Art of Gospel Guitar

Book excerpt: This book features 22 gems of gospel and hymn music, arranged in various keys in dropped D tuning (DADGBE - 6th to 1st string) for the intermediate and advanced guitarist. The arrangements provide compelling evidence that dropped D tuning has been liberated from its usual position as simply a variant of standard tuning. In this book, it takes on an exciting open-tuning character. Innovative string choices and guitar voicings are employed to evoke different textures for the various melodies. The music ranges from the single-note treatment reminiscent ofthe solo singer, to the flowing, arpeggiated approach of the harper, to the chordal power of the organist. The pace can be slow and meditative, or up-tempo andcelebratory. The presentation is in tablature and standard notation