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So far Paul has created 347 blog entries.
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Saturday Night

How to play “Saturday Night” by the Misfits on guitar. A simple 1/6/4/5 tune in 3/4 time with… well, you might say “cultural significance”. “Horror punk” was a genre I hadn’t heard of until a student asked for some help with this tune. It certainly fits a cultural niche, music-wise! “Saturday Night” is fun, and not too difficult to get under your hand if you are just starting out on guitar. It will be easier to play it in the key of C than C# though- the video demonstrates a version in C# and offers instruction in the friendly key of C.

The song  “Saturday Night,” also released on Famous Monsters and written by Michale Graves, is commonly taken literally to be about killing due to lyrics in the song such as “There’s 52 ways to murder anyone, one and two are the same and they both work as well.” However, the true meaning of the song as explained by Michale Graves is the representation of the metaphorical death of a relationship.

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” — Earl Nightingale, author, speaker

Download the […]

2026-03-16T19:06:59-04:00
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radio garden

Ever wonder what kind of tunes radio stations all over the world are playing? Check out Radio Garden. This app is fascinating! Each of the dots on the globe represent a radio station and you can click on that and listen to what’s on the air. Got a yen to find out what on the radio in Reykjavík, Iceland? Travel the planet, one radio station at a time. Here’s a link to QUAY FM, 107.1, a station in Alderney, in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.  Enjoy!

2026-03-10T15:48:49-04:00
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Find the name of a chord?

How do I find the name of any chord? Chord namer!

The chord namer will automatically name a chord shape (if a valid chord shape is supplied.) Simply select the circles on the fret board that correspond to where your fingers go and hit “Go”. A few things to watch out for:

Strings that aren’t strummed should be set to “Mute” and open strings should be set to zero.
Don’t enter your chord upside-down! The fretboard is shown with the lowest pitch string at the bottom and the highest pitch string at the top (unless you’ve tuned your instrument differently.)
If there is more than 1 way to name the chord you supplied, the chord namer will give you multiple results. They are all correct but which one you choose may depend on the context it is used in.  Visit chord namer here!

2026-03-30T08:04:02-04:00
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Blues for ukulele

Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim… Ukulele Am Blues.

“Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim”, as my friend and teacher John LaGreca said. This blues will be in Am. Using a 1/4/5 pattern, that gives us Am for the 1, D, for the 4 and E for the 5.

 

We can play a typical 12 bar blues pattern
like this:

1 | % | % | %
4 | % | 1 | %
5 | 4 | 1 | (5)

The 12th measure with the 5 chord is the “turnaround”.

We can use our pentatonic minor scale to play over the chords! The minor pentatonic scale uses the 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7 notes. for Am that would be A, C, D, E and G and that works great for the 1 and 4 chords. We can also use the “blue” note (b5) to make it sound cooler.


For the 5 chord, we’ll use the pentatonic for E. Again, 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7, o that will be E, G, A, B and D. The b5 in this scale is a Bb.

You can use any note as a “passing” note though, as long […]

Looking for online ukulele lessons? First one is free!

Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim… Ukulele Am Blues.

“Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim”, as my friend and teacher John LaGreca said. This blues will be in Am. Using a 1/4/5 pattern, that gives us Am for the 1, D, for the 4 and E for the 5.

 

We can play a typical 12 bar blues pattern
like this:

1 | % | % | %
4 | % | 1 | %
5 | 4 | 1 | (5)

The 12th measure with the 5 chord is the “turnaround”.

We can use our pentatonic minor scale to play over the chords! The minor pentatonic scale uses the 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7 notes. for Am that would be A, C, D, E and G and that works great for the 1 and 4 chords. We can also use the “blue” note (b5) to make it sound cooler.


For the 5 chord, we’ll use the pentatonic for E. Again, 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7, o that will be E, G, A, B and D. The b5 in this scale is a Bb.

You can use any note as a “passing” note though, as long […]

2026-04-25T19:22:53-04:00
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zoom or skype guitar lessons

Online zoom guitar lessons!

If you’re looking for online zoom or skype guitar lessons, I might be just the right teacher for you! I work with guitarists and ukulele players of all levels and abilities and I have students from all over!

zoom or skype online guitar or ukulele lessons Online students from across the country!

To make sure I am a good fit for you, I offer a free initial online lesson. No matter what level you are playing at now, I’m willing to bet my own time that you’ll benefit from online lessons with me- and you’ll discover that yourself at your first FREE lesson!

Free lesson!

Simply schedule your free lesson for yourself here. The online scheduling tool is quite easy to use; simply choose “First Free Lesson” from the lesson choices and select the day and time you are interested in. If you see a time listed in the scheduler, that time is available for us to meet. 

I’m looking forward to meeting you soon!

Paul 

zoom or skype online guitar lessons

 

2025-07-13T15:39:13-04:00
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How to play “Your Song”

 How to play “Your Song” Elton John – fingerstyle guitar. A beautiful song, and not too hard to get the melody right out of the chord shapes. 

2026-03-10T07:05:52-04:00
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How do I transpose a key for guitar?

Download the pdf: transpose-guitar

A bass player I worked with for a while showed me this neat trick. Thanks Lenny! First write down the notes in a row like this. I’m starting with C because that’s the key I want to transpose from. C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B Those half-steps also contain all the notes of the C major scale. C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B Now what key do you want to transpose to? How about E? If that’s the case, just grab that line of notes and rewrite them under the first line- with the E directly under the C. We’ll have to continue the half-step sequence to fill in the rest of the line. transpose So let’s say you want to transpose C, F and  G (the 1, 3 and 5 notes which make a CM triad) to the key of E. What you’re saying is “if C is now E, then F=A and G=B. All you’re looking for when you transpose is the same relationships in a scale with a different root so 1/4/5 in C is C/F/G which relate to E/A/B in the target key. I hope this is helpful!
Don’t practice until you […]
2026-03-12T09:22:38-04:00
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How to play Donkey Riding

 How to play “Donkey Riding” on ukulele. Download the tabs here
a simple two-part harmony on uke.

Donkey Riding had its origins with the sailors that left Glasgow and Liverpool on a regular basis to bring back lumber from Canada. It is not precisely a sea chanty, but more of a work song. The “Donkey” in the title is not the animal, it is the engine that was used in loading cargo in the ship’s deck.  I’m recalling my days on the USS Richard L. Page – the bos’n mates maintained something called a donkey boiler or a donkey engine, so that makes sense, finally.
The melody is derived from the well known Scottish marching song, Highland Laddie.

A great old tune I remember my ma singing for me when I was little, she probably heard it from her da, who was a sailor.

This is not too hard to finger on uke right out of the chord shapes and it might be an opportunity to play familiar chords in a different spot on the neck.

Enjoy!

2026-03-10T07:06:20-04:00
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How to play “Something” part 1

something

How to play “Something” on guitar. Play the first part of this lovely Lennon/McCartney song for solo guitar. The chord changes are fairly easy and the melody can be picked right out of the chord shapes! The think I really like about it is that beautiful chromatic drop- CM, CM7, C7 to the F, so we’re dropping the notes from C to C to Bb to A. I find it’s a great way to introduce the CMm CM7 and C7 chords to new guitar players!

“The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest.” – Erik Satie

2026-05-09T13:00:58-04:00
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