Can someone help me with this?

The first chord of the second bar of this piece looks roughly like a B7 chord. Except that there's an Fsharp marked on my copy, and it indicates that it's played with an open string. (Huh?) Further on in the piece, the same chord is marked again. Is this a typo? And if not, how on earth do you play it?

The one your refering to is a B major chord in the shape of the open B7 but without stopping the A??
Stop the F# with your pinkie, then slide it up for the G# and open A and up again to play the A in the next chord

That's the one, yeah, OMG. But it's not the Fsharp on the g string I'm having trouble with. I've glided down from the opening B natural on the to the F sharp, using my pinky all the way.

It is the B major chord, yes. Here's how it's put together in my copy (which is in the Dowland anthology) Fsharp, bnatural (marked open string) Fsharp (the one you'd play on the d string if you're in first position - but it's marked on my copy as open string), D sharp, B natural. It's that lower Fsharp that I'm having trouble with. The same chord is repeated in bar five, but without the D sharp. In fat, in several places the F sharp in my copy is denoted as o (which in this system seems to refer to open string).

Am I missing something obvious? It's breaking my head a bit!

Ah well there is where i'm missing you a bit. I'm looking at the copy I have, which is in The Guitarists Progress Book 4. That shows the chord without the F# (D string) which is impossible to get in.
You can't play it on the D string because youre' stopping that for the D#. If you move up to 6th position and barre, stopping the B with your second finger, then the need of the D# in the barre will again prevent the addition of the F#.
Beyond that you are out of options for stopping the B.
Bear in mind that the composition was originally written for the lute and it defintely would have been possible to play it with some lute tunings.
It is worth saying though that you are the one with the correct material source for the exam, and I am the one with the wrong one. But,,,,,, although I don't see it as a typo as such. I do think it as been overlooked in the arrangement.

Ah, I'm glad it's not just me being silly and unable to work out how that would work! So on your copy there's nothing at all in the place where I have that F? Could I trouble you to check for the presence of a similar F marked in the first chord of Bar 5?

Did you obtain your copy from an online source? If so, if you have the address, I'd be really grateful - I could use it to cross check the copy I have.

I've checked all the instances of that chord I can see at first glance, in bar 2 & 3 the chord is without the lower F. 1st chord of bar 5 is also without the D#. Second chord bar 6 has a D natural. Bar 13 is again without a D#.
The book "The Guitarists Progress Book 4", I bought online from Stafford Guitar. It has a couple of grade 6 & 7 pieces in it

Hey OMG, I took it to my teacher this morning, and unbelievably, the open string f sharp is apparently right! Because lutes were tuned differently from guitars, the string we have as a G is traditionally tuned as an Fsharp. The strictly tecnhically correct strategy is to actually tune the G string down to an F sharp. Eek.

That's how I keep my guitar tuned, or my 'makeshift lute' as I call it . You're quite correct: the G needs dropping down to an F# to give the same intervals as a six-course renaissance lute. Optionally, to bring it up to pitch at which it would have sounded originally, a capo needs to be placed behind the third fret.

If you're interested in playing lute music, I can point you to a few lute tab. sites .

lol YAP, thanks, but I reckon I'm quite busy enough musically for now. Maybe next year... After I've learned the viola... (Did I mention that I just got someone's disused viola to fix up? I think at some point I'm going to have to stop collecting musical instruments).

No problem. A renaissance lute (£450 or thereabouts) is on my shopping list after a grand piano and a two-manual harpsichord. No doubt be my mid-life crisis, then .



Hope it goes well with the viola .

I did mention it was possible to play it with lute tunings.
In general, music arranged for guitar, in anything other than standard tuning is marked on the piece. For instance; "Pepita" (Tarrega) on the grade 6 syllabus is in drop D tuning which is clearly marked on the piece itself.
But as I said earlier, You've got the correct source material and I haven't.
Does it not mention anywhere on the piece or in the notes about the tuning for the piece?