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Guitar Size Chart for Kids (So You Stop Guessing at the Store)
A 60-second chart for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or full-size guitars by age and height, plus a 10-second arm test to check the fit …
Dire, Dire Docks on Guitar: Nintendo's Most Relaxing Drowning Simulator
Mario 64's underwater theme on one guitar — and the three borrowed chords that let you play it with a single shape …
Sus Chord Mistakes: 5 Fixes for a Cleaner Sound
Five sus2 and sus4 chord mistakes guitarists make — from muddy voicings to treating the resolution as a hard rule …
How to Build Your First Guitar Strumming Pattern
Chords carry no built-in rhythm — a total-beginner walkthrough for building your first strumming and fingerpicking pattern, step by step …
Brazil (Declan McKenna) on Guitar: One Loop, Four Chords, and a Fistful of Natural Harmonics
Brazil built as a DAW loop instead of on a loop pedal, plus how natural harmonics really work: where the nodes sit and why they lie to your tuner …
Drop 2 Chord Practice Routine for Guitar
A one-week routine to drill Drop2 chord voicings across every string set and turn every Maj7 into a Dominant7 for free …
Power Chord Mistakes: 5 Fixes for a Tighter Tone
Five power chord mistakes that make your riffs buzz or sound thin, and the fretting-hand fixes that clean them up fast …
How to Loop Without a Loop Pedal (Your DAW Already Does It)
Record every layer first, arrange it, then mute the bits you want to play live — a loop-pedal show without the loop pedal …
Root-Note Cheat Sheet: Name Any Guitar Chord Fast
Skip the finger-counting: memorize the E and A string note map and name any movable barre chord shape in seconds flat …
3 Easy Chord Substitutions to Reharmonize Any Song
No dominant-7th deep-dive needed: three beginner-friendly chord swaps — relative chords, secondary dominants and Drop2 voicings — for any progression …
Find the Key of a Song Fast: 60-Second Cheat Sheet
Skip the theory lecture: count the accidentals, shortlist major vs relative minor, then confirm it by ear. The whole trick fits on one cheat sheet …
Still Waiting (Sum 41) on Guitar: Downstrokes, No Mercy, and a Palm Doing the Heavy Lifting
Palm-muted power chords, driving downstrokes and alternate-picked 16th-note bursts — watch the right hand, because the mute is what makes this intro heavy …
Guitar Licks Mistakes: 5 Reasons Yours Never Fit a Song
Practised a killer lick that vanishes the second you jam? The 5 beginner mistakes with guitar licks — and the small fix that makes them usable …
Guitar Tab Symbols Explained: A Quick Cheat Sheet
What do h, p, b, the slashes and the squiggle mean in guitar tabs? A pocket cheat sheet that decodes every tab symbol so you stop guessing …
Motivation or Discipline? What Gets Me to the Goal?
Motivation gets you to the start line, discipline gets you to the goal — how goals, small milestones and a five-minute rule keep your guitar practice going …
Guitar Tapping Mistakes: Why Your Tapped Notes Don't Ring Out
The five guitar tapping mistakes beginners make — buried pick, timid taps, no muting, stubborn pinky — and the fix that makes each note ring …
Guitar Rhythm Mistakes: 5 Timing Fixes for Beginners
The five rhythm mistakes I see beginner guitarists make most — rushing sixteenths, fearing triplets, dropping rests — and the simple counting fix for each …
Haken – Puzzle Box: The Tapping Section That Files a Complaint With Your Hands
The notorious two-handed tapping lick from Haken’s “Puzzle Box” on a seven-string — and how the technique actually works …
Buying a guitar for kids — Which size is the right one?
At the beginning of each new semester, many children start taking guitar lessons again. But which guitar should you buy …
Limp Bizkit's "My Way" Intro: The Nu-Metal Riff That Still Slaps
The crunchy nu-metal intro riff from Limp Bizkit's "My Way" on guitar — all downstrokes, palm mutes and attitude …
Tigran Hamasyan's "Entertain Me" on Guitar: Wrestling a 5-vs-4 Polyrhythm Until One of Us Gives Up
A raw guitar cover of Tigran Hamasyan's "Entertain Me" and a plain-English take on its 5-against-4 polyrhythm …
Meshuggah's "In Death Is Death": The Riff That Fires Your Pinky For Cause
I tried Meshuggah's In Death Is Death and learned the truth: this djent riff needs all four fingers, pinky and all …
Songwriting — From Idea to Riff
I “force” every student in their career to write their own song. The most common sentence I hear is: “I can’t do that.”
