Gotta love a song that only has one chord! If you can play a C7 chord, you can play along to “Coconut” (1971) by Harry Nilsson. If strumming along isn’t enough for you, try this fingerpicking pattern on the C7 chord which I have transcribed here. Have fun! Hopefully this one puts you in the mood for summer!
Happy Holidays! Here’s a simple fingerstyle arrangement of the Christmas favorite, Silent Night. Enjoy!
Oye Como Va Guitar Sheet Music/TAB
I have enjoyed working on Oye Como Va by Carlos Santana with a couple of my students. The chords are very easy and can be strummed with a pick or plucked with your fingers. The challenging part is the rhythm which is very syncopated (accenting down and upbeats in an unexpected way). I recommend this piece for any beginner/intermediate player looking to improve their rhythm skills.
I know there is more to the song than I have notated in this PDF (above), but this is a great start without getting into the subtleties of Santana’s complete guitar solos. This version includes the vocal melody as well a short but sweet guitar solo that Santana plays at the beginning of the track. If any of my students are interested in the sheet music for the complete song, let me know!
A student recently asked me to teach them this. “Jane Says” by Jane’s Addiction is an insanely catchy song with a cool guitar riff that is essentially just two chords (G and A) with a couple pull-offs to decorate the A chord.
Learning this song offers the chance to practice a couple of useful ways of playing G and A chords. Notice that the 5th-string is muted by your ring finger while playing the G-chord which frees up the index finger and allows it to more fluently transition to the A-chord which is played with only your index finger by laying it across the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings and the 2nd fret. This allows your ring finger to easily reach the 4th fret for the pull-offs during the A-Chord. The chorus uses a similar index finger barre covering the 2nd and 3rd strings during the Gsus2add#11 (a fancy name for a simple modification of a G chord). Arrows are included in the sheet music to indicate the strumming pattern I recommend.
Enjoy!
Sheet Music/TAB for Romance de Amor (Tremolo)
Hey Everyone,
I thought I would mix it up a little and show you all a little piece that I am working on with one of my classical students who is developing his tremolo technique. The traditional Spanish folk song, Romance de Amor is a more commonly heard arranged in arpeggios but I believe it to be a good beginner tremolo piece for it is much easier than alternatives such as Recuerdos de la Alhambra or Una Limosna Por Amor de Dios by A. Barrios. Let me know if you agree!
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!
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!
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:
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.
Sheet Music/TAB MIDI Sound Bytes
Greetings! This is the first of three posts about a topic I like to call “Drone Chord Progressions” (if someone knows the correct or a better term for it let me know). “Drone Chord Progressions” are chord progressions where one or more strings are fretted at the same fret throughout the entire progression. They are great (especially for beginners) because they are easy but still sound good and can be found in countless popular songs.
The first drone chord song I will show you is one of the most popular beginner guitar songs of all time as well as an anthem of the 90’s generation, however, it can still be heard played today by high-school boys all over the English speaking world who are desperately trying to earn their first kiss. “Wonderwall” by Oasis is a drone chord progression because it can be played without moving your ring-finger and pinky from the 3rd fret of the b-string and high e-string respectively for the entire song.
I have added Wonderwall to the free sheet music/tab section of the website as well as some MIDI sound bytes for each of the four sections of this song to help you hear the strumming pattern.
