Learn to play guitar with weekly video lessons & print-friendly guides! Learn your favorite songs & techniques with step-by-step tutorials that actually explain how to get from here to there.
🎸 [New Lesson] Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire...
|
LESSON #609 Click to view free video lesson In today’s lesson I’m excited to teach you to play The Christmas Song, which you may know as “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…“ My lesson aims to simplify what Nat King Cole’s backing orchestra is playing, while still capturing the recognizable essence of this song. I’ll teach you two ways to play it: my jazzy take on a “full” version and a simplified version (which avoids barre chords entirely). Here's what's included in my free video lesson:
My hope is this will let you play & sing this song, no matter your skill level. My lesson is in the Key of C — which is a half-step down in pitch from Nat King Cole’s recording — but allows for more conventional chords. Over on my lesson webpage you can find all my additional content for this song. My practice guide, a melody deep-dive, some play-along videos, and several links to other teachers' tutorials should you be curious how others tackle this tricky song.
I've got a good batch of Christmas & holiday songs from previous years available over on my Song Notes website! Here's some of my favorites:
There's many others on my list to get to eventually, and don't hesitate to reply to this email if there are any specific tunes you'd like me to add. Thanks for reading – and I'll see you all in next week's lesson ✌️ David Browse all my lessons at songnotes.net |
Song Notes by David Pots
Learn to play guitar with weekly video lessons & print-friendly guides! Learn your favorite songs & techniques with step-by-step tutorials that actually explain how to get from here to there.
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...
Must-Know Guitarist Tech Tip! Click to watch free video lesson Happy Monday, my friends — brand new lesson today featuring an incredibly helpful tip: adjusting the key of any YouTube video. Specifically, I’ll show you how to use the free Chrome plugin Transpose – which lets you easily transpose any video to a different key (as well as fine tune the pitch, adjust the speed down, create loops, etc). This started with a question I received from Song Notes member Randy, who asked: I have been...
LESSON #616Refine Your Rhythm & Never Lose the Beat! Click to watch free video lesson » If you asked me to give you one strumming lesson that’ll make the most difference your playing, it’s this one. It’s an exercise I put together over the years during my own practice – and finally I’ve made a proper lesson showing you how to do it. I’m calling it the pyramid drill – which seems fitting because of the ascend-then-descend structure, similar to what you find in many workout routines. This drill...