Happy Juneteenth!!! Justin Holland (1819 - 1887) was the first African American composer for the guitar. He was among the most widely published arrangers of music for the guitar in the 19th century. His version of "Spanish Fandango" in open G major tuning, aka Spanish tuning, was very popular and commonly played at parlor concerts. This work blends elements of the newly emerging parlor folk guitar style with the 19th century classical guitar tchnique of Carcassi, Carulli, and Giuliani. Notably, the variations display extensive and dazzling array of natural harmonics and arpeggios. My edit of Justin Holland's arrangement is available here: www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/spanish-fandango-arranged-by-justin-holland-digital-sheet-music/22222019?xnpe_tifc=xdxXhIHZ4dYXxuh.bdY84jpsafeWaeiLhkQZhM4DO9BsV9P8b9PvadADaus.Rki3VlB9afeWaG8.adJSxfbZ4IbZxdnjb.xlhFxZhnTT&ac=1

Originally recorded in February of 2022, this is a remaster performance with a simplified mastering chain (Ozone Advanced 9) and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did making it!

Spanish Fandango by Justin Holland - Early Open G major Tuning Masterpiece

"Assist me, ye lads who have hearts void of guile,
To sing in the praises of old Ireland's isle,
Where true hospitality opens the door,
And friendship detains us for one bottle more.
One bottle more, arrah, one bottle more,
And friendship detains us for one bottle more."

This is the shortest piece from my collection of transcriptions of the compositions of Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738) for solo guitar in DGDGCD tuning. O'Carolan was a prolific harpist who went blind in his teenage years, nevertheless he charted course over the seas of melody and wrote 214 immortal tunes in his day. His melodic inventiveness is a constant source of inspiration, and I find respite from the harshness of the world by playing at least one of his pieces daily. I hope you enjoy, and I raise a glass to you! Sláinte!

One Bottle More - Turlough O'Carolan - Solo DGDGCD Guitar

This is my arrangement of "O Holy Night!" by Adolphe Adam in Open D major with basso continuo. It was performed on my Larrivee PV-03QM and recorded in January of 2022 with the first round of mixing and mastering completed in July 2022.

O' Holy Night - Open D major w/ basso continuo by Adolphe Adam arranged by Perry Brooks Nichols

This piece is the romantic prelude from a forthcoming suite of pieces dedicated to the Raags of Thaat Bhairav in Open D major tuning.

Ramakli is a special and fairly rare raga of this exotic thaat which is based around the Double Harmonic Major Scale incorporating "bluesy" melodic sequences with the tritone, flat sixth and minor 7th often returning to the fifth. The compositional process is attempt to develop this sequence and resolve it along the lines of the Spanish classical guitar romance composers I admire: Carcassi, Kleynjans, etc. Ramkali is said to evoke a passionate longing that is unquenchable in it's thirst.

This was performed on my Larrivee P-03QM steel string parlor acoustic and recorded in January of 2022. The master of this track is a bit more snappy than the one on my bandcamp.

Ramkali Romance - Open D major

This work is an exploration of the Raga Yaman Kalyan in open G minor tuning. Elements of American ragtime, blues, classical guitar and rumba flamenco are woven into the tapestry of this work. It belongs to the body of work known as "Raag & Bone."

Raag Yaman Kalyan belongs to the Kalyan thaat. It is said that all the ragas of this thaat are generated by the ancient Lydian mode of the Greeks. One of the most unique qualities of this raag is that the phrases generate from the 7th degree of the scale and rise up through the swaras before making a cadence resolving from the 2nd of the scale to the root. If one listens carefully to melody the listener will noticed the "Ni" - "Re" "Sa" statement. 

Another exciting thing about this raga is that the drone notes Ni and Ga create a minor chord when combined with the rest of the swaras, thus there is a constant ambiguity whether the minor key (G - Ga) or the major key (Eb -Sa)  is the tonic center. Yaman Kalyan has the special characterist of altering the #4 (Ma Teevra) to natural 4 (Ma) in special phrases like Gmg, R m G P M P m G, etc

Yaman Kalyan:

Ascent: Ni     R  Ga  Ma Dha  Ni    Sa
            M7 M2 M3  A4 M6     M7 Root

Descent:  Sa'    Ni   Dha Pa  Ma Ga Re 'Ni               Sa
                Root M7  M6  P5  A4  M3 M2 M7(below)  Root
Namaste! Aho!

Moonflower Dance - Raag Yaman Kalyan

For Bandcamp Friday, I present my original arrangement and slightly Guiness-ed up performance of Paddy Canny's tune alternately known as "The Caves Of Kiltanon." Unlike my nylon string version, I try to evoke the splashy and slippery atmosphere of the wondrous sea cave with glissandos and splattering campanellas on the 12 string in CFCFBbC tuning.

Performed on a Taylor 352ce 12 string and recorded with the Vanguard V44S X-Y stereo mic.

Feel free to click the buy link and support! :)

Slainte!

Fingal's Cave - Paddy Canny - 12 string - CFCFBbC tuning

Happy "Burns Supper" and New Year! 

This is the audio from a Facebook Live performance that took place on January 1st, 2022 featuring my arrangement of Auld Lang Syne, including a chord melody variation straight and with ragtime feel, a potpourri of fragments of works ranging from "Poor Boy's Long Way From Home" to Zani De Ferranti's "Carnival of Venice," and improvisations in the raag Bhairav (Kalingra).

The audio had been badly reduced and damaged by Facebook's compression algorithm and I managed to salvage it using Izotope RX 10 and Ozone 10. I did reorganize the structure just a small bit to create the intro, but otherwise the performance is left intact fret buzz, flubbed/ghost notes and all.

Auld Lang Syne - Variations and Raag

A live performance at Pecan Hollow Lodge for Arpana Kagal's birthday.
I performed a variety of works from Ottmar to Eagles. Enjoy!

Live at Pecan Hollow Lodge 9/7/2019

Luis Milan Pavane No.1

An acoustic guitarist making waves in Dallas, TX.

Perry Brooks Nichols

Popular tracks