Learn to Play ‘The Choice Wife’: A Celtic Classic by Any Name
This arrangement makes an excellent introduction to fingerstyle Celtic guitar—and a sweet selection to add to your repertoire.
Woodshed: Learn a Jazz-Meets-Punk Version of ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’
This arrangement is in the guitar-friendly key of E minor and includes a steady eighth-note bass line that nods to the Clash version.
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‘Radio Hula’ – Learn a Hawaiian Slack-Key Favorite
Ledward Kaapana's rendition encapsulates a lot of what’s great about slack-key guitar: a sweet melody propped up by a rolling Travis-style bass line, chiming harmonics, and subtle ornamentals.
Video Lesson: Learn a Sophisticated Guitar Arrangement of ‘Joy to the World’
In this guitar lesson, you'll learn a fingerstyle arrangement of 'Joy to the World' set in dropped-D tuning.
‘Spanish Fandango’: Learn a 19th-Century Acoustic Classic in Open-G Tuning
Henry Worrall scored his biggest hit with this tune, a bright melody in triple meter, played in open-G tuning.
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Learn Nathan Salsburg’s “B.B.”: A Melodic Instrumental with an Unusual Origin
Having accidentally overindulged on a giant bowl of rice and beans, Nathan Salsburg sat down uncomfortably with his guitar one night and got to work. Despite his dyspepsia, a new composition soon announced itself: “Bean Bloat.” By the time Salsburg recorded the tune for his most recent album, Third, he…
Woodshed: Learn Mary Flower’s ‘Liberal Rag’
In this lesson, I’ll show you how to play an approachable ragtime piece of mine in open G6 called “Liberal Rag,” a title I chose not necessarily as a political statement but to indicate that it can be played at an easy and relaxed tempo, by players at all levels.
Learn to Play ‘An Operatic Rag’ — An Accordion Gem for Guitar
Accordion music of the early 20th century might seem an odd source of inspiration for a fingerstyle guitarist, but not for the San Francisco Bay Area musician Craig Ventresco, with his vast musical knowledge of that bygone era. I have long admired Ventresco’s arrangement of “An Operatic Rag,” a 1910…
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Laurence Juber’s Solo Acoustic Arrangement of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper”
Though Juber plays the original guitar riff with a bit more finesse than the Beatles did, he maintains the proper spirit and unrelenting groove.
Learn Michael Chapdelaine’s Arrangements of Francisco Tárrega’s “Adelita and “Lágrima”
A study of his oeuvre is essential for any serious classical player, but Tárrega’s work can be also be practiced by steel-string guitarists, as demonstrated here.
Dill Pickle Rag: A Ragtime Arrangement by Eric Schoenberg
A note-for-note transcription of Dill Pickle Rag as performed by Eric Schoenberg and David Laibman on their 1971 recording, The New Ragtime Guitar.
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Learn ‘Pachelbel’s Canon’ on Guitar
"Pachelbel's Canon" is an often-requested composition for gigging guitarists. Here's a compact arrangement that sounds just as good on the steel-string as nylon-string.
Tips on Playing Leo Kottke’s “Ice Miner” in Open G
An outtake from 6- and 12-String Guitar from The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose: American Primitive Guitar & Banjo 1963–1974 shows the guitarist’s more contemplative side.
Learn Bill Frisell’s “Made to Shine”
On paper, this gorgeous composition looks approachable, but it's not easy to make the guitar sing like Bill Frisell does!
“Limehouse Blues” – Watch Tommy Emmanuel and Frank Vignola Perform this Jazz Classic
It’s been 65 years since Django Reinhardt died at the age of 43, but the legendary Belgian Gypsy jazz musician’s recordings sound as vital as ever, and guitarists of all stripes continue to mine his work for both technical challenges and inspiration.
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‘Midsummer Moon’ – Watch Al Petteway Perform an Atmospheric Open-C Instrumental
Some 20 years ago, Al Petteway tuned his guitar to an open Csus2 chord—low to high, C G C G C D—and started exploring this rich alternate tuning.
“Clap” – Watch a 1972 Steve Howe Performance of this Essential Yes Instrumental
In August of 1969, on the occasion of his first son’s birth, guitarist Steve Howe composed his first piece, a solo guitar instrumental.
Acoustic Classic: New River Train
If you’re unfamiliar with mountain music—the traditional sounds of the southern Appalachians and Ozarks—then “New River Train” is a good place to dive in. This arrangement is based on the version of the old tune that the Monroe Brothers made famous in the 1930s, as well as an interpretation that…
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Watch Mason Williams Play “Classical Gas”
In 1967, having completed his first season as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Mason Williams spent a weekend with an old friend he had been neglecting: his nylon-string guitar. He composed an informal piece, thinking it might be handy for playing at parties, and called it “Classical…
Learn to Play ‘Tie-Hackers Joy,’ Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf’s Arrangement of an Ozarks Tune
This tune in open-D has a kind of Scottish feel to is
Lesson: How to Play the Guitar Rag ‘Jitters’
Often called Piedmont guitar—after the East Coast regions, running from Virginia to North Carolina, where many of the players lived—this challenging style makes use of an upbeat fingerpicking technique, which I’ll break down for you in this lesson.
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Acoustic Classic: Play Bert Jansch’s Arrangement of the Trad Tune ‘Blackwaterside’
A Los Angeles judge recently exonerated Jimmy Page on charges of “stealing” the intro to Spirit’s “Taurus” for Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” but there’s no doubt the famed guitarist had a habit of “borrowing” from songs he liked. Take “Down by Blackwaterside,” an old folk song the influential British fingerstylist…
Video Lesson: Dig into a Lute Work by the English Renaissance Composer John Dowland
As a fingerstyle steel-string guitarist, you might assume that your instrument precludes learning classical literature. But this isn’t actually the case.
Learn a Solo Guitar Arrangement of the Christmas Hymn “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
This solo-guitar arrangement moves twice through the song’s simple verse-chorus form, set in the key of E major.
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Learn a Solo-Guitar Arrangement of “Silent Night”
This fingerstyle arrangement is set in the key of A major.
