Bach for Classical Guitar – Free Sheet Music PDFs

Free and premium sheet music by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) for classical guitar. Although Bach never specifically wrote for the classical guitar there is plenty of evidence that he regularly interacted with lute players including Sylvius Leopold Weiss. The ‘Lute Suites’ most likely written on a Lute-Harpsichord hybrid nevertheless exist in period lute tablature and it is well documented that Bach regularly rearranged his music for various instruments.

Free and Premium Editions from this site:

• Bach: Air ‘On the G String’ for Easy Guitar, Gr.4, Notes & TAB
• Bach: Bouree from BWV 996, Gr. 6, Baroque, Free Notation or TAB
• Bach (Petzold): Minuet in G, Anh. 114, Gr.4, Baroque, Notation or TAB
• Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Gr.4, TAB or Free Notation PDF
• Bach: Prelude in D minor, BWV 999, Gr.7, TAB or Free Notation PDF
• Bach: Prelude from Cello Suite BWV 1007, Gr.7, TAB or Free Notation PDF

Recommended Editions from Others (Amazon)

• Bach Sonatas and Partitas by Koonce – Coming soon
• Bach Lute Suites Edited by Koonce – Great edition and fingering, reference facsimiles at end, good text info too.
• Bach Cello Suite No.1 BWV1007 (Koonce)
• 6 Sonatas And Partitas For Violin Bwv1001-1006 Arranged For Guitar by Tadashi Sasaki
• 3 Sonatas for Guitar Solo: from Sonata for Violin, BWV 1001, 1003 and 1005 by Manuel Barrueco
• Bach Cello Suites Arranged for Guitar by Stanley Yates – Some very good arrangements and some less good.
• For the violin Sonatas and Partitas I prefer reading right off the violin score. I like the nice Urtext edition.

Keep in mind that:

• BWV 995 – Suite in G minor is a transcription of Cello Suite No. 5, BWV 1011
• BWV 1000 – Fugue in G minor is a transcription from Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001
• BWV 1006a is a transcription from Partita No. 3 in E major BWV 1006 for solo violin

Videos Featured on the Site

• Adagio BWV 1001 by Bach – Video, Sheet Music (Stephanie Jones)
• Violin Partita II in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Suite & Chaconne) – Video, Sheet Music (Sanel Redžić)
• Prelude – Cello Suite No. 1 BWV 1007 by Bach – Video, Free Sheet Music (Ana Vidovic)
• Sarabande – Cello Suite No. 1 BWV 1007 by Bach – Video, Free Sheet Music (Ana Vidovic)
• Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Bach – Lesson, Free Sheet Music
• Prelude in D minor, BWV 999 – Video, Lesson, Free Sheet Music (Uro Baric/Bradford Werner)
• Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro BWV 998 – Video, Sheet Music (Rosie Bennet)

Lute Suites Arranged by Jean-François Delcamp (delcamp.net)

• Suite BWV 995
• Suite BWV 996
• Partita BWV 997
• Prélude, fugue et allegro BWV 998
• Prélude BWV 999
• Fugue BWV 1000
• Suite BWV 1006a

Suites & Partitas – Arranged by Eythor Thorlaksson (classical-guitar-school.com)

• Cello Suite no. 1 – BWV 1007
• Cello Suite no. 2 – BWV 1008
• Cello Suite no. 3 – BWV 1009
• Cello Suite no. 4 – BWV 1010
• Prelude, Fuge and Allegro – BWV 998
• Chaconne from partita II for violin – BWV 1004
• Partita II original for violin – BWV 1004
• Lute Suite no. 1 – BWV 996
• Lute Suite no. 2 – BWV 997
• Lute Suite no. 3 – BWV 995 
• Lute Suite no. 4 – BWV 1006a 

Free Hans Bruger: J.S. Bach: Compositionen für die Laute (1921) – Copyright/Notes: Public Domain. Beware of mistakes and old-school keys! I would not recommend this edition but could still be useful.

• BWV 995 – Suite in G minor
• BWV 996 – Suite in E minor
• BWV 997 – Suite in C minor
• BWV 998 – Prelude, Fugue and Allegro
• BWV 999 – Prelude in C minor (A min)
• BWV 1000 – Fugue in G minor
• BWV 1006a – Partita in E Major