Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
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.
Guitar Song Arrangements
Most guitar players won’t have a full band to play with all the time. Arranging songs for a single guitar so they still sound great opens the door to being a solo performer. We hope you enjoy some of the beautiful song arrangements we’ve published over the years. Check out the easy songs for beginners page for even more.
Amazing Grace
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.
Acoustic Blues in Standard Tuning
Here’s a terrific introduction to the wonders of acoustic blues, using the Muddy Waters’ classic You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had. First time GN contributor Jim Arkuszewski will get you playing the blues in no time.
Preparing To Climb – or, So I Know A Scale. Now What?
Let’s take some of the things we’ve discussed in past columns and see them put to good use. If you’d like, you can even learn how to play Lindsay Buckingham’s solo from the original recording of Landslide. But you’ve got to promise to learn something.
Something To Sleep On – An Introduction to Song Arrangement – Part 2
Here’s something especially for those of you who think that having small children gives you an excuse not to practice – you can play this arrangement of Brahms’ Lullaby at least several times each day! And we’ve turned it into a fairly decent lesson so that those of us without children can learn a few things as well.
Arranging Things – An Introduction to Song Arrangement – Part 1
Not everyone picks up the guitar to be a strummer! But song arrangements and chord melodies do not have to be the forte of just classical and jazz players. You, too, can learn to create song arrangements to play at your own level.
The Little Drummer Boy in Drop D Tuning
Peter Simms adds his share to the finest gifts we bring with his wonderful chord melody arrangement of this Christmas carol. Using Drop D tuning to create a thrumming bass part, you’ll have everyone in your house going pa-rum-pa-pa-pum in no time!
The Birth Of A Chord Melody
Guitar Noise Forum Moderator Greybeard takes us through the steps of creating a chord melody using Auld Lang Syne as an example.