Meshuggah – "In Death Is Life": The 7-String Riff That Counts in a Language Your Foot Doesn't Speak
A brutal 7-string cover of Meshuggah's "In Death Is Life," plus how the djent cross-rhythm fools your foot but not the pulse …
Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy" on Guitar: The One-Note Riff That Refuses To Leave Your Head
The "Bad Guy" guitar riff proves one note plus a lot of silence can beat any solo. A clean, minimalist G minor lesson in rhythm …
C, B♭, or E♭ instrument — How do they differ?”
Perhaps you’ve wanted to buy a songbook and saw “For Eb Instruments” on the cover.
How do I learn to improvise on the guitar (beginner)?
I think we all agree that improvisation is not the same as scales. On the one hand, you need the scale as a kind of “gui…
Smells Like Teen Spirit, But Kurt Just Did Yoga and Adopted a Puppy
I flipped Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit into a major key, clean tone — same riff, wildly happier mood, plus the theory …
Applying Power Chords (Beginner)
Power Chords — or simply “5” chords (e.g., C5) — are great. We don’t care if it’s a major, minor, sus or whatever else, …
Myrath – Tales of the Sands: The Bridge That Fakes an Odd Meter (But It's Just 4/4 in a Turban)
Myrath's Tales of the Sands bridge sounds like some exotic odd meter – but it's brilliantly arranged 4/4. Here's the sleight of hand on guitar …
Stuck Despite Practicing a Lot — What Should I Change?
A question that I get asked really often.
Arch Enemy's "Nemesis" Bridge: The Octatonic Scale That Sounds Like a Villain Twirling Its Moustache
The bridge of Arch Enemy's "Nemesis" turns the octatonic whole-half diminished scale into palm-muted dread — and the shape repeats every 3 frets …
Simplify and Shorten Barre Chords (Bar Chords)
Barre chords are very difficult to play in many ways. Especially for beginners, these chords are always a major challeng…
Arch Enemy's "Nemesis" Riff: The Shred That Makes Your Picking Hand File a Restraining Order
The fast, aggressive shred riff from Arch Enemy's "Nemesis" — the picking, palm muting and minor-key tricks that make it hit …
Playing with a Metronome — Important or useless?
Practicing or playing with a metronome is a whole different ballgame than just playing “into the void.”
Haken's "In Memoriam": The 7/8 Bridge Riff That Makes Your Foot Trip Over Itself
Haken's "In Memoriam" 7/8 bridge riff, decoded — count it 2-2-3, tighten the palm mutes and make odd-time prog metal groove …
What is a sus chord?
A sus (suspended) chord, like all other chord names, describes the content of a chord.
I Wrote the Soundtrack to a Fever Dream, and Yes, It Refuses to Pick a Mood
A 42-second original instrumental that can't pick a mood — plus the borrowed-chord trick that makes sad guitar music actually ache …
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[Songwriting] Which Chords go together?
I am very often asked in my lessons which chords go together and which do not.
I Taught My Guitar to Scream Like a Family Guy Dolphin, and Now We're Both Regretting It
A dolphin squeaked an entire song on Family Guy, so I transcribed it and played the Screaming Black Dolphins on guitar …
Triad VS Seventh Chord
As is well known, a chord consists of three or more notes played simultaneously. Only a single note would simply be “a n…
Beethoven's 9th on One Guitar? Ode to Joy Fingerstyle, and Yes, It's a Bit Ambitious
Beethoven's 9th – the Ode to Joy – squeezed onto one fingerstyle guitar. Melody, bass and harmony in three learnable layers …
What is a Chord made of?
Chord Construction: Unveiling the Building Blocks
The Metal Rhythm Puzzle: Where On Earth Is Beat One?
Somewhere in this 42-second riff hides a beat one. Everything is displaced and syncopated, so the game is finding the downbeat before it moves …
What is a time signature and how do they differ?
There are many (almost cryptic) messages on a sheet of music. One of them is the time signature.
