Category: Guitar Score

“Heat Waves (Stripped Back)” Glass Animals Guitar Tutorial (Part 1)

Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music, Music, New Bands, pop music

“Heat Waves (Stripped Back”) Guitar Tutorial.

This is the guitar/vocal version of “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals. Vocalist/Guitarist, Dave Bayley, Does a magnificent job on this stripped back version.

What is a stripped version of a song? Think of a song that is fully loaded. Then strip away all of the excess baggage. But, how do you know what the excess are? Think of layered synthesizers, drum parts, bass (sometimes), and vocal harmonies.

Here is the Guitar Pro Tab for reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13DuGkIKEhD7YugxsHuTEikY1kV9FP5_C/view?usp=sharing

I will have part 2 up soon. It will be the bridge and outro choruses. Then, I will also play through the entire song.

Dan Kanter’s Amazing Rhythm Guitar

Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music, pop music

I’ve always been fascinated with the guitar playing of Dan Kanter. His playing, mainly when he was with Justin Bieber, always stands out as innovated and hip. His ability to create multi-faceted rhythmic effects that more than mimic the original electronic based versions of songs is second to none.

As an example, Bieber’s live cover of “Hotline Bling” is one of Dan’s best work. In the following tutorial you will see the approach that he can deliver with seeming ease. There are only two chords in the song itself. They are jazzy vesions that are not hard to grab if you put a couple hours into the process.

Make sure your first and second finger are on the same fret (5). before placing your third and fourth fingers down.
This chord is a little harder to grip as the third finger needs to press down on three strings.

Here is the Guitar Pro Score:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19IIkocm49AB9ehPN4-C3XihZ9Z7wXihx/view?usp=sharing

Here is the YouTube Video:

“Hotline Bling” Justin Bieber Tutorial with Dan Kanter on guitar.

Shout out any questions you have for this tutorial!

“On My Mind” Jorja Smith (Acoustic Version Tutorial)

Cover Song, Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music, Music, Music Education, Music Genres, Music Theory, pop music, Videos

In September 2017, Jorja Smith released “On My Mind”, an irresistible and jazzy track.  She worked alongside producer, Preditah. The track first premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show. It was her first release that made it into the Official UK Charts reaching #54. It has been streamed well over 13 million times on Spotify alone. 

If you haven’t played them yet, this track will introduce you to a few jazz chord forms. These moveable shapes are not hard to maneuver if you take your time and work out the fingerings. Do not rush through this arrangement. Patience and slow movement will more than pay off.

I did make a correction thanks to a YouTube subscriber. The second chord is an Fm7b5, and not an Fm7 as I say in the video tutorial.

Here is the tab, which I am in the process of completing. Thank you for your patience!

Here is a link to the Guitar Pro Tab/Score:

On My MindDownload

I will provide more help with video and audio clips.

Thank you!

Mark

Taylor and Brendon are “Me”.

Cover Song, Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music

Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie team up for a pop summit and produce, well, a hit of course.

Here is the chord/lyric score for the song, “Me”, by Taylor Swift feat. Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco.

https://docs.ghttps://docs.google.com/document/d/11rRGirdi6pAyakp6oRWVdgIM-T_YkrsyemQ_ujTYuME/edit?usp=sharing

Here is a link to the Acoustic Guitar Tutorial:

“Shallow”. The acoustic guitar hits the pop scene in a big way.

Collaboration, Cover Song, Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music, Music, Music Education, Music Review, pop music

Click Here for the Tutorial:

“Shallow” Guitar Tutorial

Click Here for the Tab/Score for guitar:

Shallow

The acoustic guitar has had occasional spotlight moments reaching out and making itself known as a legitimate accompaniment instrument worthy of featured airplay. Eric Clapton scored big with his 1992 mega-hit “Tears in Heaven”. The song dominated the charts and made it cool to play acoustic guitar again. Decades before, the Mason Williams classic instrumental, “Classical Gas” roared up the charts. The song won three Grammy Awards for Best Instrumental Composition, Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, and Best Instrumental Arrangement.

“Shallow” is nowhere near the level of the aforementioned songs in structure or instrumentation, but it is a wonderfully written guitar part and engaging song to play. 

