Minuet from String Quintet Op. 11 No. 5 by Luigi Boccherini may not be an immediately recognisable title but the music almost certainly will be. This arrangement for four guitars or guitar orchestra by Gary Spolding may fool both players and audiences into thinking the music was originally written for guitars.

Lasting approximately 4 minutes, the arrangement will suit an ambitious and enthusiastic group of guitarists who have reached grade 2 to 4 standard. For the first section Guitar 1 carries the melody with Guitar 2 accompanying in semiquavers, Guitar 3 in quaver arpeggiated chords and Guitar 4 with a crotchet bass line. In the second section the melody is shared out amongst all parts.

If you work in education, this arrangement has these useful features…
- trills and grace notes for Guitar 1.
- a D.C. al Fine with inner section repeats.
- position playing.
- p i technique for Guitar 2 and and p i m technique for Guitar 3.


This piece is one in a series of arrangements by Gary Spolding for beginner guitar ensembles. Each arrangement has at least one guitar part that is accessible to a player of ABRSM grade 2 standard and the other parts are never more difficult than grade 4. They can be performed as guitar quartets with one player to a part or by guitar orchestra with multiple players per part making them ideal for guitar societies or school concerts.

If you like the look of this arrangement then Fauré’s Pavane may also be of interest.

3 page score and separate parts each 2 pages.
Grade 2-4
£6 as a pdf
Not available as a book
LMP 179