Paul | Guitar Lessons and Performance - Paul Elwood

I Saw Mommy Kissin’ Santa Claus

Demo Videos for technique, tools and generally, having fun playing guitar. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” is a Christmas song with music and lyrics by British songwriter Tommie Connor and first recorded by American singer Jimmy Boyd in 1952. The song has since been covered by many artists, with the Ronettes’s 1963 and the Jackson 5’s 1970 versions being the most famous.

The original recording by Jimmy Boyd, recorded on 15 July 1952, when he was 13 years old, reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart in December 1952, and on the Cash Box chart at the beginning of the following year. It later reached number three in the UK Singles Chart when released there in November 1953. The song was commissioned by Saks Fifth Avenue to promote the store’s Christmas card for the year, which featured an original sketch by artist Perry Barlow, who drew for The New Yorker for many decades.

The song describes a scene where a child walks downstairs from his bedroom on Christmas Eve to see his mother kissing Santa Claus under the mistletoe. The lyric concludes with the child wondering how his father will react on hearing of the kiss, unaware of the possibility that Santa Claus is merely his father in a costume.

PDF notation and chords […]

Paul2026-03-11T16:54:28-04:00

blues finale

blues finale pdf with tablature

Blues finale. Play the first descending power chords with your first finger across two adjacent strings.

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Paul2026-03-10T15:44:47-04:00

armadillo

Armadillo

In the Navy, I knew a fella who noticed that roadkill was different, depending on what part of the country you were in. He proposed that a road trip in a car with a trunk and backseat full of coolers full of roadkill might be fun from say, west Texas to Flushing New York, depositing roadkill at points east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Was this art? Stupid, testosterone-fueled idiocy? Biological terrorism? I don’t know. But his proposition resulted in this song… and I should point out that for your own good, I’d strongly caution you not to take any of the culinary advice I’m offering here seriously. If you’ve never tasted this particular kind of animal that’s a good thing and you can google the reason for that if you like, but in a nutshell: Besides humans, Nine-banded armadillos are the only known natural reservoir of “Mycobacterium Leprae”. In the southern United States, particularly in Texas and Louisiana, the disease caused by M. leprae is present in armadillos and has been linked to human cases of “Hansons disease”- also called – does anybody know? Yep, that’s leprosy, ladies and gents. So if you see a roadside taco stand featuring Armadillo meat, please don’t stop to try something new.

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Paul2026-03-16T08:47:19-04:00

Oh Christmas Tree

<a href="https://paulelwood.bandcamp.com/track/fake-christmas-tree">fake Christmas tree by Paul Elwood</a>

A jumped up version of “Oh Christmas Tree”. Oh Christmas Tree” is typically performed like it might be sung in church, very proper. This version, not so much, but like a fake christmas tree, it’s shiny and gaudy and it’ll be just as it is now next year, and the year after and the year after that. A very cost-effective decoration!

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O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
Not only green in summer’s heat,
But also winter’s snow and sleet.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Of all the trees most lovely;
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Of all the trees most lovely.
Each year you bring to us delight
With brightly shining Christmas light!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Of all the trees most lovely.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
We learn from all your beauty;
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
We learn from all your beauty.
Your bright green leaves with festive cheer,
Give hope and strength throughout the year.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
We learn from all your beauty.

Paul2026-03-11T16:53:34-04:00

Hot For Robot

Look at the size of that bill! Things are getting hot for Robot in the Robot breakfast nook, and Robot has some ‘splainin’ to do. Airbrush acrylic on Illustration board. What’s this conversation sound like? Have a listen.

This is a recording of experimental acoustic guitar with a ton of filters and effects. “Hot For Robot” is somewhat out of character for me, but it was great fun. It is simply an acoustic guitar recording of some chord changes- kind of what I usually do- but is about as heavily modified and filtered as possible. I think wanted to see just how far I could move the end result from the original before I was satisfied, so here you go.

“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” – William Yeats

Paul2026-03-16T08:11:15-04:00

Persistence of Vision

Something I’ve been noodling with for a while. Added some guitar distortion and a drum track in Logic Pro. Amazing to me how you can make the guitar fill so much sonic space with effects. I am not normally a pedal/effects guy, but I can see how it works for sure.

