Paul | Guitar Lessons and Performance - Paul Elwood

Play more melodically with this simple technique

Play more melodically with this simple technique!

The sound you create with your instrument is the vehicle that the idea- that is, the music- uses to communicate itself. When you listen to an instrument playing a melody, can you hear the “words” that are being sung? We can begin to think about music as if it was language (which it is) and so consider it “syllabically”

Think about a common word… how about “kitchen”? If you were going to describe the sound of that word, you might say it has two syllables – a short, percussive one: “kit” and a longer one that starts off sharp – “ch” – and sort of trails off the “n” sound till it’s done… “chennnn”. Also when you say the word “kitchen” is the first syllable higher or lower than the second one? Higher, right? So how might you represent those two ideas on your guitar? How about playing a short, sharp note and then a slightly lower one that kind of trails off? Does that sound like the two syllables in “kitchen”?

This kind of thinking about music in a different way needs to be practiced for sure, but look: the tiniest change in the way you think about something can have profound effects in the way you perceive it. Thinking about musica “syllabically” might be the change that drives […]

Paul2024-01-03T10:06:38-05:00

How to play Box of Rain

Box Of Rain – Grateful Dead

chord and lyric sheet

A Bm7/A A Asus4

D Am
Look out of any window
Em C G
Any morning, any evening, any day
D Am
Maybe the sun is shining
Em G A
Birds are winging, no rain is falling from a heavy sky
D G Am Em D
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
C D Am G
For […]

Paul2023-10-11T11:53:43-04:00

How to play I’ve got the world on a string

lead sheet with lyrics I’ve got the world on a string

“I’ve Got The World on a String” is a 1932 popular jazz song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler. It was written for the twenty-first edition of the Cotton Club series which opened on October 23, 1932, the first of the Cotton Club Parades.

The song was recorded and popularized by Cab Calloway who had a #18 hit in 1932. Bing Crosby recorded the song on January 26, 1933, with the Dorsey Brothers and their Orchestra.

The song was one of the first recorded by Frank Sinatra when he transferred to Capitol Records in 1953. His recording on April 30, 1953, with an orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle reached #14 on Billboard’s most played list.

Paul2023-09-20T12:08:56-04:00

How to play over beautiful love changes

Beautiful Love chord changes

“Beautiful Love” is a popular song composed by Wayne King, Victor Young and Egbert Van Alstyne with lyrics by Haven Gillespie. It was introduced by the Wayne King Orchestra in 1931. The song has been called the “second favourite number” of King, after the Orchestra’s theme song “The Waltz You Saved for Me”.

As a popular jazz standard, the song is included in the first volume of the Real Book as well as the New Real Book.

It appears as a love theme both in the 1932 film The Mummy (when it is played during the ball sequence where Helen is telepathically called to the museum), and in the film Hotel Continental, also 1932. The song is included in the film Sing a Jingle (1944) and it was also included in the 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors by Woody Allen.

Joe Pass performed the song at the Brecon Jazz Festival in 1991 and stated in good jest that he couldn’t remember if it was by Victor Herbert, Victor Young or Victor Mature.

Play beautiful love yourself, melodically over chord changes using fingerstyle guitar technique.

Paul2023-09-20T12:13:07-04:00

How to play wonderful world- Sam Cooke

How to play “Wonderful World” by Sam Cooke

Chords and lyrics

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 1978 film Animal House and gained greater […]

Paul2023-10-11T12:00:08-04:00

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 […]

Paul2023-10-11T12:01:20-04:00

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?

Paul2023-04-28T07:22:03-04:00

How to play beyond the sea

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 Chart on 20 April 1985. It peaked at no. 60 and remained on the chart […]

Paul2023-10-12T13:08:14-04:00

How to play fly me to the moon

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!

Fly_Me_To_The_Moon chord changes

Paul2023-10-11T12:03:21-04:00

How to play midnight rambler

Here’s a classic that’s not too hard to play. 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!

Paul2023-10-12T13:09:14-04:00

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