It was in the 1570s that his volumes of three-voice Teutsche Lieder (German songs) appeared, printed by the Gerlachs of Nuremberg; they sold very well, were reprinted several times, and were arranged in tablature by several composers.
At the height of its popularity, "Canon Rock" was one of the top 10 downloaded guitar tabs on the Ultimate Guitar Archive, and was once one of the most viewed videos on YouTube.
In 1980, Kwan and collaborator Dennis Ladd followed Keola Beamer, who in 1973 had published the first how-to book for the tradition (First Method for Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar) by producing Slack Key Instruction Book, which presents ten of Kwan's compositions and arrangements in a range of tunings, in standard notation and tablature, with performance notes and photographs of correct left-hand positions for the chords.
Ostromeczew tablature (also known as Polotsk notebook, or Polotsk tablature, or silva rerum) (ca. 1640)
He was again called on in 1977 to provide guitar tablature for three arrangements of Bix Beiderbecke's piano music for the Ry Cooder album Jazz Jazz (Ry Cooder album), which Byrd arranged and produced.
Over the years, CEKM presented the music of less known composers such as Johann Ulrich Steigleder, Bernardo Storace, Peeter Cornet, and others, and also included modern editions of various important manuscripts such as the 16th century Jan z Lublina tablature.