Author Archive

David Hodge, Lead Editor and Senior Columnist. Currently living just outside Great Barrington, Massachusetts, David teaches privately and also writes lessons for Acoustic Guitar Magazine and Play Guitar! Magazine. His first tutorial book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Bass Guitar, is available from Amazon.com. To hear some of his original music, visit his page at Soundclick.com. For his schedule and latest news check out David's home page. You can contact David by email at dhodgeguitar@aol.com.

Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd – Easy Songs for Beginners #39

If you’re going to play an emotionally charged song, you can’t hide behind a single strumming pattern. In this lesson we take one of the highlight songs from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and arrange it for a single guitar, using many strumming and crosspicking techniques we’ve gone over in our Guitar Noise Podcast series. You’re going to have a lot of fun with this one!

Guitar Noise Podcast #25 – "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" – Final touches

Hello to all!
In our latest Guitar Noise Podcast, we’ll finish our look at “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” by looking at a slightly more complicated strumming pattern as well as learning about a new voicing of the G7 chord. This particular use of the G7 will be turning up again in the upcoming Guitar Noise [...]

Lynyrd Meets DADGAD – A Celtic Arrangement of “All I Can Do Is Write About It”

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a Celtic arrangement of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “All I Can Do Is Write About It” done in DADGAD tuning. A wonderful way to remember your home, whether home is in Alabama or Caledonia.

Sustaining Interest in a Target – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 7

Before moving onward with modes, it’s important to grasp the concept of “target” notes as well as to understand that a target note doesn’t have to be a part of the chord in a chord progression. Here we’ll look at how single notes can used to create far more interesting solos than simply using “safe” notes.

Guitar Noise Podcast #24 – "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" – Adding Bass Runs

Hello to all!
In our latest Guitar Noise Podcast, we’ll continue to explore how to sing and play at the same time, using “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” as our example.
This time out, we’ll look at a new strumming pattern and the begin to add fills, working with a cool D to G bass run very [...]

Play With Fire – The Rolling Stones – Easy Songs for Beginners #38

Here’s an easy, yet slightly challenging take on a familiar strumming / picking pattern, featuring a fun Rolling Stones’ song that you’ll be playing well in no time at all.

Hey There Delilah – Plain White T’s – Easy Songs for Beginners Lesson #37

Here’s a great example of how a simple pop song can help you to build up some solid technique in using partial chords, playing with finger-style or pick, and making some interesting chord changes on the fly. And to top it off, it’s even got some very easy (and short!) walking bass lines. Not to mention it’s a great work out for your basic rhythm…

Guitar Noise Podcast #23 – "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"

Hello to all!
In our latest Guitar Noise Podcast, we’ll take a look at getting comfortable with strumming with an eye toward being able to sing and play at the same time. We start with a new song, the iconic “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and we even have a cheat sheet for you:

We’ll spend most [...]

Dust In The Wind – Kansas – Songs for Intermediates #26

This is another one of those songs that could easily have gotten onto the “Easy Songs for Beginners” page, especially if you’ve already worked on the two Guitar Noise Lessons on Travis style finger picking. While you’ll have to work at this one a bit, it’s not beyond the grasp of a beginner who’s ready to practice!

Behind Blue Eyes – The Who – Songs for Intermediates # 25

Don’t be put off by the “Intermediate” tag as beginners should have little problems putting this classic Who song into their repertoires. This is a great lesson on why playing strictly “by the record” can tie you up in knots and how important it is to simply have a good feel for the overall flavor of the song.

Guitar Noise Podcast #22 – "The Star of County Down" (Part 2)

Hello to all!
With many apologies for it taking so long, let me welcome you to the latest Guitar Noise Podcast,the second part of our look at the old Irish folksong, “The Star of the County Down.” Here we’ll make an arrangement for the last half of the verse and also do something fun with the [...]

Auld Lang Syne

In this this lesson we’ll learn a Drop D tuning arrangement of the perennial New Year’s Eve standard, Auld Lang Syne.

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