Ted’s Arrangement, with compilation pages by Paul Vachon

Ted's Original Lesson sheet
Bach_BoureeGmi.pdf

My compilation pages, changes and comparisons
BourreeGm_Ted GreeneArr_NotationTabGrids_p1.pdf
BourreeGm_Ted GreeneArr_NotationTabGrids_p2.pdf
BourreeGm_Ted GreeneArr_NotationTabGrids_p3.pdf
BourreeGm_Ted GreeneArr_NotationTabGrids_p4.pdf

Bourrée (Ted spelled it as Bourée) written by J.S. Bach (1685-1750) comes from the first Lute Suite, BWV 996 and was originally in E minor.  Ted chose to write this arrangement up a minor 3rd to the key of G minor.  He did this on New Year’s Eve, 1982.  The original page was added to the Lessons/Tunes section of this website for the October 2009 new items.

Ted wrote his version in standard notation and added numbers for fingerings.  I transferred his notation and fingerings to the computer and then added Tab and Ted’s system of chord diagrams.  In some instances he wrote optional fingerings in parentheses, which are also included in the grid diagrams, but not in the Tab.

At the top of his page Ted wrote, “Moveable Fingering (works especially well in higher keys)”. The advantage of this study is that it doesn’t use open strings (except in one spot), so the whole arrangement can easily be transposed to other keys with the same fingerings.

For Ted’s original page, line 4, measure 2, he wrote, “Leave tip on 2nd string” — meaning to place the 4th finger on both the 1st and 2nd string for both the second and third beat of that measure.  This corresponds to page 4, top line of the compilation.  Regardless of how you choose to play the C & A notes (two grid diagrams are provided), you can still retain the 4th finger partial barre for that move.

Everything else is rather self-explanatory and needs no comments from me.  One suggestion I'd make would be to go through the piece and try to name the implied chord name and quality for as many of the diads as seems reasonable.  This will help you to see the harmonic progression and will help in memorization.

Enjoy!

—Paul