“Persistence of vision” is an optical illusion where the brain retains an image for a fraction of a second after it has disappeared, allowing it to blend into a sequence of images to create the illusion of continuous motion, of course but I think of it also as adherence to a particular viewpoint or goal, say, deciding to become an accomplished painter. Tony Bennett described that as “brushing your teeth with it when you get up in the morning”. There was a guy who know what he was talking about for sure- a fella with a very persistent vision.

Download the tablature for this tune here: Persistence_of_Vision

“Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite.” – Thomas Carlyle

Paul2026-03-16T18:13:02-04:00

Caribbean Moose

caribbean moose

…beware the Caribbean Moose!

You can’t repel a moose in love by blowing through a tuba
especially when you’re visiting the island of Aruba

carib moose are not as rare as one might first have thought
tempted to bring your tuba there I’m recommending not

your caribbean moose and your caribbean bear
your caribbean bigfoot are also fairly rare
that’s not to say they can’t be found in re-mote island spots
likely drinking fancy cocktails and smoking primo pot

but travel to the islands there are thing you should not bring there…

your saxophone? you bet! make that caribbean swing there!
your sandals and your snorkle ‘course! your sun block and your phone

but do yourself a favor mate and leave your tuba home

beware beware the caribbean moose
he’s looking for a paramour and wild from jungle juice
if you but make the slightest sound that makes him think you’re game
well that’s on you my friend and I refuse to take the blame

beware! beware. beware!

“A student is almost always motivated to practice if he leaves his lessons feeling capable”. -Frances Clark

Paul2026-03-16T08:43:05-04:00

Spooky Numbers

Arpeggiating Am, Cm and Gm from the 6 string is a cool, spooky-sounding exercise that can also help us be more deliberate about finger position. These chords all have different relationships, depending on which of them is the tonic, but for me it’s enough to hear that eerie, floating musical idea they can produce. Here’s a chart illustrating the theoretical relationships though, if you’re interested:

Summary of relationships

Relationship to	Am	Gm	Cm
Am	Tonic (i)	The minor dominant (v) in the key of Gm	Chromatic mediant
Gm	The supertonic minor (ii) in the key of Am	Tonic (i)	Dominant minor (v) in the key of Cm
Cm	Relative major is E♭ major	The subdominant minor (iv) in the key of Gm	Tonic (i)

pdf sheet for this lesson with tabs, chord charts and instructions is available at https://paulelwood.com/wp-content/uploads/spooky-numbers-exercise.pdf

Paul2026-03-10T15:46:17-04:00

Paper Roses

Paper roses chords and lyrics

Paper Roses

Anita Bryant’s version of “Paper Roses” was originally released in 1960 as a single, backed with “Mixed Emotions” (Carlton 528). Monty Kelly provided the orchestrations. It was the opening track on her 1961 album Hear Anita Bryant In Your Home Tonight! (Carlton STLP 12/127), recorded in “Provocative Stereo.” “Paper Roses” was Bryant’s biggest hit on the Billboard Pop chart, peaking at No. 5 in 1960. Bryant continued to release singles following “Paper Roses”‘ success, and although some reached the Top 40, she never had another hit as big as “Paper Roses.” Tabs, notation and chord diagrams available at https://paulelwood.com. First online lesson is free!

“I write the songs first and in most cases teach myself the technique second.” – Joe Satriani

Paul2026-03-11T14:12:57-04:00

In Spite Of Ourselves

In Spite of Ourselves

In Spite of Ourselves is the 13th studio album of John Prine, featuring duets of classic country songs with various well-known female folk and alt-country vocalists, released in 1999.

The album was Prine’s first release since successfully battling throat cancer. The female duet partners include Iris DeMent, Connie Smith, Lucinda Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Melba Montgomery, Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane, Patty Loveless, and his wife, Fiona Prine.

“Only those who can see the Invisible can do the Impossible.” – Michelle Small Wright

In spite of ourselves chords and lyrics

Paul2026-03-17T08:41:59-04:00

About Paul

…beware the Caribbean Moose!