Paul | Guitar Lessons and Performance - Paul Elwood

Hotel California

How to play Hotel California. This is a GREAT tune and not too hard to get the basic changes down. I’m including a link to the chord diagrams here and the chord and lyric sheet here. Have some big fun playing this great Eagles classic tune!

You can also play this using the same chords as above, but in a different position – descending on the neck! This would be a good place to start if you wanted to do a Joe Walsh- type lead line over the changes also.

…a solo fingerstyle version that includes the techniques discussed in the previous videos.

“As long as you’re excited about what you’re playing, and as long as it comes from your heart, it’s going to be great.” – John Frusciante

Paul2026-03-09T19:50:21-04:00

Simple Strumming Patterns

Simple strumming patterns improve your playing for guitar and ukulele!

Simple strumming patterns will improve your playing! Using strumming patterns can be super handy for perfecting your guitar or ukulele accompaniment. Eventually you will figure out your own patterns for any song that you do, but in the meantime try these as a place to start. Just choose a chord you can play easily and strum down or up where indicated. Count out loud to help yourself with your timing. Click here to download the PDF

One interesting exercise is to choose a lyric line for a song you know well- for instance, from the Eagles’ Hotel California: “On a dark desert highway”. Now see if you can strum that “syllabically” meaning, use either an up or a down strum per each syllable. Something like this below, which you can download a pdf for here.

Looking for online guitar or uke lessons? First one is free!

Paul2026-03-09T19:50:27-04:00

Learning an instrument is great for your brain!

There’s an excellent article here about just how good learning an instrument is for your brain health: brain structure, function, development and acuity. From John Rampton’s article:

“The more we know about the impact of music on really basic sensory processes, the more we can apply musical training to individuals who might have slower reaction times,” said lead researcher Simon Landry.

“As people get older, for example, we know their reaction times get slower,” said Landry. “So if we know that playing a musical instrument increases reaction times, then maybe playing an instrument will be helpful for them.”

Previously, Landry found that musicians have faster auditory, tactile, and audio-tactile reaction times. Musicians also have an altered statistical use of multisensory information. This means that they’re better at integrating the inputs from various senses.

“Music probably does something unique,” explains neuropsychologist Catherine Loveday of the University of Westminster. “It stimulates the brain in a very powerful way because of our emotional connection with it.”

If you’re looking for a way to maintain or improve brain function, you could do much worse than picking up a guitar!

Playing music:

strengthens bonds with others
strengthens reading and memory skills
Make you happy!
Enhances the ability to process more than one thing at once
increases blood flow to your brain
helps the brain recover (from a stroke, for instance)
Reduces stress and depression
strengthens the […]

Paul2026-03-09T19:50:41-04:00

Star Spangled Banner

star spangled banner lyrics and chords

“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the “Defence of Fort M’Henry“, a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort after the battle.

The poem was set to the music of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen’s club in London. Smith’s song, “The Anacreontic Song”, with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. This setting, renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner”, soon became a popular patriotic song. With a range of 19 semitones, it is known for being very difficult to sing, in part because the melody sung today is the soprano part. Although the poem has four stanzas, typically only the first is performed with the other three being rarely sung.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was first recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889. On March 3, 1931, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution (46 Stat. 1508) making the song the official national anthem of the […]

Paul2026-05-09T13:10:16-04:00

First online Guitar lesson is FREE!

Paul2026-03-10T11:43:09-04:00

My Religion

Often students want to learn to accompany themselves on guitar while they sing, and I love to help them with that! This is an example of a tune that a remote student is working on currently.

Paul2026-03-10T11:42:58-04:00

Down to the river to pray

Play “I went down to the down to the river to pray” fingerpicking style. This great old sweet-sounding gospel tune is not too hard to play with a standard tuning if you go slowly. Being able to play those old sweet harmonies is worth the trouble!

A great old-time bluegrass tune, pure and simple. I’ve included a lyric and chord sheet you’ll find helpful if you want to play the tune finger-style. download PDF here