How to play wonderful world- Sam Cooke

Play wonderful world for solo acoustic guitar, Sam Cooke version. Composed by Lou Adler/Herb Alpert

A great song to do fingerstyle in the key of B. “Wonderful World” (occasionally referred to as “(What A) Wonderful World”) is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Released on April 14, 1960, by Keen Records, it had been recorded during an impromptu session the previous year in March 1959, at Sam Cooke’s last recording session at Keen. He signed with RCA Victor in 1960 and “Wonderful World,” then unreleased, was issued as a single in competition. The song was mainly composed by songwriting team Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, but Cooke revised the lyrics to mention the subject of education more. “Wonderful World” ended up doing substantially better on the charts than several of his early RCA singles, becoming his biggest hit single since “You Send Me” (1957). The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number two on Billboard’s Hot R&B Sides chart. Herman’s Hermits charted with their recording of the song in 1965, reaching number one in Canada, number four in the United States, and number seven in the United Kingdom, respectively. A remake by Art Garfunkel with James Taylor and Paul Simon charted at number 17 in 1978. The Sam Cooke version was featured in the […]

Paul2026-04-15T07:51:42-04:00

How to play best of my love

How to play “Best of My Love”

“Best of My Love” is a song written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and J. D. Souther. It was originally recorded by the Eagles (with Henley singing lead vocals), and included on their 1974 album On the Border. The song was released as the third single from the album, and it became the band’s first Billboard Hot 100 number 1 single in March 1975. The song also topped the easy listening (adult contemporary) chart for one week a month earlier.[3] Billboard ranked it as the number 12 song for 1975.

In 2009, J.D. Souther said of the writing of “Best of My Love”: “Glenn found the tune; the tune I think came from a Fred Neil record… We were working on that album (On the Border) and came to London. The three of us were writing it and were on deadline to get it finished. I don’t know where we got the inspiration.” Glenn Frey recalled: “I was playing acoustic guitar one afternoon in Laurel Canyon, and I was trying to figure out a tuning that Joni Mitchell had shown me a couple of days earlier. I got lost and ended up with the guitar tuning for what would later turn out to be ‘The Best of My Love.'” According to Henley, most of the lyrics were written while […]

Paul2026-05-02T10:00:08-04:00

How to play bye bye blackbird

How to play “Bye bye blackbird”

Bye bye blackbird C chord changes and lyrics

“Bye Bye Blackbird” is a song published in 1926 by Jerome H. Remick and written by composer Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon. It is considered a popular standard and was first recorded by Sam Lanin’s Dance Orchestra in March 1926.Popular recordings in 1926 were by Nick Lucas, Gene Austin, Benny Krueger, and by Leo Reisman. It was the number 16 song of 1926 according to Pop Culture Madness.

The song was featured in the 1955 movie musical Pete Kelly’s Blues, sung by Peggy Lee in the role of alcoholic jazz singer Rose Hopkins.

In “Goodbye Nkrumah” (1966) Beat poet Diane Di Prima asks:

And yet, where would we be without the American culture
Bye bye blackbird, as Miles plays it, in the ’50s

In 1982, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) posthumously awarded John Coltrane a “Best Jazz Solo Performance” Grammy for the work on his album Bye Bye Blackbird.

Recordings of the song often include only the chorus; the verses are far less known.

Segregationists opposed to the American Civil Rights Movement, notably at the Selma to Montgomery marches, played the song over loudspeakers as a taunt. What kind of douchebag would you have to be do that?

more Kia and Paul at htttps://paulelwood.com/kia

Band rehearsal is not the same thing as practice

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Paul2026-05-02T09:59:00-04:00

How to play beyond the sea

download Beyond the Sea PDF

How to play beyond the sea.

“Beyond the Sea” is the English-language version of the French song “La Mer” by Charles Trenet, popularized by Bobby Darin in 1959. While the French original was an ode to the sea, Jack Lawrence – who composed the English lyrics – turned it into a love song.

“Beyond the Sea” has been recorded by many artists, but Bobby Darin’s version released in late 1959 is the best known by many, reaching No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 15 on the US R&B Chart, and No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. in early 1960.

Before Bobby Darin’s version, two instrumental recordings reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Benny Goodman’s version charted in 1948, and was featured in the Cary Grant/Betsy Drake romantic comedy Every Girl Should Be Married. Roger Williams’ recording reached No. 37 in 1955.[

The first recording of “Beyond the Sea” was by Harry James and His Orchestra on December 22, 1947, and the first recording of “La Mer” was by French jazz musician Roland Gerbeau in December 1945.

American R&B singer George Benson recorded an R&B version of the song under the title “Beyond The Sea (La Mer).” It was released on Warner Bros. This version entered the UK Singles […]

Paul2026-03-10T11:31:40-04:00

How to play fly me to the moon

Fly_Me_To_The_Moon chord changes
How to play fly me to the moon. A great tune made famous by Frank Sinatra.

“Fly Me to the Moon”, originally titled “In Other Words”, is a song written in 1954 by Bart Howard. The first recording of the song was made in 1954 by Kaye Ballard. Frank Sinatra’s 1964 version was closely associated with the Apollo missions to the Moon.

In 1999, the Songwriters Hall of Fame honored “Fly Me to the Moon” by inducting it as a “Towering Song”.

