Paul | Guitar Lessons and Performance - Paul Elwood

That’s Life!

“That’s Life” is a popular song written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, and first recorded in 1963 by Marion Montgomery. The song has an uplifting message that, despite the ups and downs in life, one should not give up but keep positive, because soon one will be “back on top.”

The most famous version is by Frank Sinatra, released on his 1966 album That’s Life. Sinatra recorded the song after hearing an earlier recording of it by O.C. Smith; the song proved successful and reached the #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Following the success of Sinatra’s version, it was subsequently recorded by a number of artists including Aretha Franklin, James Booker, Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Van Morrison, David Lee Roth, Michael Bolton, Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, Russell Watson, Deana Martin, and Holt McCallany. Sinatra’s version appeared in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale, the 1995 film Casper, the 2019 film Joker and its 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, the 2004 video game Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, as well as the sixth season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while a cover by Bono was on the soundtrack of The Good Thief (2002). The song was sung by Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez) in the episode “Bad Hair Day” of the television show Modern Family. That’s Life lead sheet in C

Paul2025-08-22T08:19:36-04:00

There can only be one… But it is also eight.
There can only be one… But it is also eight.

There can only be one… But it is also eight.

I’ve been saying that any note can be the “one” note to guitar students for years but it occurred to me recently that if that’s true, then that one note has two functions at the same time! Number theory says that it is the tonic, because that’s what the one note is- the tonic in a sequence of notes that moves up (or down) to its octave. So at the same time, the one note is the tonic for the octave ascending as well as the octave for the descending sequence below it. The same numeric sequence, ascending or descending is available from that first note!

Here’s an example. Play one twice. Go up to flat 3 then down to 1 again. Now down to b7 and continue down to sharp 5 then down to 5…
With a little imagination you can hear the first part of the lick from “7 Nation Army”

You can see how useful it might be to understand the notes as numbers! Shifting that sequence of notes to start at a different one note simply means changing your sequence to another key.

Most guitarists, when we start, tend to think about notes and chords as patterns but I’m beginning to wonder if it might not be more […]

Paul2025-08-22T08:21:51-04:00

Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire

Ring of Fire

Ring of Fire is a song written by the American singer-songwriters June Carter and Merle Kilgore. It was originally recorded as “(Love’s) Ring of Fire” by June’s sister, Anita Carter, on her 1962 album Folk Songs Old and New. It was popularized by Carter’s husband, the country singer Johnny Cash, after it appeared on his 1963 compilation album Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.

Cash’s version became one of his biggest hits, staying at No. 1 on the country chart for seven weeks. It was certified gold by the RIAA on January 21, 2010, and has sold over 1.2 million downloads. It was named the fourth-greatest country song by Country Music Television, while Rolling Stone called it the greatest country song and the 87th-greatest song of all time. In 1999, Cash’s version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Interested in learning this Johnny Cash song? First online lesson’s free!

Book your free guitar lesson join my patrion list!

you can see how the melody can be pulled out of the C and G chords in the first part of the song. Pretty straightforward, but when we get the the “I fell”, start on D and pluck D, then F# then shift to the 5th position for the “In […]

Paul2025-07-18T13:00:31-04:00

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” is a power ballad by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in October 1988 as the third single from Poison’s second album Open Up and Say… Ahh!. The band’s signature song, it is also their only number-one hit in the US, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 24, 1988, for three weeks.

It also charted at number 11 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It was a number 13 hit in the UK. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” was named number 34 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of the 80s”, number 100 on their “100 Greatest Love Songs” and number seven on MTV and VH1 “Top 25 Power Ballads”. Billboard ranked the song number five on their list of “The 10 Best Poison Songs”.

In an interview with VH1’s Behind the Music, Bret Michaels said the inspiration for the song came from a night when he was in a laundromat in Dallas waiting for his clothes to dry, and called his girlfriend on a pay phone. Michaels said he heard a male voice in the background and was devastated; he said he went into the laundromat and wrote “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” as a result.

This video lesson above shows one way to […]

Paul2025-07-17T13:53:28-04:00

Jan Jan

Paul2025-05-20T18:44:56-04:00

The Christmas Song

Home for the holidays? Play The Christmas song.

The PDF available on Patreon has notation, tabs, chord diagrams and lyrics for this song. Download the PDF and follow along with the video to play this as a ‘finger-style’ solo guitar piece. https://www.patreon.com/posts/114637555

You will notice that some of the chords that appear more than once have different diagrams in different parts of the song.Thats because the melody of the song- typically the notes that you’d hear a vocalist sing- are available on a different position on the neck.