Khong Sao Ca, But It's Distorted: Turning a Viral Vietnamese Hook Into Metal
Turning the viral Khong Sao Ca "Gwenchana" hook into a heavy metal guitar instrumental — melody stays, everything else gets loud …
How do I learn the Notes on the Guitar Fretboard?
The mystery of the “fretboard” probably accompanies a guitarist throughout their life. That’s why I’ve written about it …
The Hanging Tree on Fingerstyle Guitar: One Instrument, All the Doom
The haunting Hunger Games folk melody arranged for solo fingerstyle guitar — thumb on bass, fingers on the doom …
Downstrokes and Upstrokes on the Guitar — When do you use which?
The question of when to use a downstroke and when to play an upstroke remains a great mystery of many guitarists. But ac…
Fichtl's Lied on Guitar: My Neighbours Now Officially Hate Me
Fichtl's Lied on guitar is just three party chords — E, A and B in a I–IV–V — plus more la-la-la than any neighbour should endure …
Reharmonization of a Simple Melody
“Reharmonization” refers to the process of changing a melody or its chords. This can be done with any melody or accompan…
Plug In Baby: The Muse Intro Riff That Turned B Harmonic Minor Into a Fuzz Bomb
Muse's Plug In Baby intro riff, decoded: B harmonic minor, fuzz tone and fast legato in one short cover …
Simple Jazz Chords for Guitar
To explore the vast world of a different musical style, you always need a good starting point.
Round and Round: The Squid Game Mingle Song That Sounds Innocent Until It Isn't
The eerie Squid Game "Round and Round" Mingle Song, arranged as easy fingerstyle guitar any beginner can actually learn …
What is the Right Guitar String Action for Me?
The String Action on Guitars: A Crucial Factor for Playability and Sound
Way Back Then, But Now It Wants to Eat Player 456: A Squid Game Metal Cover
The eerie Squid Game theme, dropped low and shredded. How to metal-ify an OST melody with palm mutes, gain and harmonic minor …
Recording: Recording an Electric Guitar in a Home Studio
Once you reach a certain level on the guitar, the next logical step is: recording a song. But what do you need for that,…
Haken – Pareidolia: The Riff That Makes Your Counting Foot File for Divorce
Haken's Pareidolia riff on guitar — the odd-meter prog classic, and how to count it without breaking your foot …
The Relative Key
The relative key is the major or minor key that has the same key signature as a given key.
When AC/DC Takes the Elevator: Turning TNT Into Lounge Jazz
AC/DC's TNT reimagined as elevator jazz — how three bratty power chords get reharmonized into smooth lounge voicings on guitar …
Outside Improvisation — Four Ways to Play Outside
Outside improvisation has fascinated us for quite a while now. That’s why it’s becoming more and more widespread. While …
Mamushi Goes Metal: I Ran a TikTok Hip-Hop Hook Through a Wall of Distortion
Megan Thee Stallion's Mamushi hook, dragged into the pit and shredded with distortion, power chords and an uninvited solo …
Octave Displacement
Octave displacement (or Oktavenverschiebung in German) describes a technique in which we — as the name suggests — play n…
Halo on Guitar: The Nocturne That Makes Space Marines Cry
The Halo theme, alone on one guitar at emotional 3am — how this melancholic fingerstyle nocturne actually works …
The Complementary Interval
By complementary interval, we mean the inversion of an interval. Simply take the upper note and move it down an octave.
Voice Leading
Voice leading refers to the technique of moving as few notes as possible when transitioning between chords.
When You Wish Upon a Star: Fingerstyle Guitar Without Selling Your Soul to a Cricket
The Pinocchio classic as easy fingerstyle guitar: melody on top, chords underneath, one guitar doing the whole job …
Three Wishes for Cinderella on Fingerstyle Guitar: One Instrument, All the Snow-Covered Feelings
Karel Svoboda's "Three Wishes for Cinderella" theme, arranged for solo fingerstyle guitar — melody and bass, all the nostalgia …
Chromatic Approaches on Guitar
I don’t want to go too deep into the topic of “chromatics” here, but rather concentrate on “chromatic approaches”.
L's Theme on Guitar: The Death Note Riff That Sits Like a Detective and Judges You
L's Theme from Death Note on solo guitar, plus the E minor tricks and chromatic tension that make Taniuchi's melody feel so uneasy …
How to write your own guitar solo (a guide)?
