Classical Guitar Resources · Sheet Music
Free Scores and Digital ArchivesIMSLP, the Boije Collection, university archives and other free, legal sources of scores.
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Free Scores and Digital Archives
(Stockholm) The Boije Collection is a famous, free online archive of over 1,600 historical classical guitar scores collected by Carl Oscar Boije af Gennäs (1849–1923), a Swedish insurance clerk and amateur guitarist. Nearly 1,000 printed 19th-century works, handwritten manuscripts, solo pieces, duets, and rare autograph scores (including works by Johann Kaspar Mertz). Fully digitized into free PDF files and indexed alphabetically by composer name.
and The International Guitar Research Archives scores database features over one thousand public domain works from composers and arrangers across the globe. In addition to the diverse array of guitar compositions and method books spanning centuries, the database contains works for other plucked strings such as banjo, mandolin and ukelele. Scores are presented in the PDF format. Also: digital-collections.csun.edu/digital/collection/
Large member library of public-domain editions (free registration).
Early editions of selected works.
Some useful information, but many of the links are dead.
The Guitar School offers a comprehensive collection of 3723 pages of sheet music for guitar students, featuring works by 160 distinct authors. The material has been carefully collected and typeset by Eythor Thorlaksson and Sveinn Eythorsson. The library is organized into grades and clear categories, including Methods, Studies, Collections, Solo works, Duos, Trios, and Quartets, making it easy to find suitable repertoire for every level. In some cases, audio and video recordings are provided to support learning.
or search by composer: Highly recommended to find original or early editions of works for any instrument. Also: imslp.org/wiki/Category:Composers
(Appalachian State) The Ophee Collection include over five hundred first and early editions of major guitar composers including Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Matteo Carcassi, Ferdinando Carulli, and many others, as well as the only complete manuscript of the Dix Etudes by Giulio Regondi, discovered by Ophee in 1987. The collection also includes the personal scores and papers of Argentinian guitarist Domingo Prat (1886–1944), as well as a large amount of rare music for the Russian 7-string guitar from the 19th century.