The Guitarist Blog

Here is a beautiful song by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole called White Sandy Beach. This is a shortened version arranged for two ukulele's - melody and rhythm. If you want to play the melody and rhythm at the same time, look no further than the intro.  The melody to the verses is woven through the chords in the intro. Aloha!

Recently I asked students of our guitar ensemble to record and submit their part to the classic song, "Georgia On My Mind."  I have found that making a recording of yourself is a great way to improve your playing, mainly because you want to get it right!  If you miss a note, then you're starting over.  A two minute recording often turns into a one hour practice session. I thought our ensemble members did a great job!  Check it out.

Here is a version of Can't Help Falling in Love for Ukulele.  Top frame shows the chords, and bottom frame is playing the melody. For the chords, I am doing a 6/8 finger style pattern.  Pretty simple.

Here is my arrangement of Can't Help Falling In Love.  I am performing it using chords from the key of C, but it's really the key of D when the capo is placed at the second fret.  This is the same key as song by Elvis. The song is played in 6/8 time.  Be sure to emphasize the melody as well place accents on beats one and four (ONE - two - three -FOUR- five-six). The second section of the songs goes momentarily into E minor (really F#m because of the capo).  There is a two measure phrase that first has four even beats across the six beats followed by a regular measure of 6/8.  You could count it like this ONE and TWO and, ONE - two - three -FOUR- five-six. Hope you will try and play along with me!

Here's a great, classic guitar riff - Rebel, Rebel by David Bowie.  I play it the same way on my acoustic as I would on my electric. Start by holding a D2 chord (D chord minus the second finger) and play an arpeggio that starts with the open D string, then the open first string followed by the second string (third fret). Now, keep your first finger on the third string and place your second finger under it on the second string and give those two strings a little strum. Move your first finger to the third string first fret (G#) and strum strings 1, 2 and 3.  While doing this, build an E major chord and then strum another four strings.  Both strums should be staccato (short). Finish everything up with a pull-off from the second string second fret to the open second string.  I like to use my pinky, but you could use your third finger (be sure to put the third finger back into your E chord after the pull-off).  After the pull-off, run your pick through the 3r...

This is a great song on the guitar, turns out it's fun on the Uke, too! I am playing m, i, p on the right hand just about the entire time.  I hope you can pick up on the fingering I am using on the left hand.  Enjoy!

Here's a simple version of Georgia On My Mind that you can play on the Ukulele.  Strum along or play the melody with me!

Here's the intro to Sunn Raha Hai.  The capo is at fret three.  All chords and fret numbers will be relative to the capo being placed at the 3rd fret. The chords are Am7 to C to Dadd4.  Don't let the Dadd4 scare you.  Just move the C major chord up two frets and that's it! Notice the slide from fret 5 to 7 and back to 5.  That's three notes with only one strike of your pick.  You will hear the other notes by sliding up and back to them.  Great riff.  Hope you enjoy it!

Here is a not too difficult finger style exercise.  This is a great exercise for beginners as an introduction to playing finger style.  Keep these playing tips in mind while practicing this exercise. 1.  The right hand fingering is the same throughout - p, i , m, a .  Only the thumb will change strings. p - Thumb i - index finger m - middle finger a - ring finger 2.  On the left hand, you will only use one finger at any given time (I recommend only using fingers one and two). 3.  Study the position of my right hand over the strings, and try to model the same plucking technique that I am using. 4.  Ok, the last thing I play is really not a beginner technique, but I think you can do this with a little practice.  The last three notes I play are called harmonics .  These harmonics are performed by touching the strings over the 12th fret (don't push the string down).  Pluck the strings a little louder, and you should hear a c...

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.

Here is the main melody to the song "Pipeline" arranged for two acoustic guitars. Guitar One is playing the melody.  The melody comes in after guitar two plays the main riff four times. Guitar Two is playing the main riff to the song.

Here is a very simple version to the folk song "Scarborough Fair."   Guitar One is playing the melody.  Most of the notes are played at the first three frets.  Use finger one, two and three on frets one, two and three respectively.  Use the third finger on the notes played at the fifth fret as well.  Just slide between the third and fifth frets with your third finger. Guitar Two is strumming the chords.  The chords used for the accompaniment are Am, Em, D and G. the strumming pattern goes like this - Bass - Strum - Strum.  The Bass note is the lowest note for each chord.

Here is a simple duet version to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."  Guitar one is playing the main melody.  It is only using the notes on the first two strings.  In fact, the only notes are C, D, E, F and G.  Notice how the first finger plays the notes on the first fret and the third finger plays the notes on the third fret. Guitar two is playing the harmony part.  It is a little more involved.  It starts by playing notes very close to the melody and then moves to playing a bass line on the second half of the song. Have a friend play along!

Here is an acoustic version of the solo to Tom Petty's "Breakdown." The first two measures of the solo repeats the main riff to the song.  You will hear this intro, here in the solo, and again at the end of song as the song fades. The riff is followed by two guitar licks.  The first lick is played in the A minor pentatonic scale at the fifth fret.  I am playing a quick slide from fret 7 to 8, and then back to fret 8 instead of playing a bend like you hear in the Tom Petty recording.  The slide is a little easier than bending on the acoustic. The final climactic lick is played starting with a slide from fret three to five.  I am playing double stops (two strings at a time).  The rhythm is all triplets.  This lick ends with a few slides along the second string alternating with the open first string.

Here is an acoustic cover of the main parts to "Socha Hai"  from the Bollywood Movie 'Rock On!" This song is played on electric guitar, but I decided to play the parts on an acoustic.  The chord progression is D - G - Bm - A.  I am playing simple two string power chords.   The progression is the same throughout the video. For the lead parts, I am first playing the opening riff, then going to the main intro melody (which comes back at the end of the guitar solo), and then I am playing the guitar solo. At the beginning of the video I forgot to put the song title.  Oh well, you know what song it is!

Here is a finger style solo of "Michelle" by The Beatles.  It is a classical style solo, which means I am basically playing all the bass notes with my thumb and string one with my ring finger, string two with the middle, and string three with the index.  There are a few exceptions.  On the intro I like to play the note that is moving on the third string with my thumb, and the other two strings with my index and middle.  Hope you enjoy working on this one! Feel free to post your questions or comments.