Hello friends,
I’m reaching out to wish you all safe travels as you wrap up your holiday festivities. As you can see, I’ve enjoyed my time with family (even if some of the youngsters think I missed Santa’s visit 😆). With 2018 around the corner, I want you to know how grateful I am for y...
Hello friends,
and welcome to a special holiday addition to my By Request Song Tutorials. In today's session I'll be showing you how to play John Lennon's 1972 classic "Happy Xmas (War is Over)." This is a fantastic song for beginner and intermediate level players to check out, because it t...
2017-12-20 22:35:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends
And welcome to part two of my lesson series on Cat Steven's "Father and Son." In this session I'm going to break down a beginner friendly approach to soloing over the tunes instrumental section. Most of these licks will be drawn directly Cat's vocal melody, and found within the G maj...
2017-12-14 22:27:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Today I'm introducing some items that make for excellent stocking stuffers for guitarist and other musicians this holiday season. Each of these products are ≤ $100, and are things that all players need regardless of genre, and skill level.
Many of these items are const...
2017-12-13 03:31:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another by request song tutorial! In this session I'll be breaking down Cat Stevens 1970 classic "Father and Son." I'll take you through a bit of music theory to discover the chord progressions, and strumming options for the verses, and also break down some of Cat's s...
2017-12-12 17:00:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another by request song tutorial! In today's session I'll be breaking down a fairly easy guitar tune in Bill Withers' 1972 classic "Lean On Me." This song only uses four basic chords, but does feature some challenging rhythmic elements that will require dedic...
2017-12-06 04:16:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
For your weekend blues practice, I invite you to revisit my lesson on Brownie McGhee's 1966 classic "Born and Livin' with the Blues." I've created a PDF study guide complete with a chord sheet, diagrams and tabs to help you master this iconic tune. Let's get started!
Note: Thi...
2017-12-02 04:25:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
At the request of your fellow patron Françoise, I took some time today to create a new chord sheet and tablature for my 2015 guitar arrangement for Joni Mitchell's "California." Of the nearly 500 videos I've created, this is one of my all time favorites, as it features my good frie...
2017-11-30 04:00:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to part two of my lessons series for The Beatles "Let it Be." In this session, I'll be breaking down George Harrison's iconic electric guitar solo. We'll begin with a full demonstration, then I'll break it all down for you lick by lick and chord by chord. Let's get start...
2017-11-27 23:48:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons,
It was a great pleasure to meet with my new friends Brian Buchanan and Rose Baldino of House of Hamill last week. The two were kind enough to perform their new single "Pound a Week Rise" and a track off their last record entitled "The Magnificent Seven." Check out ...
2017-11-26 02:55:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another by request song tutorial. In today's session, I'll revamp my previous tutorial on The Beatles 1970 classic "Let It Be." This time around, I'll be breaking the tune down in it's original key of C, and include Paul Mccartney's walking chord transitions. Check in...
2017-11-23 04:15:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Today I'm whipping up a revamped lesson on The Beatles 1970 classic "Let It Be." This time around, I'm showing the tune in it's original key of C, and including Paul's walkdown and walkup riffs. In addition, I'll also be breaking down George's iconic guitar solo. As I finish filming...
2017-11-22 22:05:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Welcome to another lead guitar tutorial. In today's session, I'll be sharing with you a simple, but powerful approach to soloing over a blues turnaround. We'll begin by reviewing the 12 bar blues chord progression, and your scale positions. Last, I'll break down each lick into...
2017-11-20 22:57:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Apologies for my lack of output this week, I spent Monday and Tuesday in Boston picking up a new soundboard for the studio, this was a crucial investment that was only made possible by your generous support! With the new and improved recording capabilities, I decided to get back to ...
2017-11-17 03:38:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another by request song tutorial! In today's session I'll be breaking down how to play Sarah Jarosz's Grammy award winning song "House of Mercy." This arrangement for solo-acoustic guitar combines elements performed on Sarah's octave mandolin, and the lead guitar part...
