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Robert Bremner Scottish Guitar Pioneer
Instructions for the Guitar with a collection of Airs, Songs and Duets, fitted for that Instrument; By Robert Bremner Edinburgh: Printed and Sold at his Music-Shop, where may be had Guitars from two to six Guineas.
The publication date seems to have been 1758, and the sales were so successful it was reprinted twice in London. There were two Robert Bremners, father and son, with the son in London taking lessons from Geminiani. The father in Edinburgh would go on to publish The Songs in the Gentle Shepherd, Twelve Scots Songs, andGeminiani’s The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra.
There were other instruction books for the guittar (or guitar) but none explored such detail as Bremner’s Instructions. Take the humble trill, for example. Bremner discusses three ways of playing a trill, or shake as he calls it:
1.“One Method of a Shake, is, by sounding the Note above, and then moving the Finger of that Note as on the Violin; but as the Vibration occasioned by Sounding the Note soon ceases, the Effect is next to nothing.”
Here the trill clearly begins on the upper note. The resulting trill is a very subtle, delicate sound, and although Bremner does not seem to favour it, it has its place in slower airs.
2.“The next is the same with the former; only with this Difference, that, instead of moving the Finger up and down perpendicularly, it must, in falling and rising, form an Oval, by which it will draw a String a little to a Side, so as to renew the Vibration. This has a very good Effect, if done with Judgment.”
A more aggressive, percussive trill, suited, perhaps, to dance music. If executing this type of trill, we must keep in mind Bremner’s qualification: “if done with Judgement”.
3.“The last is that used by the Harper, namely, by the Thumb and Fore-finger on two different Strings. As, for instance, Suppose a Shake is wanted on D, on the fourth line; then it is performed by the Thumb and Fore-finger of the Right-hand, sounding that Note alternately with the open String above. If this Method is once acquired, it must be equal to a Shake on any other Instrument.”
This appears to be the earliest discussion of what has become known in recent years as the cross-string trill, much favoured by at least two modern-day Scottish guitarists, Paul Galbraith and David Russell.
The repertoire in the book is - save for a few French marches, Moorish tunes and the like - almost exclusively Scottish traditional pieces, a veritable Greatest Hits package for the period. You can download a facsimile here: https://robmackillop.net/guitar/18th-century-wire-strung-guittar/robert-bremner/
Bremner had high hopes for the guittar:
“Time will…discover more Beauties in the Instrument than there are yet known; as it has but lately been introduced in Britain.”
Recorded April 2014
Remastered by Doc Rossi
Cover photo: RobMacKillop©2025
Instructions for the Guitar with a collection of Airs, Songs and Duets, fitted for that Instrument; By Robert Bremner Edinburgh: Printed and Sold at his Music-Shop, where may be had Guitars from two to six Guineas.
The publication date seems to have been 1758, and the sales were so successful it was reprinted twice in London. There were two Robert Bremners, father and son, with the son in London taking lessons from Geminiani. The father in Edinburgh would go on to publish The Songs in the Gentle Shepherd, Twelve Scots Songs, andGeminiani’s The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra.
There were other instruction books for the guittar (or guitar) but none explored such detail as Bremner’s Instructions. Take the humble trill, for example. Bremner discusses three ways of playing a trill, or shake as he calls it:
1.“One Method of a Shake, is, by sounding the Note above, and then moving the Finger of that Note as on the Violin; but as the Vibration occasioned by Sounding the Note soon ceases, the Effect is next to nothing.”
Here the trill clearly begins on the upper note. The resulting trill is a very subtle, delicate sound, and although Bremner does not seem to favour it, it has its place in slower airs.
2.“The next is the same with the former; only with this Difference, that, instead of moving the Finger up and down perpendicularly, it must, in falling and rising, form an Oval, by which it will draw a String a little to a Side, so as to renew the Vibration. This has a very good Effect, if done with Judgment.”
A more aggressive, percussive trill, suited, perhaps, to dance music. If executing this type of trill, we must keep in mind Bremner’s qualification: “if done with Judgement”.
3.“The last is that used by the Harper, namely, by the Thumb and Fore-finger on two different Strings. As, for instance, Suppose a Shake is wanted on D, on the fourth line; then it is performed by the Thumb and Fore-finger of the Right-hand, sounding that Note alternately with the open String above. If this Method is once acquired, it must be equal to a Shake on any other Instrument.”
This appears to be the earliest discussion of what has become known in recent years as the cross-string trill, much favoured by at least two modern-day Scottish guitarists, Paul Galbraith and David Russell.
The repertoire in the book is - save for a few French marches, Moorish tunes and the like - almost exclusively Scottish traditional pieces, a veritable Greatest Hits package for the period. You can download a facsimile here: https://robmackillop.net/guitar/18th-century-wire-strung-guittar/robert-bremner/
Bremner had high hopes for the guittar:
“Time will…discover more Beauties in the Instrument than there are yet known; as it has but lately been introduced in Britain.”
Recorded April 2014
Remastered by Doc Rossi
Cover photo: RobMacKillop©2025