Lute Songs of John Dowland

The Original First and Second Books including Dowland's Original Lute Tablature

By John Dowland

This book is the best currently available version of Dowland's songs for guitar and voice. It includes all the pieces from Dowland's first two books, in standard notation and lute tablature. Most pieces are transcribed with the 3rd guitar string tuned down to F# to match lute tuning...

and make the pieces playable, but a few songs have been adapted to standard tuning (and with completely different, but easier, fingerings). I have a few quibbles with this book. The guitar part is transposed down a 3rd, but the voice part is in the original key; completely unnecessary for singers, and very inconvenient for guitarists trying to learn the melody, or singers who want to learn the harmony on the piano. A few awkward page turns and additional verses not listed below the voice part make this book not really suitable for singers, and lute players should just use the tablature available in public domain, but it's still a very good resource for guitarists.

Two major complaints about this book: 1) nearly all of the pieces require retuning the guitar's third string from G to F sharp and 2) yes, this really is a book for VOICE and guitar. So if you're looking for solo arrangements, this book is not for you...

. Because the editor assumes a voice will be joining you, the voice, of course, has the melody, and the guitar parts are merely backup. If you want classical guitar transcriptions of Dowland's lute music, you'll need to go elsewhere. Jerry Willard's Easy Renaissance Pieces for Classical Guitar is a great choice and includes works by Dowland and a number of other composers.