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silver bells

“Silver Bells” is a Christmas song composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

It debuted in the motion picture The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), where it was started by William Frawley, then sung in the generally known version immediately thereafter by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell. The first recorded version was by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards on September 8, 1950, with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and the Lee Gordon Singers. The record was released by Decca Records in October 1950. When the recording became popular, Hope and Maxwell were called back in late 1950 to re-shoot a more elaborate production of the song.

History
“Silver Bells” started out as “Tinkle Bells”. Songwriter Ray Evans said: “We never thought that tinkle had a double meaning until Jay went home and his first wife said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word tinkle is?'”

This song’s inspiration is the source of conflicting reports. Several periodicals and interviews cite writer Jay Livingston stating that the song’s inspiration came from the bells used by sidewalk Santa Clauses and Salvation Army solicitors on New York City street corners. However, in an interview with NPR, co-writer Ray Evans said that the song was inspired by a bell that sat on an office desk that he shared with Livingston. Evans’s hometown of Salamanca, New York has taken […]

2026-04-16T16:24:14-04:00
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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 […]
2026-04-16T16:24:46-04:00
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Oh Christmas Tree

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.

2026-04-07T12:51:06-04:00
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Persistence of Vision

Something I’ve been noodling with for a while.

“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.

I added some guitar distortion and a drum track in Logic Pro. it is 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.

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

2026-05-06T12:26:39-04:00
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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

2026-03-10T15:46:17-04:00
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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

2026-04-16T16:10:13-04:00
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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

2026-03-17T08:41:59-04:00
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Eb Rhythm Changes

Rhythm Changes
Eb rhythm changes! an excellent exercise to work out your improvisational chops.

Rhythm Changes

The Rhythm changes is a common 32-bar jazz chord progression derived from George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm”. The progression is in AABA form, with each A section based on repetitions of the ubiquitous I–vi–ii–V sequence (or variants such as iii–vi–ii–V), and the B section using a circle of fifths sequence based on III7–VI7–II7–V7, a progression which is sometimes given passing chords.

This pattern, “one of the most common vehicles for improvisation,” forms the basis of countless (usually uptempo) jazz compositions and was popular with swing-era and bebop musicians. For example, it is the basis of Duke Ellington’s “Cotton Tail” as well as Charlie Christian’s “Seven Come Eleven,” Dizzy Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts,” and Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm-a-Ning”. The earliest known use of rhythm changes was by Sidney Bechet in his September 15, 1932 recording of “Shag” (two years after the first performance of “I Got Rhythm” on Broadway) with his “New Orleans Feetwarmers” group.

In pop culture, “Meet the Flintstones“, (c. 1960, Curtin/Hanna/Barbera) is based on the rhythm changes, thereby being a contrafact of “I Got Rhythm”.

Playing over rhythm changes is a great way to build your chops and listening skills! Rhythm Changes in Eb

2026-03-10T07:18:14-04:00
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Chord Construction Using Modes


Chord Construction Using Modes

Chord construction using modes. The first mode of any major scale is called the Ionian mode; “do re mi fa so la ti do”. We know the intervals for that! They go “whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step to the octave”.

Screenshot

You can play C Ionian wherever you like, ascending and descending; the chart below shows it in the first position.

Screenshot

From left to right, here are the notes in sequence, right from one through seven and one as the octave. Ascending and descending, those guys have a solid, dependable interval relationship! That means between 1 and 2 is always going to be a whole step, between 2 and 3 is always going to be a whole step, between 3 and 4 is always going to be a whole step, all the way up to the half-step interval between 7 and 1… but only for one particular mode of the scale, which is the Ionian mode.

Other modes are different in that the intervals between the notes are shifted. However, the note sequence doesn’t change, we just start at a different point. So let’s take a look at the Dorian or second […]

2026-04-25T19:23:27-04:00
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