Ironically, I first began arranging Christmas carols for solo guitar on a late summer afternoon in 1988 while living in Orlando, Florida. I had taken some time off from my regular job as a school counselor to devote my time to guitar playing, and give myself a chance to see what I could do as a professional guitarist.

Among my many goals, I knew that I wanted to produce a holiday recording. One day I took my cheap guitar and my surfboard to a place near Merritt Island, Florida. After some time in the ocean I came in and grabbed my guitar, sat on a picnic table and began to pick out some holiday melodies. My first efforts weren't anything to brag about but they sounded rather sweet and nostalgic and the tunes adapted quiet well to the guitar, so I kept on playing all afternoon.

At one point the music drew the attention of some passersby who thought it rather strange to hear Christmas tunes on such a sunny summer day, but they were very complimentary. Sometimes all you need is a little affirmation to motivate you to keep persevering. A little goes a long way with me, so I thought, "Hey maybe others would enjoy these arrangements too!"

On the way home from the beach I concluded it would be worthwhile to refine the arrangements and ultimately record them. I had no idea that a million guitar recordings of holiday music already existed. All I knew for certain was that I couldn't seem to find any recordings of traditional holiday music on classical guitar that I really enjoyed listening to. At least I would have some that I liked and maybe others would like them as well.

Up 'til then I had recorded some original compositions and classical pieces only on cassette. I contacted an engineer named Tim Coomes who had a digital recording studio in his home in Orlando near where I lived. Thus I embarked on my first major attempt to record a collection of solo guitar arrangements of great holiday classics. My goal was to keep them lyrical, respect the melody, and capture the spirit of the message of the respective carols.

As a kid growing up in the Jewish heritage, I had always been captivated by the simple majesty of Christmas carols. Probably it went back to being inspired by The Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Nevertheless, when I became a believer in Yeshua (Jesus), it seemed inevitable that I would want to play a lot of sacred hymns and Christ-centered carols.

Arranging for solo guitar has poses an exciting challenge. The guitar offers many different options for developing a chordal background with the melody. Things like key choices, open tunings, and tempo variations and many other tools are available for experimenting. Exploring the possibilities takes time but is very rewarding once you discover the options that provide the best overall sound and approach. While arranging is always a challenge, recording my arrangements was another matter! It was tough! Keep in mind this was a time before sophisticated editing tools were available or affordable. Therefore, I had to record the tracks flawlessly beginning to end. If I screwed up the take on the last few notes I had to start all over again.

Few people realize all the factors that go into recording a piece of music on guitar. Beyond the challenge of keeping the guitar in tune and playing all the right notes, there is the challenge of being musical, expressive, controlling dynamics and that really daunting task of avoiding finger squeaks and other distracting little noises. After about two hours of recording tunes over and over, my left-hand fingertips would be in agony.

A billion things can go wrong, so it requires a lot of determination and patience to achieve a clean recording. It took several weeks to finally finish the project which I decided to call Seasons. Eager to help me help complete the packaging, my younger brother Michael in San Diego hired a graphic artist to design a striking cassette cover that gave the project a very professional look. Beyond the initial joy of completing the collection, there was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment every time I listened to the finished product in my tape player as I drove around town.

Unfortunately, the duplication was not complete until two weeks before Christmas, which from a marketing standpoint is a disaster. I decided my best option was to perform everywhere I could and drop off some tapes at local record stores and Christian book shops to be sold on consignment. On a whim, I delivered copies to a few local radio stations. Time was running out, and after Christmas it would be a bit futile to market this recording until the following year.

I was extremely surprised and encouraged when I got home that day and heard a voice message from a radio show announcer named Tom McCarthy at station WDBO, enthusiastically thanking me for dropping off the tape and mentioning how much he had enjoyed it; not only that, he invited me to come on his show a few days before Christmas to perform live. That moment was a real turning point for me. I realized that like me, others were looking for instrumental arrangements that were soothing and beautiful and not just vehicles for showing off technique.

Going on the radio show and performing live was a bit scary, but also fun and exciting. What I didn't realize was how powerful an advertising opportunity the air waves afford, especially when people are tuned into their car radios during rush hour. When I got home from the radio station that afternoon, my answering machine held messages from all the stores where I had dropped off my tapes; they had been flooded with shoppers who had heard the radio show and since the stores were mentioned as a source of my tapes, they had quickly sold out. I was asked to come back as soon as possible with more tapes; when I arrived, the store managers looked at me as if I were a celebrity. Thus I began to feel some of the rewards of having produced the collection that all started on a picnic table at the beach on a summer day.

Since then I have had the opportunity to perform live on several radio shows and consider myself blessed to live in a time when there are so many opportunities for independent artists like myself to share our music with global audiences. Three years ago I had the honor of sharing my approach to arranging carols at the annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) Convention in Nashville. I have also been blessed through the years to receive numerous letters and feedback from appreciative listeners, confirming that many are grateful to find heartfelt and thoughtful arrangements of familiar holiday songs.

I've also performed Christmas arrangements in local churches simultaneously drawing shoppers to local stores and restaurants; this type of marketing benefits not only you but the entire community, creating an even broader and more enjoyable holiday experience.

On a side note, I have come to believe that Christmas carols are not only beautifully suited for arranging for solo guitar but actually can also be a great vehicle for teaching fingerstyle techniques. I hope in the future to produce an instructional DVD of how to go about arranging for solo guitar and fingerstyle technique using Christmas carols as the focus.

Phillip Lester is the author of American Treasures: Early American Ballads, Hymns, & Songs of Patriotism for Solo Guitar (20045BCD). He has recorded several solo guitar CDs including three holiday collections: Seasons, Carols of the Nativity, and Holiday Treasures. Lester has over twenty years of experience performing in colleges, churches, bookstores, libraries, museums, private homes, civic clubs, historical societies, cafes, subway stations and concert stages around the country. Over the past fifteen years he has field tested and refined his arrangements of holiday tunes, and his instrumental recordings have been aired on radio stations from Boston Massachusetts to Portland, Oregon.

Last year two of Lester's arrangements were selected for performance by virtuoso classic guitarist Christopher Parkening and included in his holiday concert tour. Parkening describes Phillip Lester as"…a very fine solo guitarist. His approach to the guitar is both sensitive and intelligent. He is a talented arranger with a gift for musicianship."

To learn more about Phillip Lester's arranging and performance activities, please visit his website at: www.guitarartistry.com . His CD's can be ordered online via www.cdbaby.com/lestermusic1