Over the years I have played HAPPY BIRTHDAY in all kinds of styles and whatever key was needed at the time. I always had a hankering to work it out finger style with a walking bass line. So here it is! It’s one time through so very short- 10 measures in all. HAPPY BIRTHDAY is usually in 3/4 but I like it in 4/4. I just think it swings a little better. I feel this is certainly a good one to get under your belt. It can certainly be useful on the special days of our loved ones.
So below you will find the link to the PDF of the notation and tab as well as the YouTube video.
Don’t Ask Me Why is a tune I never paid that much attention to. A student requested this a while back just for the basic chords and the chordy intro. So while listening I could not help thinking how well the piano solo would work on the guitar. It uses a lot of double stops that are thirds. It also uses arpeggios and a chromatic run. So double stops, arpeggios and chromatics- all great learning takeaways.
Below is the link to the notation/tab PDF and the YouTube video.
If you are looking for a good easy-ish solo to get under your belt, this is a great one. Maybe you have been playing long enough to start noodling with riffs and some scales but still have not nailed an actual solo yet. It uses mostly a pentatonic scale with some double stops, bends and chord tones. The tune is basically just two chords – A and Bm7. It’s the same changes as “I’d Rather Go Blind”. Listen to the solo enough to really know it in your head. Take it phrase by phrase when going through the tab/notation which is linked below. I also have a video with demo and lesson.
I jam with some other “old dudes” one night a week just for haha’s and we decided to learn PEG by Steely Dan. It is usually my inclination to improvise a guitar solo. The solo in PEG, though, is one of those that are so unique that it is just really a part of the song… so says me, anyway. So I thought was important to actually learn it as best as I could. I have to say, “It’s challenging!”. I listened to it, looked at other transcriptions, saw Jay Graydon (the guy who played it) teach it to Tim Pierce, slowed it way down with my DAW and listened even more, etc…. So this is how I do it and thought it would be a good one to share via tab/ notation PDF and a video.
While going over it in the tutorial part of this video, I realized I took some liberties with the exact timing in a phrase or two when I actually played it. I also probably added or left out a grace note once or twice. This happens sometimes when you’ve been playing something for a while. It morphs into your own thing a bit. So apologies in advance to those who are sticklers for every 16th rest and approach note.
Though I do not think of Steely Dan as a country band, there is a bit of what is often considered country guitar technique in this solo such as double stop bends and hybrid picking. Click below for the PDF with standard notation and tablature. And of course, have a look at the YouTube video.
This is a finger style arrangement of the Jeopardy theme song. The tune is actually called “Think” and was written by Merv Griffin. I worked it out in DADGAD tuning which is also called Celtic tuning. Arranging it in this tuning offers up chords with open strings and some unique voicings (like any altered tuning). DADGAD seemed to lend itself to sus 2’s, add 2’s, sus 4’s and 6ths – at least it happened to with these changes in this tune. Also, octaves are paired up on the same fret which is pretty obvious since there is 3 D strings and 2 A strings. I capoed the 3rd fret which makes it less muddy as opposed to playing. Below is a link to the notation/tab PDF file. And below that is the video.
Why Worry is a Dire Straits tune released in 1985 on the Brothers In Arms album.
A live version of this tune from “An Evening with Mark Knopfler” keeps popping up on my YouTube feed lately.
What I have here is a fairly easy solo acoustic arrangement of the intro. The intro goes through the whole song form. So just use the indicated chord changes in the intro to play the rest of the tune. I used the live version key which is D. The studio version was in E. This can be played straight finger style or pick and fingers. As always, I’ve provided a link to a PDF with standard notation, tablature and the chord changes.
There is also a PDF with some alternate ways to play a few of the measures.
The video demonstrates what it sounds like and a tutorial/breakdown of the arrangement.
This is an arrangement of Mr. Sandman that’s really close to the Chet Atkins version. It follows the same chord changes, key modulations and the boom chick finger style. This arrangement does not follow the Chet version note for note though. Chet Atkins veers away from the melody a bit and gets away from his self accompaniment at some point. This keeps the melody and keeps the boom chick going. Some of the stretchy voicings were changed to make it easier on the fretting hand. The tab and notation have an abundance of chord diagrams. I feel this makes it easier for your hands to know where to go at a glance.
Here is yet another piano intro arranged for guitar. This one was arranged on my Tele. The notes go high and low so I decided to take advantage the cutaway and higher frets. I set a mellow sound using the neck pickup with some reverb and delay. So I listened to the original, looked at piano transcriptions and looked at piano tutorials on YouTube as resources. So of course some voicings and phrasing is a little different but I gave it my best.
Below there is a link to the notation/ tab PDF and a link to a YouTube video where you can hear the guitar version and view a quick tutorial.
Combining open string and fretted notes can be a pretty slick way to come up with licks and phrases on your instrument. The first one I heard do this on electric guitar was Danny Gatton. He did it with a banjo roll-ish approach using pick and fingers. I believe it’s known as a Tele thing but it certainly works well on any electric or acoustic guitar, as well.
There are 5 two measure phrases here in 5 different keys. They begin by ascending and then they descend landing on the root note of the key. They are meant to be played finger style or pick and fingers.
After you do some of theses you begin to get the gist of how they work and you can have fun engineering your own phrases.
Link to notation/tab PDF below- Further below is a video on this.
This is a finger style arrangement of Your Song by Elton John. I used a dropped D tuning and worked it out in the key of D. I like to capo it at the 1st fret. A capo at the first fret changes the key to Eb which is the record key. The capo also shortens the guitar neck and lowers the action which makes it easier to play.
There are two transcriptions here. One shows the standard notion is in D (no capo) and the other in Eb (with capo). The tablature looks the the same on each one as it relates to the capo or nut. So the capo version would show the first fret as an open string, etc..
The chord diagrams are there to help show hand position changes. For the most part they will reflect the the down stem accompaniment notes in the arrangement.
If you read the tablature, still pay attention to the standard notation above it. Look at the up stem versus down stem notes. The up stem notes are the melody. The down stem notes are the accompaniment notes. Dynamically you want to bring the melody notes out stronger. The standard notation also shows you the proper timing of each note.
The video below shows this being played with some variations to reflect some different phrasing in some of the lyrics. I confess I completely played measure 18 different than what is in the transcription – same melody, just different fingering.
