Preece Music

J S Bach’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello are some of the most famous works for solo cello. They are studied and performed by cellists across the world, and have also been arranged for many other instruments, including the ukulele. While this collection is not the first ukulele arrangement of the suites, previous works have consisted only of one or two movements: this is the most complete arrangement to date, consisting of seventeen pieces from the renowned Cello Suites.

This collection is arranged for standard solo ukulele in re-entrant tuning (gCEA), and makes extensive use of campanella techniques, in which successive notes are played on separate strings, to achieve a bell-like quality and a fuller sound. The ukulele is particularly suited to this style of playing, which gives a fresh style to these famous pieces.

Arrangements In This Book

• Cello Suite No 1 – Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Minuets 1 and 2, Gigue
• Cello Suite No 2 – Prelude, Allemande, Minuet 2, Gigue
• Cello Suite No 3 – Bourrées 1 and 2, Gigue
• Cello Suite No 4 – Bourrée 2, Gigue
• Cello Suite No 5 – Gavotte 2
• Cello Suite No 6 – Gavottes 1 and 2
• Bonus Arrangement: Prelude No 1 for Low-G Ukulele

Extra Pages

As mentioned in the introduction, four of the pieces require an awkward page turn in the printed edition, and so I’ve put together a downloadable file of just the four relevant pages that you can print off and use alongside the book, so that you don’t have to turn the page in the middle of the piece. You can download that file here.