In 1954, when he began to write the song that became “Fly Me to the Moon”, Bart Howard had been pursuing a career in music for over 20 years.He played piano to accompany cabaret singers, but also wrote songs with Cole Porter, his idol, in mind. In response to a publisher’s request for a simpler song, Bart Howard wrote a cabaret ballad which he titled “In Other Words”. A publisher tried to make him change some words from “fly me to the Moon” to “take me to the Moon,” but Howard refused. Many years later Howard commented that “… it took me 20 years to find out how to write a song in 20 minutes.”

Enjoy!

“That’s the cool thing about the guitar–there’s always more to learn.” – Jim Heath

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Paul2026-03-19T13:34:51-04:00

Midnight rambler

Here’s a classic that’s not too hard to play- midnight rambler. My favorite part is b3rd over the E chord- in first-position E that’s the G on the 3rd fret of the 1 string, and you can hear in on the lyric “hear” in the line “did you HEAR about the midnight rambler”. To play this tune you just need an E (with the G on top), an A and a D, all in the first position. Playing the tune like this is a pretty good and fairly simple way to use a fingerstyle technique so that the melody pops out on top of the rhythm. Enjoy!

“Midnight Rambler” is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed. The song is a loose biography of Albert DeSalvo, who confessed to being the Boston Strangler.

Keith Richards has called the number “a blues opera” and the quintessential Jagger-Richards song, stating in the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane that “nobody else could have written that song.”

On the composing of the song, Mick Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone,

That’s a song Keith and I really wrote together. We were on a holiday in Italy. In this very beautiful hill town, Positano, for a few nights. […]

Paul2026-04-23T15:14:59-04:00

How to play hallelujah

Hallelujah

Taking some time to figure out how to play ascending and descending chord tones is a great exercise for guitar students. The pdf linked above has tabs and chord charts for the first part of the song as illustrated in the video below. Enjoy practicing how to move slowly between chord shapes as you arpeggiate them! You can apply this technique to tons of songs.

“Hallelujah” is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album Various Positions (1984). Achieving little initial success, the song found greater popular acclaim through a new version recorded by John Cale in 1991. Cale’s version inspired a 1994 recording by Jeff Buckley which in 2004 was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song achieved widespread popularity after Cale’s version of it was featured in the 2001 film Shrek. Many other arrangements have been performed in recordings and in concert, with more than 300 versions known as of 2008. The song has been used in film and television soundtracks and televised talent contests. “Hallelujah” experienced renewed interest following Cohen’s death in November 2016 and re-appeared on international singles charts, including entering the American Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.

“What stands in […]

Paul2026-04-23T14:55:33-04:00

Winter Wonderland

Download the lead sheet with chord diagrams, notation, tabs and lyrics for “Winter Wonderland” in the key of D .

Follow the video along with the tabs to play this wonderful holiday tune for yourself!

“Winter Wonderland” is a song written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith. Due to its seasonal theme, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its original recording by Richard Himber, it has been covered by over 200 different artists. Its lyrics are about a couple’s romance during winter.

A later version of “Winter Wonderland” (which was printed in 1947) included a “new children’s lyric” that transformed it “from a romantic winter interlude to a seasonal song about playing in the snow”. The snowman mentioned in the song’s bridge was changed from Parson Brown to a circus clown, and the promises the couple made in the final verse were replaced with lyrics about frolicking. Singers such as Johnny Mathis connected both versions, adding a verse and chorus. looking for online guitar lessons? First one is free!

Paul2026-04-01T08:08:40-04:00

Custom Video Lessons

Custom video lesson for the song you want to learn!

Let me know what song you’d like to learn to play and what level of guitarist you are. I’ll produce a video custom-made to help you with that song!

If a student of mine can’t make a previously-scheduled online lesson for some reason, I generally substitute a custom video lesson for the material that we would have covered in our session and post it to youtube. Besides being useful for my student, other guitar players might get some value from it too, right? But then I thought “what if I just make the video for someone who’s interested in learning the song?” So here we are. If you want to play a song, I’ll make a video to help you with that!

Here’s a page on my site with a link to some lessons done for students at various levels– from beginners to more advanced finger-style guitar students. I can help you with most techniques that involve playing chords and melody. Tapping and sweep-picking, sorry, not so much.

The offering generally includes an easily understood youtube video, description of what I’ doing, chord charts/tab or notation and/or mp3 file. Individual video lessons are $25 and you can pay for your own […]

Paul2026-03-10T07:10:46-04:00

How to play lets stay together

How to play lets stay together. “Let’s Stay Together” is a song by American singer Al Green from his 1972 album of the same name. It was produced and recorded by Willie Mitchell, and mixed by Mitchell and Terry Manning. Released as a single in 1971, “Let’s Stay Together” reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained on the chart for 16 weeks and also topped Billboard’s R&B chart for nine weeks. Billboard ranked it as the number 11 song of 1972.

It was ranked the 60th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine on their 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and has been covered by numerous other performers, most notably Tina Turner.

It was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. The song went on to claim the number 1 position on the Billboard Year-End chart as an R&B song for 1972. looking for online guitar lessons? First one is free!

Paul2026-03-10T11:45:51-04:00

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Custom video lesson for the song you want to learn!