The Guitarist Blog

I did something a little different for these next two videos.  I am hoping that you will practice with me.  I have a section of the song looping, and going faster each time.  Once you learn how to play each section, practice along with the video. I play the opening chords in the first video.  The chords are Dm - Fmaj7 - Bb6 - Gm7.  You can avoid barring the first three chords by just placing your fingers on the individual strings that you will be playing.  The Gm7 is barred at the 10th fret. Each chord is played as an arpeggio (playing the notes of the chords individually).  Hopefully you will be able to make out the pattern as you watch the video.  The tempo increase after each pass through the chords. In this next video I am playing the lead guitar part that comes in after the opening chords (there is actually a part just before this, but it is similar).  I am playing all the notes in the fifth position.  This means first fin...

Here is the Bridge to Chris Stapleton's "Whiskey and You." Keep the following playing tips in mind. 1.  This song is in drop-D tuning.  Tune your sixth string E down to D. 2.  The song is in 4/4 time. 3.  Right after the D to A chord (Chris S. sings "that's the difference between whiskey and you") there is a D chord lick. 4.  Following the D chord lick, he plays an A chord hammering and pulling off between the 2nd and 3rd frets of the second string (A to Asus4). 5.  Then strum the G chord by sliding up to the fifth fret of strings 6, 5 and 4 (you will need to partially bar these strings with your first finger). 6.  Then back to the main theme of the song.   Check out my post on the verse. That's some good guitar playin' by Chris Stapleton!

Here is the verse to Chris Stapleton's "Whiskey and You."  Here are a few playing tips. 1.  This song is in drop-D tuning.  Tune your sixth string E down to D. 2.  The song is in 4/4 time. 3.  The first two measures of the verse is also played for the intro, and is used throughout the song. 4.  At 10 seconds into the video a Bm chord shows up.  You will need to lift your 2nd finger to create a Bsus 2.  The second finger will hammer-on back into the Bm chord.  Check out the video it sounds cool! 5.  At 28 seconds into the video there's the Bm chord again, this time remove your first finger from the chord so that you can play the open A string on beat three.  This creates an Bm/A chord. 6.  At 32 seconds into the video Chris Stapleton goes to a G chord at the fifth fret.  Instead of playing the chord, there is simple lick (not a simple fingering, though).  Notice the stretch between the bar chord at the fifth fre...

Ed Sheeran's song "Perfect" has an acoustic guitar solo that comes in right after the 2nd chorus.  The song is in 6/8 time and I have a metronome click in the background set with the eighth note at 170 bpm (this is a little slower than the actual song).  Here are a few playing tips. 1.  Put a capo at fret one. 2.  The notes are mostly coming from the G major pentatonic scale (relative to the capo at fret one). 3.  Probably the trickiest part of the solo is the phrase that shows up about 8 seconds into the video.  It is a combination of hammer-ons and pull-offs.  Pluck the second fret of the third string, then hammer onto the third fret, pull-off to the second fret, and finally pull-off to the open string.  Whew! Enjoy!

Here is a fingerstyle arrangement of Ed Sheeran's song, "Perfect." Here are a few things to keep in mind as you are working on this piece. 1.  I have a capo on the first fret.  This will match the recording.  The song is in A flat.  With the capo at the first fret, you play it like it is in the key of G. 2.  The song is played entirely in the first position - open strings up to the fourth fret. 3.  For the right hand, I am playing strings 4, 5 and 6 with my thumb and strings 3, 2, 1 with fingers i, m,  and a respectively.