The Travels around the World of Anna-Magdalene Bach"
    The mandolin piece could figure in the chapter "AMB in bella napoli", wheras in Dublin it would sound like this: https://soundcloud.com/tele1310/musette-jsbach
    And finally in Hawai: https://soundcloud.com/tele1310/musette-jsbach
    Other chapters could be AM in Moscow or in Jamaica.
    Too bad, I play neither balalaika nor steeldrums
  8. crisscross
    crisscross
    Another vote for the first bourrée of the third cello suite transposed to G-major
    https://soundcloud.com/tele1310/bourree-1-cello-suite-3
Results 1 to 8 of 8