Ballad - Part 2

Dire Wolf

“Dire Wolf” is a ballad by the Grateful Dead, released as the third track on their 1970 album Workingman’s Dead. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter after watching a film adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. The music, containing elements of country and folk music, was composed by Jerry Garcia on the same day. The song tells the story of a man who plays cards with a dire wolf on a cold winter’s night in “Fennario”; the lyrics have been variously interpreted. The piece became a staple of the Grateful Dead’s performances, and was played more than two hundred times between 1969 and 1995.

Paul2026-05-03T08:55:31-04:00

You Belong to Me

you Belong to Me

You Belong to Me” is a popular music ballad from the 1950s. It is well known for its opening line, “See the pyramids along the Nile”. The song was published in Hollywood on April 21, 1952, and the most popular version was by Jo Stafford, reaching No. 1 on both the UK and US singles charts.

Conception and composition

“You Belong to Me” is credited to Chilton Price, Pee Wee King, and Redd Stewart.

Price, a songwriting librarian at WAVE Radio Louisville, had written the song in its virtual entirety as “Hurry Home to Me”, envisioning the song as an American woman’s plea to a sweetheart serving overseas in World War II. Afforded songwriting credit on the song mostly in exchange for their work in promoting it, King and Stewart did slightly adjust Price’s composition musically and lyrically, shifting the focus from a wartime background “into a kind of universal song about separated lovers” (World War II having ended some years previously) and changing the title to “You Belong to Me”. Price had previously had success with another hit she had written, “Slow Poke“, under a similar arrangement with the two men.

The first recording of the song, in February 1952, was by Joni James. She had seen the sheet music in the Woods Building in Chicago, and […]

Paul2026-03-29T18:49:22-04:00

Paper Roses

Paper roses chords and lyrics

Paper Roses

Anita Bryant’s version of “Paper Roses” was originally released in 1960 as a single, backed with “Mixed Emotions” (Carlton 528). Monty Kelly provided the orchestrations. It was the opening track on her 1961 album Hear Anita Bryant In Your Home Tonight! (Carlton STLP 12/127), recorded in “Provocative Stereo.” “Paper Roses” was Bryant’s biggest hit on the Billboard Pop chart, peaking at No. 5 in 1960. Bryant continued to release singles following “Paper Roses”‘ success, and although some reached the Top 40, she never had another hit as big as “Paper Roses.” Tabs, notation and chord diagrams available at https://paulelwood.com. First online lesson is free!

“I write the songs first and in most cases teach myself the technique second.” – Joe Satriani

Paul2026-04-16T16:10:13-04:00

That’s Life!

“That’s Life” is a popular song written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, and first recorded in 1963 by Marion Montgomery. The song has an uplifting message that, despite the ups and downs in life, one should not give up but keep positive, because soon one will be “back on top.”

The most famous version is by Frank Sinatra, released on his 1966 album That’s Life. Sinatra recorded the song after hearing an earlier recording of it by O.C. Smith; the song proved successful and reached the #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Following the success of Sinatra’s version, it was subsequently recorded by a number of artists including Aretha Franklin, James Booker, Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Van Morrison, David Lee Roth, Michael Bolton, Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, Russell Watson, Deana Martin, and Holt McCallany. Sinatra’s version appeared in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale, the 1995 film Casper, the 2019 film Joker and its 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, the 2004 video game Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, as well as the sixth season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while a cover by Bono was on the soundtrack of The Good Thief (2002). The song was sung by Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez) in the episode “Bad Hair Day” of the television show Modern Family. That’s Life lead sheet in C

Paul2026-03-11T11:37:48-04:00

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 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

play “East Of The Sun”

East of the sun

“East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)” is a popular song written by Brooks Bowman, an undergraduate member of Princeton University’s Class of 1936, for the 1934 production of the Princeton Triangle Club’s production of Stags at Bay. It was published in 1934 by Santly Bros. and soon became a hallmark of the Princeton Tigertones, Princeton University’s signature all-male a cappella group. The Princeton Triangle Club performs the number every year at its annual Frosh Week show. The standard is also sung by the Princeton Nassoons.

“Don’t become so enraptured by certain heroes that your playing is exactly like theirs.” – Jimmy Wyble

Paul2026-04-22T19:57:15-04:00

How to play Gentle on my mind

How to play gentle on my mind. This part 1 lesson is for solo guitar fingerstyle and includes tablature

How to play “Gentle on my mind” fingerstyle guitar.

tab for Gentle on my mind

“Gentle on My Mind” is a song that was written and originally recorded by John Hartford, and released on his second studio album, Earthwords & Music (1967). Hartford composed the song after watching Doctor Zhivago in 1966, as he was inspired by the film and his own personal experiences. The lyrics describe the reminiscences of lost love of a man as he travels through the country. The following year, Hartford released the song as a single on RCA Records.

It then caught the attention of Glen Campbell, who recorded his cover version with a group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Campbell’s cover of “Gentle on My Mind” peaked in the top 30 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. In 1968, between Campbell’s and Hartford’s recordings, the song earned four Grammy Awards. It ended up being popularized by Campbell, whose version became by 2001 the second-most-played song on the radio in the United States.

“Chord substitution isn’t some mysterious religious sect.” – Howard Roberts

looking for online guitar lessons? First one is free!

Paul2026-03-10T11:46:16-04:00

how to play till there was you

How to play Till there was you. Tabs, chords notation and lyrics:

Till there was you

How to play Till there was you. Tabs, chords notation and lyrics:

Till there was you”

Till There Was You” is a show tune written in 1950 by Meredith Willson, originally entitled “Till I Met You.” It was originally recorded October 25, 1950, by Meredith Willson & his Orchestra and Eileen Wilson. The song was retitled and used in his musical play The Music Man (1957), and which also appeared in the 1962 movie version. It is sung by librarian Marian Paroo (performed by Barbara Cook on Broadway, and by Shirley Jones in the film) to “Professor” Harold Hill (portrayed on Broadway and in the film by Robert Preston) toward the end of Act Two.

In 1959, the song became the first of four US Top 40 hits for Anita Bryant. “Till There Was You” was covered by the Beatles in 1963.

“The song of rejoicing softens hard hearts. It makes tears of godly sorrow flow from them. Singing summons the Holy Spirit. Happy praises offered in simplicity and love lead the faithful to complete harmony, without discord. Don’t stop singing.” – Hildegard von Bingen

Paul2026-04-15T20:15:25-04:00

How to play “Yesterday”

download the pdf file with notation, chord charts, lyrics and tabs Yesterday-tabs

“Yesterday” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released on the album Help! in August 1965, except in the United States, where it was issued as a single in September. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It subsequently appeared on the UK EP Yesterday in March 1966 and made its US album debut on Yesterday and Today, in June 1966.

McCartney’s vocal and acoustic guitar, together with a string quartet, was essentially the band’s first solo performance. It remains popular today and, with 2,200 cover versions, is one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music. “Yesterday” was voted the best song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll of music experts and listeners and was also voted the No. 1 pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone magazine the following year. In 1997, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century.

“Music — what a powerful instrument, what a mighty weapon!” – Maria August von Trapp

Paul2026-05-02T10:51:41-04:00