The tabs indicate what these notes are and the chord shapes shows you one way to get the melody notes and the chord (harmony) notes at the same time.

In my opinion, finger style guitar playing is perhaps the most satisfying way to play guitar. You don’t need to sing and you don’t need a rhythm or lead instrument because you manage both of those jobs yourself!

If you’re interested in an online lesson for this song you can reserve a session at https://paulelwood.com/booking-calendar. I offer the initial online lesson for free, to see if we are a good fit.

The video song lesson for this song and printable pdf with notation, lyrics, tabs and chord diagrams are available to subscribers to my patreon channel at https://patreon.com/guitarcat at the “free” tier.

There’s […]

Paul2025-07-13T15:39:18-04:00

Ten Years Gone

“Ten Years Gone” is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. Record producer Rick Rubin has described the song as, “A deep, reflective piece with hypnotic, interweaving riffs. Light and dark, shadow and glare. It sounds like nature coming through the speakers.”

Jimmy Page had originally intended the song to be an instrumental piece; he recorded around 14 guitar tracks to overdub the harmony section. Robert Plant later added lyrics, which are dedicated to an old girlfriend who, ten years earlier, had made him choose either her or his music. Plant explained this in an interview in 1975:

Let me tell you a little story behind the song “Ten Years Gone” on our new album. I was working my ass off before joining Zeppelin. A lady I really dearly loved said, “Right. It’s me or your fans.” Not that I had fans, but I said, “I can’t stop, I’ve got to keep going.” She’s quite content these days, I imagine. She’s got a washing machine that works by itself and a little sports car. We wouldn’t have anything to say anymore. I could probably relate to her, but she couldn’t relate to me. I’d be smiling too much. Ten years gone, I’m afraid. Anyway, there’s a gamble for you.

Paul2025-05-15T14:45:57-04:00

Let It Be Me

“Let It Be Me” is a 1960 single by The Everly Brothers. The song is an English-language cover of “Je t’appartiens”, which had been released as a single in France by Gilbert Bécaud in 1955. The song was a top ten hit for The Everly Brothers in the United States and spawned many additional cover versions.

“Let It Be Me” is based on “Je t’appartiens”, which was written by Gilbert Bécaud and his frequent collaborator, lyricist Pierre Delanoë. Delanoë reportedly wrote the lyrics for Bécaud as an apology for missing one of the singer’s performances at the Olympia in Paris. The song, sung by Bécaud, was released as a single by His Master’s Voice in 1955.

The Everley Brothers recorded their version of “Let It Be Me” after the song was recommended to them by producer Archie Bleyer. They recorded the song in December 1959 in New York with guitarists Howard Collins, Barry Galbraith, and Mundell Lowe; bassist Lloyd Trotman, pianist Hank Rowland, and drummer Jerry Allison. The song was released by Cadence Records as a single in 1960, with “Since You Broke My Heart” as the B-side.

guitar chords, lyrics and notation

audio recording from notation

Paul2025-05-15T14:46:12-04:00

Dream Lover

“Dream Lover” is a song written by American musician Bobby Darin. Darin recorded his composition on March 5, 1959 and released it as a single the following month. It was produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and engineered by Tom Dowd.

In addition to Darin’s vocal, the song features Neil Sedaka on piano. While recording it Darin decided to stretch out some chord changes he found on the piano and add strings and voices. A picture sleeve, featuring a portrait of Darin, was also issued for this record in the U.S. download a pdf chord and lyric sheet here

Paul2025-07-17T14:16:36-04:00

America the Beautiful

“America the Beautiful” is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never met.

Bates wrote the words as a poem, originally entitled “Pikes Peak”. It was first published in the Fourth of July 1895 edition of the church periodical, The Congregationalist. At that time, the poem was entitled “America”.

Ward had initially composed the song’s melody in 1882 to accompany lyrics to “Materna”, basis of the hymn, “O Mother dear, Jerusalem”, though the hymn was not first published until 1892. The combination of Ward’s melody and Bates’s poem was first entitled “America the Beautiful” in 1910. The song is one of the most popular of the many American patriotic songs.

Lyrics, chords here.

Paul2025-07-07T20:34:02-04:00

About Paul

Home for the holidays? Play The Christmas song.

The video song lesson for this song and printable pdf with notation, lyrics, tabs and chord diagrams are available to subscribers to my patreon channel at https://patreon.com/guitarcat at the “free” tier.