Fortune, My Foe (Poulton No.62) by John Dowland (1563-1626). PDF or hardcopy sheet music with free video lesson for classical guitar. This lesson comes from my book Classical Guitar Repertoire Lessons Grade 6 – Five pieces at the grade six level with dedicated lessons preparing you for each piece.
This is originally for Renaissance lute but arranged for classical guitar. I perform the piece in two ways: relative lute tuning with a capo, and without a capo. I play all Dowland’s works in relative lute tuning (3rd string tuned down to F sharp). This places the instrument in the same relative tuning as a Renaissance lute. It’s even closer to Dowland’s lute if we place a capo on the third fret. Most of the time, Dowland’s music is much easier in relative lute tuning because of the open F sharp on the third string. The music was composed with this tuning in mind so the chord shapes generally work better in the original tuning.
In the lesson I cover some scales, some tricky sections, alternative fingering, talk about lute tablature, and do a walk-through of the piece.
Lesson Times: Intro (3:50), Scales (5:50), Tricky Passages (8:18), French Tablature Discussion (12:50), Walk-Through (13:48)
Here’s the YouTube Video Lesson Link if you want to watch it there.
More Info: Why do guitarists use capos and 3rd string F# tuning?
