Paul | Guitar Lessons and Performance - Paul Elwood

Wagon Wheel

“Wagon Wheel” is a song co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show. Dylan recorded the chorus in 1973 while Secor added verses 25 years later. Old Crow Medicine Show’s final version was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013. The song has been covered numerous times, including charting versions by Nathan Carter in 2012, Darius Rucker in 2013 and Nathan Evans in 2022.

Content

The song describes a hitchhiking journey south along the eastern coast of the United States from New England in the northeast through Roanoke, Virginia, with the intended destination of Raleigh, North Carolina, where the narrator hopes to see his lover. As the narrator is walking south of Roanoke, he meets a trucker who is traveling from Philadelphia through Virginia westward toward the Cumberland Gap and Johnson City, Tennessee.

Old Crow Medicine Show’s version of the song is in swing 2/4 time signature, with an approximate tempo of 76 half notes per minute. It uses the I–V–vi–IV pattern in the key of A major, with the main chord pattern of A–E–F♯m–D. On the music video, the guitar is played with capo on the second fret and (open chord equivalents) G-D-Em-C-G-D-C.

“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.” – Emory Austin

Paul2026-04-16T16:12:32-04:00

Help

Help! is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to the film Help!. It was released on 6 August 1965 by Parlophone. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles “Help!” and “Ticket to Ride“, appeared in the film and take up the first side of the vinyl album. The second side includes “Yesterday“, the most-covered song ever written. The album was met with favourable critical reviews and topped the Australian, German, British and American charts.

During the recording sessions for the album, the Beatles continued to explore the studio’s multitracking capabilities to layer their sound. “Yesterday” features a string quartet, the band’s first use of Baroque sensibilities, and “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” includes a flute section. The North American release is a true soundtrack album, combining the first seven songs with instrumental music from the film. The omitted tracks are instead spread across the Capitol Records LPs Beatles VI, Rubber Soul and Yesterday and Today.

In the US, Help! marked the start of artistic recognition for the Beatles from mainstream critics, including comparisons to the European art music tradition. It was nominated in the category of Album of the Year at the 1966 Grammys Awards, marking the first time that a rock band had been recognised in this category. In 2000, it was voted 119th in the […]

Paul2026-05-03T18:02:31-04:00

Blackbird

Blackbird-tabs

“Blackbird” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”). It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, and performed as a solo piece by McCartney. When discussing the song, McCartney has said that the lyrics were inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird in Rishikesh, India, and by the civil rights movement in the Southern United States.

Widely regarded as one of the best songs by the band, it has been covered by several artists, including Agua De Annique, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Judy Collins, Neil Diamond, Billy Preston, Sia, Sarah McLachlan and Beyoncé.

“If music be the food of love, play on.” – William Shakespeare

Paul2026-05-02T10:00:54-04:00

Come Together

download the lead sheet with lyrics for “come together”

“Come Together” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the band’s 1969 studio album Abbey Road. It was also a double A-side in the United Kingdom with “Something”, reaching No. 4 in the UK charts, as well as No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100.

The song has been covered by several other artists, including Ike & Tina Turner, Aerosmith, Eurythmics, Michael Jackson, Joe Cocker, Arctic Monkeys, and Gary Clark Jr.

In early 1969, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, held nonviolent protests against the Vietnam War, dubbed the Bed-ins for Peace. In May, during the Montreal portion of the bed-in, counterculture figures from across North America visited Lennon. Among the visitors was the American psychologist Timothy Leary, an early advocate of LSD whom Lennon admired. Leary intended to run for Governor of California in the following year’s election, and he asked Lennon to write him a campaign song based on the campaign’s slogan, “Come Together – Join the Party!” The resulting chant was only a line long: “Come together and join the party”. Lennon promised to finish and record the song, and Leary later recalled Lennon giving him […]

Paul2026-05-02T11:10:56-04:00

Ladies of the Canyon

Use the downloadable tabs and the attached mp3 file & video to understand how to play “Ladies of the Canyon” for solo guitar.

Ladies of the Canyon is the third studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on Reprise Records in 1970. It peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The title makes reference to Laurel Canyon, a center of popular music culture in Los Angeles during the 1960s, where Mitchell lived while she was writing the album. Specifically, Mitchell lived and wrote at 8217 Lookout Mountain Avenue, the house which is the subject of Graham Nash’s “Our House”. The album includes several of Mitchell’s most noted songs, such as “Big Yellow Taxi”, “Woodstock” and “The Circle Game”.