2017-11-09 17:34:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
In today's session I'll be showing you how to combine a basic bluegrass rhythm with some classic flatpicking licks. We'll begin by reviewing the theory behind the 1.4.5 chord progression in G, a bluegrass style strumming pattern, and your major blues scales before combining these el...
2017-11-07 23:48:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Earlier in the week I got a message from your fellow patron PJ, who wanted some incite on how to play this amazing acoustic blues tune "House of Mercy" by Sarah Jarosz. I immediately got hooked on the song and decided to create a version suitable for solo performance on the guitar. ...
2017-11-01 21:35:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
And welcome to another music theory guitar lesson. In today's session we will learn about the CAGED system, and how it can be used to find all the positions of a basic chord across the fretboard. Let's get started!
P.S This tutorial goes out to your fellow patron Dawn, ...
2017-10-31 20:32:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another classic song tutorial. In today's session we are paying homage to the now late, great Fats Domino by learning his 1956 smash hit "Blueberry Hill." I'll take you through an acoustic guitar arrangement of the tunes iconic intro, and the riffs, chord progressions...
2017-10-26 22:13:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another by request song tutorial! When 80's pop icons a-ha dropped their acoustic rendition of their 1984 classic "Take on Me," I immediately started getting request for how to play it. In this session, I'll take you through a complete demonstration of the the tune, a...
2017-10-23 20:53:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
I hope you're wrapping up a great week of practice, and making tons of progress with my latest resources. I've spent a lot of time over the last few days digging into older lessons and creating new resources. Today I've produced a new chord sheet and tab for my approach to playing T...
2017-10-20 20:55:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another lead guitar tutorial. In today's session I'll be sharing with you a powerful lead guitar trick that is guaranteed to improve your playing instantly. The cascading harmony trick allows lead guitar players to navigate through their scales in a less predict...
2017-10-18 15:29:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
As I'm sure you have noticed, I'm feeling a bit jazzy this week. My recent lesson on "Four Ways to Play a Jazz 2.5.1" reveals different chord voicings for the genres most common progression. To take you one step further, I've reached back into the Swiftlessons Archive and discovered...
2017-10-17 15:37:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
And welcome to another rhythm guitar lesson. In today's session we will be branching out into the Jazz genre, and learning four ways of playing it's most common chord progression, the 2.5.1. We will begin by learning the beginner version in the open position (first three frets), and...
2017-10-16 21:16:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
This week I was blown away by a-ha's new acoustic rendition of their 1984 hit "Take On Me." I immediately got to work developing an easy version for solo-performance. Within the week, I'll be producing a full video lesson for my arrangement, but in the meantime, take a moment to re-...
2017-10-14 17:47:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Welcome to another blues guitar tutorial. In this lesson I’ll be showing you how to perform a useful major blues turnaround in the key of E major. This technique is built from a hybrid of our major and minor blues scales, and is the perfect way to complete a 12 bar blues. We...
2017-10-12 18:24:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
and welcome to another by request song tutorial. In today's session, I'll be breaking down how to play Neil Young's 1992 classic "Harvest Moon." I'll take you through the tunes iconic riffs, progressions and strumming patterns to get you performance ready. Let's get started! 2017-10-10 23:42:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Today I'm celebrating the music of the recently deceased Tom Petty with a tutorial on his 1994 classic "Wildflowers." Tom's music has had a massive influence on my life, and with a career that lasted more than forty years, I'm sure that his tunes have shaped many of your memories as...
2017-10-04 21:10:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends, welcome to the second installment of my lessons series breaking down Passenger's 2012 hit "Let Her Go." In this session, I'll breakdown the tunes finger-style intro, and the progressions and strumming patterns for the verse, chorus, and bridge sections. Let's get started!
As...
2017-10-03 18:01:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Thanks to a special request from your fellow Patron Suiyang, I've updated and re-posted my tab, and chord sheet for my "advanced" rendition of the Ben E. King classic "Stand By Me." In this tutorial, I break down how to merge the tunes iconic bassline with a percussive strumming pat...
2017-09-30 13:39:12 +0000 UTC View Post