Writing Your Own Guitar Solo
The Soundtrack to Your Daydreams — Now With 100% More Talking Pineapples
A dreamy, chill original for your daydreams — plus the ambient guitar trick (volume swells, reverb, pedal tones) that makes it float …
Silent Hill's "Promise" on Guitar: I Made My Living Room This Foggy on Purpose
Akira Yamaoka's "Promise" from Silent Hill 2 on solo fingerstyle guitar — plus the chromatic bassline that makes it so eerie …
A Guitarist’s Guide to Lick Creation
Guitar licks are a great way to improve your technique, gather inspiration and get to know new musical styles. But a gui…
Ennio Morricone's "The Crisis": The One "Wrong" Note That Makes It Unforgettable
One b2 interval — a single minor second — is all Morricone needs to make "The Crisis" haunt you. Here's why that "wrong" note is so right …
EarTraining for Guitarists
Of course, a musician is not only good because he/she can shred up and down a scale. There are many more factors that ma…
Blues Saraceno's "Tommy Gun": The Intro Riff That Shreds First and Apologises to the Blues Later
The intro riff to Blues Saraceno's "Tommy Gun" — fast enough to scare your fretting hand, bluesy enough to make it swing …
Playing Sheet Music — Finding Notes on the Guitar
One of the top questions I get asked again and again is: “Do I actually have to be able to read music?”. My answer to th…
Intervals Cheat Sheet: Associating Songs with Intervals
Learning to recognize intervals is one thing. But recognizing them quickly — even while a song is playing and you’re act…
Dean Winchester's Ringtone on Guitar: 23 Seconds of Pure Supernatural Nostalgia
The iconic Dean Winchester ringtone from Supernatural, distilled to 23 seconds of bluesy guitar. Tab, riff and full SPN nostalgia inside …
Improvisation Guitar — Dominant 7 Chord — Part I
The Dominant 7 chord (e.g., C7) is comparable to a shaky skyscraper. 🙂 Going from the third to the seventh forms a trito…
Everybody (Backstreet's Back), But Now It's Coming to the Pit
The Backstreet Boys' Everybody was always secretly a metal song. Power chords, palm mutes, and a shred solo prove it in one minute …
JVKE's Golden Hour on Guitar: The Fingerstyle Cover That Runs on Nothing but Maj7 Chords and Feelings
JVKE's Golden Hour on one acoustic guitar — dreamy maj7 chords, the famous key change, and fingerstyle warmth …
Haken's "Pareidolia" Bridge: The Guitar Line That Convinces Your Ear It Saw a Face in the Static
The bridge from Haken's "Pareidolia" makes your ear hear a beat and a key that aren't there. Here's the odd-meter, octave trick behind it …
PowerChords on Guitar
What Are Power Chords and How Do I Play Them on the Guitar?
I Dragged David Guetta's "Dangerous" Into a Dark Alley and Taught It to Djent
I tuned down, muted hard, and turned David Guetta's EDM hit "Dangerous" into a Meshuggah-style djent metal riff …
Download Guitar Sheet Music
Nowadays, it is not difficult at all to download sheet music for guitar and other instruments.
Breaking the Law on Guitar: Three Notes, One Siren, and a Lifetime of Air-Guitar Cred
Three notes, one A minor scale, and the most stolen riff in metal history. How Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law" sits on the guitar …
Bad Boy for Life on Guitar: One Riff, Looped Until Your Neighbours Move Out
The P. Diddy "Bad Boy for Life" main riff on guitar — proof that one tight, looped phrase can out-groove a whole solo …
Palm Mutes
What are Palm Mutes and how do you play this technique on the guitar?
