Carcassi – 25 Etudes for Guitar, Op. 60, TECLA 345, as a printed book paperbound

Carcassi’s 25 Etudes op. 60 are famous and have gone through many editions. Generations of guitarists have known them and played them. But this Tecla edition is different: it does not simply copy another modern edition but instead goes back to the original editions for its sources. In 2010 the guitarist and teacher Heinrich Jochen wrote in an email: “The Carcassi opus 60 [that is to say, this Tecla edition] is really a fortune, since any other edition I had viewed contained too much added fingering foreign to Carcassi’s”.

This Tecla edition of Carcassi’s Etudes op. 60 broke new ground when I first published it in 2006 in that it is based on a detailed re-examination of the original sources.  This is a complete definitive and urtext edition with only the original fingering. I have added no new fingering. The edition has a new introduction and includes notes on technique and interpretation.

Brian Jeffery

Why should I use this edition of Carcassi’s Etudes rather than any other?

Because this edition establishes a new and fully reliable text, fully practical, with comments on every piece, at a very reasonable price, easily available in digital or printed form worldwide. These Etudes were originally published only after Carcassi’s death in 1853 and the only known two original editions contain many problems in the text. This edition examines those problems in detail and finds solutions.

A standard edition specially for students. TECLA 345. Newly edited by Brian Jeffery.  48 pages.

Chris Malone, who teaches guitar in Toronto, writes in March 2021: “My compliments, by the way, on your edition of Carcassi’s Op. 60. I work on many of those studies daily, and your insights into the right hand technique, in particular, are very useful to me. The Tecla edition is my favourite and I recommend it to students and players alike now.”

Patrik Kleemola has recorded all of these Etudes. Here he is playing etude op. 60 no. 1:

Read the complete introduction.

Read Matteo Carcassi’s biography.