BACH First Cello Suite for Solo Guitar

This is Bach’s first cello suite (six dances in six movements), the easiest and most directly joyful of all six cello suites, and a perfect starting point for those wanting to play Bach’s music on guitar. I have added phrasing marks to counteract our tendency to preference the barline, because I think a lot of phrasing would have been in the ear of musicians in Bach’s day, just like the cadence of spoken sentences is in ours. I also love the possibilities of rhythmic changes if you follow the phrases; they are not always in synch with the bars. The particular phrase markings I have chosen are only suggestions. I change them all the time and you should too, because that is most of the fun. The phrase markings are given above the notes, while the left hand ties are given below. These, again, are just suggestions and I most definitely change these all the time, according to mood, speed and emphasis. None of these phrases and ties have been taken from the four existing manuscripts (none of which are in Bach’s hand), but rather from the logic of the music as I hear it and from the logic of the guitar as I play it. You could choose to do less ties and more individual notes, do both and all and more. I did listen through to Casals’ version and check if my phrasing made sense (and noticed the few different notes Casals played - versions differ, and when you play a piece new notes slip in and this is just fine, we’re here to be creative). I recommend learning each phrase alone, as you would savour a beautiful word. Forget the whole piece, forget memorising, learning, performing. Just read this wonderful music as you would a wonderful book, for enjoyment; to be in the world it represents. You will notice that my version is in C Major (if you don’t use a capo, which you could if you wanted it to feel easier to play), and that the guitar is not in standard tuning. The different tuning allows the resonance of the key to be supported by the resonance of the strings. The lowest note is F because that corresponds to the lowest note of the cello (which would be C in G major, ours in F in C Major); it’s nice to hit a low open string when you know the cello would have to too. You will notice that I changed the pedal point (drone notes) at the end of the Prelude because it is not possible to keep the high D ringing while the melody moves, so I have found a way to use the logic of the guitar to create changing pedals, and I think this works well. Another option would be to use the lower pedal on the D string but I didn’t like how this sounded. You get used to the change pretty quickly. The music is in tablature because this shows the way to play it most directly and allows for the tuning change without any great hardship. I hope this music gives you much enjoyment, to spend time with Bach is really to sit at the feet of a master. How lucky we are.

Derek Gripper
Cederberg Mountains 2022