The King of Queens Snuck a Tritone Past You, and Your Ears Filed a Complaint
A two-second King of Queens scene transition hides the devil's interval. Here's that tritone lick on guitar, and why it sounds so tense …
The Guitar Fretboard
The fretboard is one of the many mysteries of the guitar. At first, it makes no sense, but once you understand how it wo…
When You Love Metal More Than Rock 'n' Roll: Joan Jett, but Angrier
Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" gets a metal makeover: same three power chords, way more distortion, all the swagger …
The Funny Song on Guitar: Yes, It's THAT TikTok Tune That Lives in Your Head Rent-Free
That viral TikTok comedy tune, note for note on guitar — and why the whole joke lives in the staccato, not the notes …
Shifting Basic Guitar Chords
When we talk about shifting guitar chords, we all mean the same thing, namely barre or CAGED chords. This is not wrong, …
Don't Cry: The Guns N' Roses Intro That's Just Three Chords Wearing a Sad Trench Coat
The arpeggiated Am–Dm–G intro to Guns N' Roses' Don't Cry, note by note, so every sad chord rings the way it should …
Rockin' All Over the World Guitar Solo: Three Chords, One Denim Jacket, and Pure Joy
Three chords, a stubborn boogie shuffle, and the happiest major pentatonic in rock — here's how the Status Quo solo actually works …
The Melodic minor Key
The Melodic Minor scale is a blend of major and minor. Of course, it’s primarily minor, as it includes the minor third (…
Symphony X's "When All Is Lost": The Passage Where Even Your Music Teacher Says "Don't Count This One"
A 45-second guitar take on Symphony X's "When All Is Lost" — the prog-metal passage so slippery even your music teacher says don't count it …
The Harmonic minor Key
Harmonic minor occurs more often than you think. Even if it doesn’t initially sound like a harmonic minor song, it may b…
Thirds Intervals Can Sound So Mean: Symphony X's "Electric Messiah" Weaponises Two Notes
Symphony X's "Electric Messiah" on guitar: how harmonising a riff in thirds intervals turns two innocent notes into pure menace …
The minor Key
Just like the major key, the minor key has its chords, scales, and modes. But what exactly changes in the minor key comp…
The iPhone Marimba Ringtone on Guitar, So You Can Panic-Reach for Your Case Instead
The iPhone Marimba ringtone — those 18 Pavlovian notes everyone knows by heart — arranged for solo guitar in under 90 seconds …
The Major Key
The foundation of every key always consists of a major scale.
Animal Crossing's 8AM Theme on Guitar: The Cozy Morning Tune That Makes You Want to Pay Off a Raccoon
Kazumi Totaka's mellow 8AM theme from Animal Crossing, arranged for cozy solo fingerstyle guitar - one instrument, all the calm …
Upper Structure - Superimposing - Chord on Chords
Upper Structure, Superimposing, Chord on Chords. This theory or “technique” has many names, but always means the same th…
I Made Superman Fly in 4/4 While Ravel Counted in 3/4 — On One Guitar
Hans Zimmer's Flight from Man of Steel in 4/4, stacked on Ravel's Boléro in 3/4, on one guitar. The meters only meet every twelve beats …
When You Realize the Jackass Party Boy Theme Is Secretly a Banger
You know the Party Boy theme from Jackass. On guitar it stops being a joke and starts being an actual riff — here is exactly why …
How do I figure out the Chords or a Melody (in a Song)?
Figuring out and Transcribing Melodies
When You Accidentally Start Master of Puppets on the Wrong String (and a Bit Too Fast)
Metallica's Master of Puppets intro riff on guitar: all downstrokes, tight palm mutes, and a tempo my forearm never agreed to …
Improvising on the Guitar — With Arpeggios (and Pentatonic)
What is an arpeggio and how can you improvise with it?
Scales, Chords and Arpeggios for Guitar (Complete Guide)
I searched the internet for a long time for a comprehensive list, but unfortunately, I could never find everything in on…
The Zelda "Puzzle Solved" Jingle on Guitar, Because Dopamine Deserves a Fretboard
The triumphant "Puzzle Solved" fanfare from Zelda: Breath of the Wild on guitar, and the four-note theory trick that makes it feel so good …
Happy Birthday, Switzerland: The Swiss National Anthem on Solo Guitar
The Swiss Psalm on solo guitar: one instrument, all four voices, and the national anthem nobody can sing past verse one …
Strumming Patterns for Guitar
A quick note beforehand; the strumming patterns are not 1:1 perfectly accurate to how they are played in the songs. Sinc…
Everybody Dance Now — But Also, Please, Literally Anybody?
