Monthly Archives: February 2012

Grow Old With You by Adam Sandler – Valentine’s Day Repertoire #2

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Chords/Lyrics

If you learn “Grow Old With You” by Adam Sandler you can win your girl’s heart while bringing her to loving tears of joy just like Robbie (Adam Sandler) did to Julie (Drew Barrymore) in the hilarious 1998 romantic comedy “The Wedding Singer”. If you aren’t familiar with the scene you should check it out here. And yes, that is Billy Idol in the scene acting as a flight attendant to help Robbie save the day.

Use swing rhythm when you strum the chords and remember that a C#m is just like a Bm but at the 4th fret. Good luck!

Can’t Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley – Valentine’s Day Repertoire #1

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Chords/Lyrics          Finger Picking Pattern

With Valentine’s Day less than a week away, it’s time for all of us to remember why we picked up the guitar in the first place: to impress girls that are way out of our league (such as our wives or girlfriends). That’s why between now and V-Day I will be showing you how to play a few of the all-time best love songs ever sung so you can woo the object of your affection and honor your original motivation for playing the guitar.

Our first song, the classic 1961 hit, “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Elvis Presley, is sure to make her swoon. I have provided both the lyrics with chords as well as a suggested finger picking pattern (it is also possible to use a pick) which closely mimics the piano on The King of Rock ‘N’ Roll’s original recording. Don’t be thrown off by the 6/8 time signature – there is nothing but straight eighth notes in my arrangement.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any requests for more love songs!

Drop D-Tuning with Paul Stiegler

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Paul Shows Us Drop-D Tuning Sheet Music/TAB

I told you I would post the Drop-D tuning chords that Paul Stiegler showed us in my interview with him, and here they are so quit nagging me!

Paul said he uses Drop-D tuning to make his guitar parts fuller and more interesting to back up his singing. Remember, in order to tune your guitar to Drop-D, you must lower your 6th-string a whole step from E to D. Here is the section of the interview where Paul  explains Drop-D Tuning:

Local Singer/Songwriter Paul Stiegler

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This video is the first of (what I hope will be) a long series of interviews with local Twin Cities artists. At the end of the video, Paul Stiegler performs his 2011 UK Songwriting Contest winning love song “If This Was the Last Night We Had” which he co-wrote with Rob Crosby. You can listen to more of Paul’s music on his website: http://broadjam.com/paulstiegler, but I highly recommend that you hear him play live at the Bean Good Cafe in St. Louis Park this Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7pm. He will also be performing in Madison, WI at the Brink Lounge on March 16th.

For you guitar players, check out the section of the video where Paul demonstrates how he uses Drop-D Tuning to make his chord progressions fuller and more interesting. Notice that he uses many of those chords when he performs “If This Was the Last Night We Had”. I will be sure to post some sheet music with some of the chords he uses soon! 

The guitar that Paul uses is a Seagull Performer Cutaway Flame Maple QI which I had the pleasure of playing and was all-around impressed with the volume, fullness and feel especially for the price – $749 at Guitar Center.

Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews Band – Drone Chord Progressions 2 of 3

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Sheet Music/TAB          MIDI Sound Byte

Our second installment of drone chord progressions! If you don’t know what I am talking about, check out my first post on this topic. The original version of Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews Band was played on two guitars but has been adapted to one guitar for our purposes. Notice you never have to change fingerings on the 3rd or 4th strings (pinky on the 4th fret and index on the 2nd fret respectively), and the 1st and 2nd strings remain open the throughout the entire chord progression – only the bass note changes!

You can find the sheet music/tab as well as a MIDI sound byte on my free sheet music page or click the links at the top of this post.