Category Archives: Classic Rock

LIVE 031 • In a Little While – U2

Classic Rock, Fingerstyle, Live, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is a demo version of my arrangement of the U2 song “In a Little While,” from 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. This was recorded a few years back when I was using dreadnaught size Taylors, before I got hip to their smaller, more comfortable guitars. The mix is a bit more compressed than what I’ve been doing lately, but it gets the job done. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded at Goldsmith Studios in October, 2011, with a Taylor 310 (Elixir Polyweb medium gauge set) and a pair of Rode NT-5 microphones.

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Every Breath You Take – The Police / Sting

LIVE 030 • Every Breath You Take – The Police / Sting

Classic Rock, Fingerstyle, Live, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is a demo version of my arrangement of The Police song “Every Breath You Take” I recorded a few years back. I was using dreadnaught size Taylors back then and the mix is a bit more compressed than what I’ve been doing lately, but I think it works for this song. Weren’t The Police great? Hope you enjoy.

Recorded at Goldsmith Studios in October, 2011, with a Taylor 310 (Elixir Polyweb medium gauge set) and a pair of Rode NT-5 microphones.

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Something – Ukulele Cover – Beatles / George Harrison

LIVE 025 • Is There Anybody Out There? by Pink Floyd

Acoustic, Classic Rock, Fingerstyle, Live, , , , , , , , ,

Appearing as an interlude on The Wall, here is the guitar part from the end of Is There Anybody Out There? Originally done on a nylon string guitar, I think this song works well (and like it a little better) on steel string. This is one of the first songs I learned on guitar from one of my first guitar teachers. Years later, I taught the arrangement to some of my students – both using a pick and fingerstyle. It’s a great moody instrumental, and an arguably underappreciated acoustic piece from the classic rock canon. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, Gotoh 510 tuners, strings are Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

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Bron Yr Aur – Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin – Fingerstyle Guitar

Little Martha – Allman Brothers Fingerstyle

LIVE 023 • Horn – Nick Drake Cover on Nylon String Guitar

Classic Rock, Fingerstyle, Live, Open Tunings, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Appearing as a sort of interlude on the Pink Moon album, Horn is a fascinating little study of a song in its own right. I love the simple melody and the atmosphere created by the space between the notes. I also really like the way this song works on nylon string guitar. (Apologies for the intonation in places – still getting a feel for this guitar and nylon again.) Of course, Drake apparently used really old, beat up steel strings, so his guitar work translates well to nylon. I don’t know what it is about the deceptively simple genius of his guitar parts, but they get me every time. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce nylon string) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

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Tranquility – fingerstyle on nylon string guitar

Pua Lililehua – Slack Key Guitar

LIVE 018 • Something – Ukulele Cover – Beatles / George Harrison

Classic Rock, Live, , , , , , ,

From the vaults, here is a cover of George Harrison’s wonderful song Something that I performed on ukulele. What can I say, Pattie Boyd Boyd must have been quite the muse. Something is arguably George’s greatest song with the Beatles or even his entire career, which is saying something. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Koaloha concert ukulele and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 3/5/08.

All rights reserved to this arrangement.

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Magic Sands

Here Comes the Sun fingerstyle guitar arrangement

OPEN 103 • How to Tune Your Guitar to C6 – Bron-Yr-Aur Tuning

Classic Rock, Fingerstyle, Open Tunings, , , , , , , , ,

While a lot of people use more common open tunings like Open D and Open G, this C6 tuning (C-A-C-G-C-E) is most often associated with Jimmy Page. Page used the tuning on the Led Zeppelin songs “Friends” (Led Zeppelin III), “Bron-Yr-Aur” (Physical Graffiti), and “Poor Tom” (Coda). It sounds great on acoustic guitar, providing you with lots of drones in the key of C. (The tuning may not easily work on electric, depending on your set-up.) I find the tuning tends to work well where you’re mostly on the I chord and vi chord, with a little IV and V chords thrown in. While I’m sure someone somewhere will figure out Giant Steps in the tuning, I try to play to the tuning’s natural strengths and focus on chords that are easy to play and make use of the open strings. I hope you enjoy using this tuning. You may also want to check out my covers of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” and Page / Zeppelin’s “Bron-Yr-Aur,” links below.

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I’m On Fire by Bruce Springsteen – Fingerstyle Guitar Cover

Bron Yr Aur – Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin Fingerstyle Cover

LIVE 012 • Bron Yr Aur by Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin

Classic Rock, Live, Open Tunings, , , , ,

Bron-Yr-Aur is probably my favorite Led Zeppelin acoustic song. Written about a tranquil cottage in the Welsh countryside, the song is meditative and bucolic; it always puts me in a different place whenever I hear it or play it. This is a relatively straight forward read on the song… The original version is a bit shorter, but I usually take a few extra passes through. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

LIVE 008 • Harvest Moon – by Neil Young

Classic Rock, Live, Songs, ,

Harvest Moon is the title track from an album Neil Young put out in the early 90’s. It was an era when some of his peers were coasting along, but Neil was doing some of his best work. (Ok, not the Ditch Trilogy, but still some good stuff.) I thought it would be a fun song to arrange; hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

All rights reserved to this arrangement, however students may perform the arrangement in public.

LIVE 007 • Here Comes the Sun – by The Beatles / George Harrison

Classic Rock, Live, Songs, , ,

One of the classic George Harrison songs from the Abbey Road album, Here Comes the Sun is a bright, happy tune that sounds great on acoustic guitar. This fingerstyle arrangement is my take on the song – instead of opting for the bright sounds of a capo-ed guitar, I went for the sonorous tones of an open tuning. Despite the lower voice, I think the arrangement still sounds sunny. Enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

All rights reserved to this arrangement, however students may perform the arrangement in public.

Fun fact – Harrison wrote this song while walking around Eric Clapton’s garden on a sunny day in spring 1969.