Let me begin today's newsletter by wishing a Happy Father's Day to all! In honor of all the Dads out there, past present or future! In honor of Father's Day, I'd love to share a collection of guitar lessons I've made for songs that are Dad-inspired in some way. Links to each video lesson are below, and don't miss any bonus materials I've made for most of these lessons! Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin – this one has to be at the top of the list! Incredibly catchy, but also "the saddest song...
15 days ago • 2 min read
LESSON #625Acoustic Bassline Fun with "Ramble On" ▶️ Click to watch free video lesson In this week's new lesson I’ll teach you a fun acoustic guitar arrangement of Led Zeppelin’s Ramble On iconic bassline. My focus isn’t simply teaching the individual notes (which I will do), but additionally I’ll give you several tips on how you can add strumming between many of these bass notes. Practice notes, percussion jam track, and bonus videos also available! Using this approach, you end up with a...
24 days ago • 1 min read
Hey there, friends – I'm excited to share TWO new lessons with you today! They both tackle the all-time classic Love Me Tender, but take very different approaches. Take your pick, or learn 'em both! –David LESSON #623Sing & Strum (Key of D) ▶️ Click to watch lesson #623 This first lesson teaches you to sing & strum Love Me Tender as it's heard in the Elvis recording. I'll start by teaching you the chords, measure-by-measure... then shift into the world of alternating bass notes. There are a...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
LESSON #622Using Melodic Triads to play Happy Birthday ▶️ Click to watch free video lesson Hey there, my friends... new lesson for you to kick off the weekend! This one spontaneously found itself in my playing rotation after my daughter’s birthday celebration last week. The topic here is triads, where I use the good ole’ familiar song Happy Birthday as the melodic inspiration. I’ll show you TWO ways to play the melody to Happy Birthday using triads. For the most part, this is all done with...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Learn Guitar Faster Using Jam Tracks This week I have a couple fun updates involving the video jam tracks on my Song Notes website. These play-along tracks are an incredibly helpful way to get more out of your practice sessions, while also having fun along the way. My video jam track for Soulful Lead Guitar over America the Beautiful Don't miss my new video lesson (showing how I make jam tracks) below, but first let me show you how to find my jam track library... BROWSE ALL MY JAM TRACKS I've...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader – I want to be sure you saw my recent website improvements that will make a big difference when you’re browsing my list of 350+ song tutorials. Here's a video tour that walks you through the updates: Here's the two big changes I made, summarized in text: The “Songs” section now includes 50+ previously unlisted lessons — For the past few years, I’ve had several dozen song-inspired lessons that did not show up in the Songs section of my website. This was due to my own oversight when...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
LESSON #620Country Fingerstyle: Bass + Melody Groove! Click to watch free video lesson In today’s mini-lesson I’ll teach you a short, melodic fingerstyle groove inspired by Billy Joe Shaver’s classic Live Forever. Instead of teaching you the full song, I’ll take the core melody (heard in the intro) and show you three ways to play it using fingerstyle guitar. Each approach combines bass notes and melody, which you can play with just two fingers on your picking hand. Whether you're new to...
2 months ago • 1 min read
LESSON #619Free Fallin' by Tom Petty Click to view free video lesson » In today’s lesson I’ll teach you to play Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty, which I consider an all-timer as far as guitar songs go. Whether you're a beginner or much more far along in your journey, this song gives us plenty to have fun with. Here's what I tackle: 0:00 Lesson Overview 1:19 Campfire Version (no capo) 3:55 Fancy Chords: Capo 3 6:58 Fancy Chords: Capo 1 11:50 Strumming & Rhythm 15:34 Performance Tips 17:50...
3 months ago • 2 min read
HAPPY OPENING DAY!Learn the Iconic "Centerfield" Intro Riff Click to watch free video lesson To all the baseball fans out there... I wanted to re-share this lesson I made last spring, in case you missed it. I break down the opening riff to Centerfield by John Fogerty, with my usual step-by-step guidance. I also have a sing & strum lesson available for this song, if you want to learn to play the full song, from start to finish. Such a fun song! Step-by-step practice notes, audio practice...
3 months ago • 1 min read