Song Lessons
A Navajo Indian man staking his horse to a hole in the desert sand so the horse does not wander off, ca.1900 (CHS-3260).jpg, Pierce, C.C. (Charles C.), 1861-1946, Public Domain.
This blog post is a tutorial on how to play Horse With No Name by America on guitar.
Horse With No Name is given a 1/10 song rating because it is requires only two chords and one strumming pattern. This means that the song is super appropriate for many (but not all) beginners to learn.
Read Morebowery ballroom / lower east side, manhattan, new york city, new york by Chris Robinson, Attribution 2.0 Generic
Tugboat is an epic song. It's the result of just two chords and a whole lot of reverb. Pretty cool, huh?
This blog post is a complete tutorial on how to play Tugboat by Galaxie 500 on guitar. Learning this song and mastering it will help you learn to keep the strumming going, regardless of how your chords sound. This is a crucial skill for your long term enjoyment of guitar.
I will show you the chords, the strumming pattern, and the chord progression of this song. Additionally, I'll share a couple of practice suggestions that will make this song easier for you to play. Finally, I'll go over some troubleshooting tips if you're having a little trouble.
Let's hit this.
Read MoreSong lessons are blogs that show you how to play a song on guitar. Each of them will have:
In the song lessons you'll find on this blog, you'll find two more tags to help you find the perfect next song to learn: Transcription and Arrangement.
Arrangements are very easy versions of a song that aren't 100% accurate but sound really close to the real thing. You could think of arrangements as quick and dirty versions of a song that are easier to play if you aren't terribly familiar with the guitar just yet.
Transcriptions are note-for-note tutorials that teach you exactly what the guitarist is doing on the record. Every bend, every slide, every chord, every strumming pattern (within reason) is included and notated. Naturally, transcriptions are easier to learn if you are more familiar with the guitar.
Read MoreIf there is one truth about pop music, it's repetitive. In many cases, songs use the same exact chords, albeit in different ways. If we erased all of the individual different ways that the same chords are being used and instead boiled it down to it's barest essentials, we can call the remaining chords a chord system.
For example, after reducing both the verse and the chorus in Dead Flowers by The Rolling Stones, you are left with the D, G, and A chords. So, basically, if you know the D, G, and A chords, you can play that song.
Read MoreEach song lesson you'll find on this site is given one of two tags: Electric Guitar Song or Acoustic Guitar Song.
Each song lesson, therefore, is organized according to the type of guitar that you play the most.
Read MoreLet's face it: Most people pick online guitar lessons that are too hard for them to learn. Why can't each lesson come with a difficulty rating?
To this end, each song lesson that you'll find on this site is given a difficulty rating, and formally, it's called the Song Rating. It's simple to understand: 0/10 rated songs are so simple to learn that anyone can do it, 10/10 songs are best approached by experts.
The lower the number, the easier the song will be for you to play if you have little to no experience. Get it?
Read More