Make sure to take care on the chord switches during the intro and verse sections. I will finish the score making sure to provide a version that is not fingerpicked for those of you just wanting to strum and easier version. 

Lana Del Rey: “Brooklyn Baby” guitar score and tutorial.

Cover Song, Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music

Here is the link to one of Lana Del Rey’s greatest songs, “Brooklyn Baby”.

I’ve included a link to the Part 1 guitar tutorial, which covers the main guitar riff. A full tutorial will be up within two days.

 

“Brooklyn Baby” Guitar Pro Score
22brooklyn-baby22Download

 

Tutorial (Part One)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aawAJKc1t0g
Part 1: Intro Guitar

Lana’s Website:

 

“Goodbyes”- Jorja Smith

Cover Song, Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, Music Genres

Here is the Guitar Tab and Playthrough for the wonderful R&B hit by singer, songwriter Jorja Smith.

Jorja Smith

Here is the link to the playthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq3LdxVu2iM   

Here is the link to the Guitar Pro Tab:

22goodbyes22Download

Tutorial on it’s way!

Maroon 5’s James Valentine and the Dirty Riff

Bands, Cover Song, Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music, Music Theory

What were they thinking? A pop song starting out with an intentionally messy acoustic guitar riff? And of all bands to do it? Maroon 5? Well, as soon as you have pop music figured out the wackiness of the genre outflanks you. But, this is an unusually fun riff to play it’s well worth the effort you put it to learn it.

Solving this unusual, but clever guitar part will depend on your alternate picking skill. While not played at supersonic speed, it will nevertheless be challenging if you have not developed a fair amount of speed with your pick. Add to that that unusual amount of “string noise” and you begin to see that this is not your everyday guitar riff so common in these days of everything must sound perfect in pop.

Take your time with this one and it will come. I have given about one minute of how to play the chords to this one. I am not a big fan of making songs easy to play as I feel it leads to complacently for those who need to put more effort and time into their playing.

Guitar Pro Tab:

Girls Like You Tab

Youtube Tutorial:

Girls Like You – Youtube Tutorial

“I’ll Show You” – Dan Kanter’s methods.

Bands, Cover Song, Guitar, guitar lesson, Guitar Score, Guitar Tablature, Guitar Tutorial, music, Music Theory, Review, Videos

There’s not a song that Dan Kanter can’t make a thousand times more interesting on the guitar. There’s not a hit he can’t decode and apply to the acoustic guitar in ways that make you shake your head. And finally, there’s not a synthesizer riff that he can’t manipulates into a smooth melodic stream of consciousness that doesn’t make you surrender and say, “Man, I wish I could come up with riffs like that!”

This is a long overdue tutorial on my part. Many have asked for it and finally, I’ve begun the process. I share with you here the introduction (a full 14 measures long) and the first verse (another 8) of Justin Bieber’s “I’ll Show You” Live in Toronto (2015).

I’ve worked on many of Dan’s arrangements of songs from not only Justin, but from the smoldering and talented, Julia Michaels.  So ya, I feel I have a grip (admittedly a loose one) on Kanter’s very intelligent and always surprising guitar style.

For the first 5 minutes, standard tuning was doable. But, the awkwardness of the fingerings and the string noise put and end to that experiment. Within minutes the “Dan is up to it again” light went on in my brain. It was then that the guitar sounded open and the fingerings were smooth, but regimented.

Finally, I figured out that the second string was also tuned up one-have step, to of course, C. It took another two minutes to see that something was up with string 4. Well, looking at Dan’s hand position wasn’t easy as the camera was not friendly to him in this video. I did catch a glimpse of his second finger on the 4th string’s 2nd fret. It was then that I discovered that Dan had tuned string 4 up one-half step to Eb(D#). What a solution he had come up with to totally make the part ring out!

You will only need your fourth, third, and second strings for this section. Use the thumb, index, middle “claw fingering” with your right hand.

Much more to come.

-Mark

Here is the Guitar Pro score so far:

“I’ll Show You” – Guitar Pro Tab Score

 

Tutorial (YouTube link)

“I’ll Show You” Tutorial