At Guitar Tricks® we make learning how to play songs a lot of fun!
Our instructors cover every section of the song slowly at first, and once you get each part down you get to play along with a professional backing band! For difficult songs we offer a 'Songs Made Easy' version for beginners, which is simplified to the basic chords and one guitar part.
Each song includes accurate guitar tabs as well as standard music notation.
Free Lesson: Sweet Home Alabama (Made Easy!)
Anders will show you this classic Southern Rock anthem in a version that has been made easy, so you can hang at any level.
This is a really fun song that almost everyone knows, and it features three basic chords repeating throughout the whole song, so if you can learn and perform even the simplest version of it, it is bound to pay off.
In these eleven videos, Mike Olekshy will teach you "Amarillo By Morning", by George Strait. Mike will talk about the song and the gear and tones, then break down the acoustic intro chords and strumming. From there it's on to the main progression and into the key change. We'll look at the main fiddle melody next, then there's two arpeggio lessons and the lead fills that lead us to the play along performance. Finally, you'll jam along with the backing track.
In this tutorial Caren Armstrong will show you the Travis picking acoustic guitar part that gets repeated throughout "Alice's Restaurant" as made famous by Arlo Guthrie
In this set of 10 videos, Anders Mouridsen will teach you "Susie Q", as performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Anders will give an overview and talk about the tones, then dive into the classic riff. You'll then learn the verses, and the rhythm guitar. The next 3 lessons are all solos, then you'll do a play along performance and then you're on your own in the jam along.
Mike Olekshy will show you how to play all the parts to the iconic "Peace Of Mind" as made famous by Boston. This is a classic rock anthem with all the essential ingredients: an acoustic intro, soaring vocal melodies, and guitars layered into a powerful arrangement with crunching rhythm riffs and screaming harmony leads.
"Living After Midnight" is a metal classic from the early 80's that is considered, along with many tracks off of the same record, to be the beginning of heavy metal. In this tutorial, we are going to break down how to play this metal classic into a series of video lessons including the rhythms and power chords, the progressions, and the guitar solo.
In this set of acoustic lessons, Henrik Linde will teach "Five Hundred Miles" by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Henrik will give a song overview and talk about the acoustic tones, then teach the intro, verse, and chorus parts in a strumming version. Following that we'll break down a more challenging finger picked approach to all the sections. We'll conclude with play along performances and jam along for both the strumming and finger picking.
Caren Armstong here at Guitar Tricks teaching you how to play "Hey Jude", as made famous by The Beatles. This is a serious workout for the left hand, and an excellent song for students looking to up their bar chord strength. The song features a simple I IV V structure with one sneaky bVII on the outro. Even though the song starts with a simple arrangement of I - IV - V chords, it is made great by an effective vocal and melody line and a lot of dynamic changes and adding of layers as the song progresses until it hits that final epic ending!
In this set of six song lessons, we'll examine the simple, catchy, fun "power pop punk" song "All The Small Things" as made famous by Blink-182. We'll take you through the power chords used throughout the song, the elements of the verses, the octaves used in the chorus, the bridge breakdown, and then rock it out with a play along!
In these lessons, Henrik Linde will break down the parts to the song "Oh, Pretty Woman", by Roy Orbison. Henrik will examine the gear and tones, then dive straight into the classic single-note intro riff. We'll follow up with the verse elements on acoustic and electric, then look at the bridge acoustic and electric parts, and the song outro as well. You'll do a play along with Henrik, then we'll mute the guitars so you can jam along with the band.
In this tutorial Anders Mouridsen will teach you an instrumental solo acoustic guitar arrangement of the song Fields Of Gold as made famous by Sting. You'll learn to play the melody, the bass, the groove and the harmony all at once, which requires some hard work and concentration! We'll look at all the techniques necessary to play the verses, choruses, and interludes; we'll take it slowly, note by note. We'll finish it off with a play along where you'll be able to play the full arrangement of this beautiful song.
Mike will show you the acoustic guitar part tuned to dropped D with a capo on the third fret to get some awesome sounding delta blues licks that combine bass notes with upper register chords.
In this tutorial Tom Finch will teach you to play "Oye Como Va", as made famous by Santana. We'll take a look at the signature lead lines and soloing, the classic ensemble rhythmic breaks, we'll learn the chords and comping styles, the rhythmic hooks, the chromatic descending line, and finally we'll play through the tune from top to bottom. Enjoy!
In this tutorial we will learn a simple, single note melody arrangement of "The Star Spangled Banner". We'll start by working through melody, note by note, using the C major scale in the open position. After we get the notes in place, we'll
learn how to add some performance flair by means of musical pauses called commas and fermatas. Finally, we'll add a few chord tones for a bonus banner. Let's get started!
In this nine lesson tutorial, Tom Finch will guide you through the various parts of the classic rock hit, "Don't Fear the Reaper" as made famous by Blue Oyster Cult. We'll examine the gear and tone, the classic hook, the pre-chorus and chorus chords and structure, tasty fills in the chorus, the intriguing form in the song and solo, the final chorus, and a play along at the end. Get out your cowbell!
Mike will show you all the parts of this 80s era rock classic that features some solid rhythms and killer leads. There are power chords, barre chords, palm muting, syncopation, and a synth melody arranged for guitar!
Caren will show you all the acoustic guitar strumming parts that make this song a fun one to play! In this tutorial you'll be learning the main, strummed acoustic guitar.
In this song tutorial, Anders Mouridsen will teach you the 1974 hit by the Eagles, "Already Gone". Anders will explain the gear and tone for the song, then dig into the song intro, verse, and chorus. He'll then teach you the lead fills that come in the second verse and chorus, followed by the solo after the second chorus. Then he takes a look at some rhythm guitar, more lead fills, and the leads in the outro jam. We'll take it out with a play-along performance.
Get your love beads on and learn to play this fun and easy classic. We opted for a simple approach to this song, so we'll be delving into a solo guitar version by Janis Joplin. We'll look at the chords, strumming patterns, and guitar work...and we'll also look at the overall song structure, and what it is that makes this "cinematic" country song "tick".
Caren will show you a made easy version of this classic Jimmy Reed 12 bar blues. in the key of A Major. If you've been studying the blues, you are likely familiar with the 12 bar song structure, if not, this is an opportunity to dig in to a genre that goes very deep while being based on variations on a simple harmonic theme.
Caren will show you how to play along with the classic repertoire builder. It's been covered by everyone from the local band at the corner coffee shop, to The Beatles. This song is easy to learn and fun to play. You'll have everyone dancing and singing along in no time!
