The Brazilian Masters: The Music of Jobim, Bonfa and More for Solo Guitar

A very good start to Bossa Nova on Solo Classical guitar. Brian Hodel did a great job keeping it authentic with these arrangements, although there is no credit given to him in the book. If you are new to Brazilian style and rhythm, don't start with the first song (Desafinado), instead hop to Solidao and Coral Island--they are short and easy to pick up. The book is worth it for those 2 songs alone. Then work some of the rhythm songs and Sambas--some are better than others, but for first tries Ebony Samba and Samba de Avion are pretty fun. If you like some stretching exercises and "rubato", go for Engano. With some practice time you can sound great and this should foster a love of the Brazilian style that will hopefully pull you into deeper study of the theory.

5 tunes from Stan Getz BOSSA NOVA ALBUMS Box Set plus Little Boat (O Barquinho) from Herbie Mann's COPACABANA CD which also contains 2 of the 5 above. The others I've not heard of. A few are older than the U.S. Bossa Nova era being copyrighted 1954. As a self taught flautist, in lieu of alto sax, I can not comment on the arrangements. I just bought the book for the sheet music rarity Samba Triste which I was able to decipher, after the guitar intro, to my satisfaction. The Latin Fake Book is vastly superior to the Latin Real Book for single note lead sheets of Bossa Novas. But you have to know that they are bossas in the first place, as there is no seperate section for them.

I have a great love for Brazilian music, both as a classical guitarist as well as from a jazz player's viewpoint. As a jazz guitarist I like my own solo arrangements of Jobim and Bonfa better than those in the book. As a classical guitarist, Baden Powell is one of my favorites and you can find arrangements/transcriptions of his music from a great many sources. If you are a classical guitarist and want to get your feet wet with Brazilian music, playing from this book will no doubt be worth your while. But if you are a free spirit with an interest in the jazz approach(by that I mean understanding the harmonic structure and interpreting the music as though it is your own), you would be better served by a good book about constructing jazz chord melodies/chord solos. Jobim, Bonfa, and Powell were all heavily influenced by jazz. Bonfa and Powell(both wonderful guitarists) were always dreaming up new improv arrangements of their own music at just about every performance. If you just memorize one mans interpretation of these tunes and then always play them that way, you will have missed the point entirely.

I am a fan of bossa nova music and have been playing guitar for quite a while. This book has some of the hallmarks of the genre such as Desafinado and O barquinho. The notation in this book is very good, and the songs transcriptions sound very acurate compared to the originals. I really enjoy relaxing and playing the pieces in this book.

I am a self-taught classical guitarist. Been playing for about four years from composers like Bach, Sor and Carulli. Skill level is around beginner-intermediate. I wanted to play pieces that are a bit modern but not venturing into steel-string guitar territory and this is exactly what I was looking for. Rhythm and musical textures completely different from classical guitar genres. Very refreshing change for me!

I'll be working for a while to get this collection worked up. Great!

Received in good condition!

There are a great number of “Bossa” arrangements in print that merely take Brazilian melodies and force them into traditional approaches to classical guitar. This book is not one of them. Each arrangement in “Brazilian Masters” does an absolutely marvelous job of incorporating rhythm and harmony that is authentic to Brazilian music from the 20th century. Because these arrangements are authentic in nature, they are necessarily complex — and thus likely require a strong foundation as a guitarist. (At least for most of the tunes). Absent tablature, one must have a relatively strong ability to read music. That being said, I find the fingerings to be quite thoughtful and used sparingly enough to avoid being obtrusive to the player. To enjoy these songs and make them sound as they are intended, the guitarist *must* take care to study the rhythms carefully. Otherwise, these pieces will sound hokey and you’ll be disappointed. My only complaint about this book is that the arranger is not listed at all. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s a real shame. If the publisher, Hal Leonard, would have listed the name/s of the arranger/s I would immediately look to purchase more of their work.

Sconsigliato a chi non sa leggere la musica

I dont speak german but the order was fast and correct, good, and i must use more words! Why? oke

Märkliga arrangemang!!!

Les morceaux sont très sympas et surtout le doigté est très précis....tout ce qu'il faut au guitariste classique. Je recommande

For so little money this book represents great value. All of the arrangements are superb. I haven't come across too many typos yet (maybe it's the way I play 'em!) and have enjoyed sighting most of the arrangements in the book. With a bit of practice I might play them properly! Well worth it for the keen classical guitarist who likes the challenge of something different.