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Building chords from the 5 string

Building chords from the 5 string!

Building chords from the 5 string. We know the C scale has no flats or sharps and also that we can play Major chords (triads) with the 1, 3 and 5 scale notes. We can figure that combination out from any note on the 5th string! For instance a C Major is made of a C, and E and a G (1,3 and 5): C D E F G A B C

major chord from the five stringWe know that the “two strings up and two frets back” rule can give us the same note but an octave up. We can do that from the 6 string and the 5 string. Let’s concentrate on the 5 string first. So C on the 5 string is at the 3rd fret and consequently, on the 5th fret of the G string. That gives us our one note in two places!

Starting with C on the 3rd fret of the A string, we can see D on the open D string, E on the 2nd fret, F on the 3rd and G on the 5th. The G on the 5th fret is important to us! Now we have 1 and […]

2025-08-16T18:48:07-04:00
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Autumn Leaves

How to play autumn leaves solo fingerstyle guitar. This song is one I’ve been playing for a while- the changes are not too hard and they’re beautiful, I think. You can hear I rely quite a bit on a blues progression to fill in- it fits pretty well. If you’re interested in playing this style of music- or this lovely tune- let me know!

autumn leaves chart

“Autumn Leaves” is a popular song and jazz standard composed by Joseph Kosma in 1945 with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert in French (original French title: “Les Feuilles mortes”), and later by Johnny Mercer in English. An instrumental version by pianist Roger Williams was a number one best-seller in the US Billboard charts of 1955.

Kosma was a native of Hungary who was introduced to Prévert in Paris. They collaborated on the song Les Feuilles mortes (“The Dead Leaves”) for the 1946 film Les Portes de la nuit (Gates of the Night) where it was sung by Irène Joachim and Yves Montand. The poem was published, after the death of Jacques Prévert, in the book “Soleil de Nuit” in 1980. Kosma was influenced by a piece of ballet music, “Rendez-vous” written for Roland Petit, performed in Paris at the end of the Second World War, large parts of the melodies are exactly the same, which was itself borrowed partially from […]

2025-07-21T20:39:34-04:00
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How to play “Pennsylvania 6-5000”

How to play “Pennsylvania 6-5000” A fun tune and not too hard to get under your hand.

Pennsylvania 65000 chord chart- iReal Pro

Pennsylvania 6-5000 chord lyrics

The song became a jazz and big band standard also recorded by the Andrews Sisters, Judy Garland and Martha Raye in a duet, the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Jimmy Mundy and His Orchestra (1959), Louise Gold, Kathy Miller, Martin Brushane Big Band, the Blue Moon Big Band (1999), in a 1976 Carol Burnett Show episode in a tribute to Glenn Miller, Syd Lawrence, Michael Maxwell and His Orchestra, Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson (Bobby Benson and the Baby Band) in The Muppet Show (1979, Episode 319), Fud Candrix and His Orchestra, Jerry Gray, Mina, Lou Haskins, Jack Livingston, Raquel Rastenni (1941) in Copenhagen, Starlight Orchestra, Klaus Wunderlich, New 101 Strings Orchestra, Heptet, Meco, Tex Beneke, The Modernaires, Jack Million Band, Al Pierson Big Band, BBC Big Band Orchestra, SWR Big Band, and by Captain Cook und seine singenden Saxophone in 2012.

Fats Waller’s arrangement of the song for piano was published in the UK songbook Francis & Day’s Album of Fats Waller: Musical Rhythms in the 1940s. looking for online guitar lessons? First one is free!

2023-05-02T06:57:35-04:00
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How to play Yankee Doodle fingerstyle on guitar

how to play Yankee doodle on solo guitar, left-hand, finger-style illustration. This technique is actually simpler than you might think! It involves alternating the thumb and first finger on adjacent strings and like any technique, the way to get it under your hand is verrrrrrry slooooooowly.

