chord melody

This an intermediate level lesson for those of you who use only a guitar pick and would rather not work on finger-style playing, but would still like to play a complete song arrangement on your instrument. So here is the classic jazz standard, “Autumn Leaves,” from Peter to you.

Guitar Noise welcomes the long-awaited return of Peter Simms to our pages! Peter’s been very busy with performing and teaching this past year but wanted us to know he’s still thinking of the Guitar Noise readers. So much, in fact, that he wrote this song (and the accompanying lesson) just for us!

Our arrangement for this moody piece uses many of the ideas from our O Tannenbaum! lesson. You’ll find yourself having a lot of fun even though you’re supposed to be blue!

Here’s a simple chord melody arrangement of this holiday classic. And, as a bonus, it’s a great exercise for practicing your chord changes in a timely manner.

Also known as Are You Sleeping Brother John, this has to be one of the best known children’s songs in the world. Doug brings up a fun and thoughtful arrangement of this favorite song.

Doug has come up with a lesson featuring two children’s favorites: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and London Bridge. Enjoy sharing these with people of all ages!

A hearty welcome back to Allan Abbott, who brings us a beautiful and easy to play chord melody of this classic Gordon Lightfoot masterpiece.

Here’s a wonderful simple and sparse arrangement of this traditional song from the Outer Hebrides. It’s a beautiful song and, like Doug, you’ll be thrilled to add it to your holiday repertoire.

Doug brings us another beautiful Christmas carol, arranged in standard tuning. This one is quite catchy and Doug also gives us a fascinating bit of history concerning the history of Christmas carols in Britain.

Here is a beautiful Christmas hymn, wonderfully arranged in DADGAD tuning for us by Doug Sparling. What a great way to kick off the holiday season!

Here’s an original song from Peter Simms – Key West – a perfect song for lounging on a lazy summer afternoon. Peter wrote this specifically for those of you who want to play chord melodies with a pick, so enjoy!

Let’s wrap up (no pun intended) this season’s selection of Christmas carol arrangements with a lesson that uses a little of everything that we’ve been working on. Also it will give us a chance to start exploring putting the melody further up the neck while still coming up with an easily playable chord accompaniment.

David’s arrangement of this much-loved Christmas carol focuses on the use of chord arpeggios rather than using straight chords for an accompaniment. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you will pick it up!

Our arrangement of this traditional German Christmas carol may only use two notes at a time, but we will learn a lot about how two notes can imply a rich textured harmony. This lesson features MP3 files to help you get the sound just right.

Next in our series of Christmas lessons we are going to work on The Little Drummer Boy. Way too often, guitarists tend to under-use or, worse, ignore the little finger when playing. Many beginners don’t start working with it until they absolutely have to and at that point it’s almost like learning to play all over again. Includes MP3 files.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is a wonderfully easy introduction to creating a chord melody arrangement and the first of a series of holiday song lessons for our readers. MP3 files are included.

Here’s a chance to work on your hammer-ons and pull-offs while playing a Celtic soul arrangement of this lovely song. Plus, you get to learn a lot about chord choices and voicing and even get to play around in Drop D tuning.

Guitar Noise Forum Moderator Greybeard takes us through the steps of creating a chord melody using Auld Lang Syne as an example.

Here’s a nice easy arrangement on a classic standard, brought to you by the inimitable Peter Simms. Lots of fun to play and if you’re really in a moony mood, check out the lesson on Blue Moon at Peter’s website as well!!

Peter Simms walks us through the basic steps of chord construction, which is a truly helpful thing to know when playing chord melodies, no? Learn all about major, minor and dominant chords in one easy lesson.