Michael, Row the Boat Ashore

My arrangement of this nice, simple spiritual.  I also added an original part in the middle, kinda like a bridge, I guess.  The bridge was likely inspired by Bruce Cockburn's guitar playing.  

PDF is below.

Little Red Lark

My arrangement of this traditional tune.  The Little Red Lark is a fairly simple tune to play if you follow the suggested fingerings.

The PDF is below.

6 - Little Red Lark.pdf 6 - Little Red Lark.pdf
Size : 46.05 Kb
Type : pdf

Si Baeg, Si Mor

Turlough O'Carolan was a blind harper back in the middle ages who wrote a whole bunch of great tunes that also sound great on guitar.  This is my arrangement of Si Baeg, Si Mor.  It's a very beautiful tune and the title means "Little hill, big hill".  It's also a little haunting when you realize that the hills are actually burial mounds that were created after a bloody battle.

Get the PDF below.

Sí Beag, Sí Mór.pdf Sí Beag, Sí Mór.pdf
Size : 66.213 Kb
Type : pdf

Windy & Warm

This is basically Chet Atkins' arrangement, although I did change it a little bit to make it easier to play.

Get the PDF below.

Windy.pdf Windy.pdf
Size : 92.932 Kb
Type : pdf

The Life of pi

I wrote this as a finger exercise for the thumb (p) and index finger (i).  The idea is similar to the way one might use a pick - alternating upstrokes and downstrokes.  In this case, the thumb plays on the beat, and the index finger plays on the "and".  You could also use the middle finger for this if you prefer.

I actually learned this technique from watching Mark Knopfler videos.  He uses this extensively and it works really well if you're not holding a pick.

Here's the PDF ------------------------->

5 - Life of pi.pdf 5 - Life of pi.pdf
Size : 54.708 Kb
Type : pdf

Harpiness Reel

I wrote this because I gave one of my students an assignment to write a tune using the C Major scale in 7th position with as many open strings as possible. I figured it was only fair that I do the same.  Chet Atkins used this technique a lot in the music that he played. 

Let all the notes ring so it sounds like a harp.  Get the PDF below.

Harpiness Reel.pdf Harpiness Reel.pdf
Size : 44.295 Kb
Type : pdf

Fingerstyle Tunes


Scarborough Fair
My arrangement of a traditional tune.


Sally Gardens
Another traditional tune, again my own arrangement.  This tune starts out in 4/4 time and then gets a little bit faster and goes to 6/8 at the end. 


Greensleeves

This is my arrangement of this cool Renaissance tune.  Also known as "What Child is This", it's been a popular Christmas tune for a long time.

It's in the key of A minor and uses mainly basic chord shapes for the left hand.

Greensleeves TAB

Greensleeves MP3


Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

By Jimmy Page - rock on forever...

Again, I've put this in two files, the fingerpicking part and the Solo. 

Intro and Verse (fingerpick)

- everything is here but to conserve space each part is there only once so in order to play things in the proper order you're going to have to listen to the song.

Solo

Here is an MP3 of the solo part, and if you'd like to listen to it slow, click here.



Cool Rock Stuff (you'll need a pick for these)


Hotel California - solo - The Eagles

Listen to it!

By Don Felder and Joe Walsh - awesome!

I've broken this down into 4 distinct parts to make it a little easier to digest.  It will probably help to listen to the slowed down version of the solo.  Have fun.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

 

You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

 By Angus Young - the rockinest blues player ever!

Two parts here - the intro and the solo.  The chord progression right after the intro is basically repeated throughout the entire song.  Check it out the song here.

Intro and chords - Malcom and Angus are both playing slightly different parts together so I put them both in here.  Once again listen to the song to figure out where they go.

Solo - a whole lot of G Minor Pentatonic scale here.

 

Iron Man - Black Sabbath

Solo by Tony Iommi

Not the greatest guitar solo of all time but a GREAT example of how to use the Pentatonic Scale (C#m)

Get the TAB.

Listen to the solo.

Listen to it SLOW.

 

Still Breathing - Mayday Parade - (here you go Tam!)

By Dave Basset

Not really a guitar solo in this one but a super cool acoustic guitar intro and a great rhythm part that happens just before the chorus that's kind of hard to hear unless you listen really carefully.  I play this song a half step down so I can use the open fifth string, or I put a capo on the first fret.

Get the TAB 

 

Smoke It

I have no idea where this tune came from but it's super cool and fairly easy to play.  It uses the A minor Pentatonic scale (the sliding version which you can get here).  I've also included it without the lead so you can jam along.

Smoke It

Smoke It (no lead)

Smoke It (no rhythm)

Smoke It TAB