2024-01-03T10:10:33-05:00
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How to play funk lead on a classical guitar

There’s nothing quite like jamming out over the top of funk changes and you don’t even need to be plugged in to do that! Once you understand the blues scale- even in one spot on the neck- well, you can either look at it like it’s easier to play reasonably decent lines, or harder to make mistakes. Or both, I guess!

This tune is in C#m, so that’s the 1 chord. Since its a minor chord, the 3rd of the chord is flattened. That tells us what notes are going to work correctly when we play them over the top of the chord. To get started we can play C# (root note) E (flat 3rd) F#(4th) G#(5) and B (flat 7) and if you want to call these guys by their fancy-pants name, that would be “C# minor pentatonic”.

How I generally start with something like this is by remembering that if I’m on the the 1 chord, I need to keep coming back to the 1 note! It might sound crazy to just play one note over the chord but think about it – just concentrating on that single note lets you focus on making making interesting rhythmic patterns rather than worrying about where to put your fingers and scales and modes and all that other stuff. So try this: listen for the 1 chord first. […]

2021-05-26T08:14:44-04:00
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How to play “Deal” on guitar

This is a great Grateful Dead tune with some interesting changes and not too hard to play. The above video breaks down how to play the chord changes and below is an example of how you might play over the top of those changes. The distinctive part of this tune- the thing that says “Jerry” to me is the D following the B7. Playing this tune in A, normally I’d think to resolve to the 5 there, which in this case would be E7. I’m no expert at this stuff but I’d say the D makes an interesting, almost a “signature” tension here. Jerry Garcia fan? I bet you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Typically when I want to work out a tune like this, I’ll get the chord changes under my hand well enough to play them rhymically in time, then put them on a loop (if you don’t have a looper and you’re interested in playing extemporaneously or just practicing lead lines, I highly recommend you get one).

Once the loop is set up, you can get as granular as you want with your playing. I generally stop working hard at it once I understand the way the song moves and I can anticipate the next change pretty much all the way through. I start to be able to play it through completely without […]

2021-05-26T07:33:29-04:00
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Distance guitar coaching FAQs

Wouldn’t it be great if you could stop a guitar video at certain points and asks the guitarist “what exactly exactly are you doing there” or “what did you mean when you said that?”

Well now you can. Here are some FAQs that might be helpful:

  • How do we get started?
    First is a video chat, just to get acquainted. Based on our conversation, I produce a video lesson specifically tailored to you!
  • How does it work exactly?
    If you said you were interested in playing a particular song, I make a custom video lesson just for that! I break it down into manageable sections you can play as often as you want at various speeds. During the actual lesson I’ll help you figure out any parts you’re having trouble with. Split screen video show both hands and my face, so you can hear and see just what I’m doing.
  • How much does it cost?
    Distance lessons are $25 per session and the first session is free. Pay for the next session any time before it is scheduled.
  • Do I need to own a guitar?
    Before we start, yes.If you want to use the initial video chat to talk about what kind of instrument you should get, that’s fine! I can show you any of the guitars or ukes in my studio; you can hear them played, and we can […]
2022-04-27T09:27:13-04:00
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How to play “Tango Till They’re Sore”

How to play Tango Till They’re Sore on ukulele
This is a great Tom Waits tune, and not too hard to play on ukulele.

chord and lyric sheet here

The song has some profoundly cool lyrics, and listening to Tom Waits sing it with his trademark gravelly voice is pretty thrilling:

Well, you play that tarantella, all the hounds will start to roar
The boys all go to hell and then the Cubans hit the floor
They drive along the pipeline, they tango ’til they’re sore
They take apart their nightmares and they leave them by the door
Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair
Deal out Jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
I’ll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past
And send me off to bed for evermore

Make sure they play my theme song, I guess daisies will have to do
Just get me to New Orleans and paint shadows on the pews
Turn the spit on that pig and kick the drum and let me down
Put my clarinet beneath your bed till I get back in town
Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair
Deal out Jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
I’ll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past
So send me off to bed for evermore

Just make sure she’s all in calico and […]

2021-04-03T11:53:43-04:00
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