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 […]

Paul2025-07-12T17:18:43-04:00

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?

Paul2025-05-21T17:11:44-04:00

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 […]

Paul2025-06-30T10:08:01-04:00

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

Paul2025-06-30T10:24:06-04:00

How to play 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!

Paul2025-07-12T17:19:41-04:00

How to play hallelujah

How to play Hallelujah

Hallelujah tab, chord sheet, lyrics and notation, part 1

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.

Here’s a recording of the trio playing “Hallelujah”

Paul2025-07-12T17:21:00-04:00

How to play winter wonderland

How to play “Winter Wonderland”. These are pretty hand-friendly chords, strummed as quarter notes. If you hear a sort of flute-y sound following the guitar, that’s the Roland GR55 midi connected to a divided pickup on my tele. I found it works best for this kind of “soft” music anyway, to add a voice that has a different sustain and diminish than the guitar, so the sound sort of “continues” to the next strum. A work in progress :-)

Simple, hand-friendly chords and a timely tune. download the sheet below. Happy Holidays!

The chord and lyric sheet is here looking for online guitar lessons? First one is free!

Paul2025-07-12T17:42:34-04:00

How to play am I blue

How to play am I blue.

Lead sheet for “Am I Blue”

“Am I Blue?” is a 1929 song copyrighted by Harry Akst (music) and Grant Clarke (lyrics), then featured in four films that year, most notably with Ethel Waters in the movie On with the Show. It has appeared in 42 movies, most recently Funny Lady, The Cotton Club and Downton Abbey: A New Era, and has become a standard covered by numerous artists. looking for online guitar lessons? First one is free!

Paul2025-07-12T17:47:12-04:00

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 […]

Paul2022-07-05T14:28:46-04:00

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!

Paul2025-07-12T17:51:11-04:00

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Custom video lesson for the song you want to learn!