The album is notable for its expansion of Mitchell’s artistic vision and its varied song topics (ranging from the aesthetic weight of celebrity, to observation of the Woodstock generation, to the complexities of love). Ladies of the Canyon is often viewed as a transition between Mitchell’s folky earlier work and the more sophisticated, poignant albums that were to follow. In particular, “For Free” foreshadows the lyrical leitmotif of the isolation triggered by success that would be elaborated upon in For the Roses and Court and Spark. The sparse, alternative-tuning laden sound of later records comes to the forefront on […]

Paul2026-04-19T09:42:11-04:00

Our Song

“Our Song”
is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the third single from her debut studio album, Taylor Swift (2006). She wrote “Our Song” for a high school talent show during ninth grade and included it in the album after it became popular among her classmates. The lyrics are about a young couple using regular events in their lives to create their own song. Produced by Nathan Chapman, “Our Song” is an uptempo banjo-driven country track incorporating fiddles and drums. Big Machine Records released it to US country radio on September 10, 2007.

Music critics lauded Swift’s songwriting on “Our Song” for incorporating conversational lyrics and a memorable hook. It featured on Rolling Stone‘s 2019 list of the best country songs by female artists since 2000. Peaking atop Hot Country Songs for six weeks, the single made the then 17-year-old Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one single on Hot Country Songs. “Our Song” peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It peaked at number 30 on the Canadian Hot 100 and was certified platinum by Music Canada.

Download the “Our Song” PDF with tabs

Use the downloadable tabs and the attached mp3 file & video to understand how to play “Our Song” by Taylor Swift for solo guitar.

Paul2026-04-19T14:12:17-04:00

Long train runnin’

If you’re a serious student of guitar (like me) you might consider playing extemporaneously over a backing track as part of you practice regimen. It doesn’t have to be complicated- the best ones to get started with are simple, like a 1/4/5 change you can run your blues riffs over. Don’t forget to experiment with your phrasing, voicing and texture. “Texture” in music refers to how melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements combine and interact, creating the “feel” or density of the sound, like layers in fabric, described as thin/thick, light/heavy, or sparse/dense. In practical terms, that might mean playing more than one note at a time, bending a note while holding another one, or finding the note you want an octave above or below your current position. Really though, the list of things you can do to add texture to your playing is endless.

If this sound interesting to you, just reach out. I do a free half hour online lesson to see if we are a good fit.

Paul2026-04-16T16:17:27-04:00

Drive (part 1)

Download the Drive PDF

“Drive (For Daddy Gene)” is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Alan Jackson. It was released in January 2002 as the second single from his album, Drive. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks in May 2002 and also peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song is dedicated to Alan’s father, Eugene Jackson, who died on January 31, 2000. In the song, Alan recalls as a child he and his father driving around the countryside in an old beat up truck that they fixed up together, as well as a boat they would drive around the lake. In the final verse, Alan talks about sharing his childhood experiences with his daughters and letting them drive his Jeep around their pasture.

This song uses a standard 1/5/6/4 chord progression in B. The B major scale is: B, C#, D#, E, F# G# A# and B so it has 5 sharps. The 1/5/6/4 progression then for B will be B (1) , F# (5) , G#m (6, the 6th diatonic chord of the major scale is a minor) and E (4).

“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence in between.” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Paul2026-03-09T15:42:21-04:00

Growing Up (part 1)

Download the PDF here:Growing Up

“Growin’ Up” is a song by American musician Bruce Springsteen from his 1973 album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J..

It is a moderately paced tune, concerning an adolescence as a rebellious New Jersey teen, with lyrics written in the first-person. The lyrics feature a chorus that is progressively modified as the song continues, with the first chorus being “I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said ‘Sit down,’ I stood up,” while the second chorus switches to “clouded warmth…’come down,’ I threw up” and the third finishes the song with “mother breast…’pull down,’ I pulled up.”

An acoustic version of the song, part of Springsteen’s 1972 audition for CBS Records, appears on Tracks, 18 Tracks, and Chapter and Verse.

During the Born to Run tours and following Darkness Tour, Springsteen often performed an extended version of this song, extending it with a long, sometimes exaggerated and/or fictional biographical narration of his youth and his passion for guitar playing.

The song was featured on the soundtracks of the films Big Daddy (1999) and Gracie (2007).

David Bowie recorded a version of this song in the early stages of the Diamond Dogs sessions with Ronnie Wood on lead guitar. In 1990 this was released as a bonus track on the Rykodisc reissue of his Pin Ups album, and in 2004 it appeared on the […]

Paul2026-04-16T16:17:52-04:00