The C+C Music Factory dance anthem on one guitar in B♭ minor — three chords, killer syncopation, zero dancers …
Guitar Chords
They say there are infinite guitar chords. It’s kind of true, because you can never really know them all. But there’s a …
Boom Boom Boom Boom on Guitar: One Instrument, One Boat Full of Eurodance
The Vengaboys' Boom Boom Boom Boom as a solo guitar chord-melody — hear how four chords power the whole earworm …
CAGED
Every guitarist has probably read or heard about CAGED somewhere. But what exactly is this CAGED?
I Love #11 Tensions So Much It's Basically a Personality Disorder
Adding a #11 tension to Em, G, A, C and D chords for that lush, floating Lydian shimmer — one color tone, no new grips …
Guitar Techniques
What guitar technique is shredding or “to shred”?
God Save the King on Guitar: A Swiss Guy's Very Gracious Tribute After England Knocked Us Out
England's anthem, God Save the King, on one guitar — melody, chords and the theory behind its odd 14-bar royal shape …
Guardians Hate This One Simple Finger Exercise (and So Will Your Pinky)
The menacing Guardian Battle theme from Breath of the Wild, rebuilt into a B minor finger-dexterity exercise your pinky will hate …
12 Notes on the Guitar
As most of you may already know, a “normal” scale, in contrast to the 12-tone scale, contains only 7 notes. There are al…
I Wrote a Little Jam Purely to Make You Feel Good, and Yes, It's Just Major Chords Being Extremely Nice to You
Seventy seconds of feel-good guitar chords and happy riffs — plus the add9 and major-third theory that makes them sound this cheerful …
Chord Names and Their Meanings
Everyone knows it. The “D minor7 ^2 flat9 sharp11 divided by 13.” Of course, there is no chord with this name. But at f…
When You're All Blues Chords and No Rhythm (Welcome to the Shuffle Struggle)
All the right blues chords, zero swing — the eternal blues shuffle rhythm struggle, plus the triplet trick that finally fixes it …
Opeth's "Master's Apprentices": The Riff That Makes Your Palm-Muting Hand Sweat Prog
One nice riff from Opeth's "Master's Apprentices" on guitar, plus the palm-muting trick that makes it sound heavy …
How do I transpose a song?
Transposing has nothing to do with transporting or transforming. It simply means changing the key.
Barbaras Rhabarberbar on Guitar: The Tongue-Twister That Trips Your Fretting Hand Instead of Your Mouth
The viral rhubarb tongue-twister by Bodo Wartke on solo guitar: a swung jazz groove that trips your fretting hand, not your mouth …
Am I too old to learn to play the guitar?
I hear this question often. It’s even worse when someone doesn’t dare to learn guitar because they’re not sure if it’s e…
Knights of Cydonia on Guitar: One Gallop, Zero Horses, All the Spaghetti Western Drama
The galloping Muse anthem on one guitar: palm-muted 16ths, Phrygian dominant swagger, and enough desert drama to lasso a horse …
Add Note Exercise
One of the most efficient methods to quickly learn difficult licks/lines, solos or even accompaniments is the Add Note E…
Knights of Cydonia on Guitar: I Lost a Tuning Rematch to My Own Instrument
A warts-and-all run at Muse's galloping Knights of Cydonia riff — palm-muted gallop, octave melodies and one very lost tuning rematch …
How do I find the key of a song?
Finding out the key of a song is actually very simple. With a few tricks, you can even figure it out without 10 years of…
The Riddle on Guitar: For Every Millennial Who Grew Up on Gigi D'Agostino
The Riddle by Gigi D'Agostino — the Eurodance earworm you didn't choose — arranged for solo guitar in about 53 seconds …
Freddy Green Chords
Who is Freddie Green?
I Handed the Can Can a Distortion Pedal and Told It to Behave (It Refused)
Offenbach's Can Can, but now it wants to mosh: a metal guitar cover of the Galop Infernal, with tabs and a backing track …
Triads and inversions
What exactly are “chords” again?
Arctic Monkeys' "Brianstorm": The Riff That Turns Your Picking Hand Into a Panicked Hummingbird
The main riff of Arctic Monkeys' "Brianstorm" — barely any notes, but a picking hand that never, ever stops moving …
Tapping Basics
First of all, there are two types of tapping. One is with the left hand, which is already playing all the notes anyway, …
Eye of the Tiger on Solo Guitar: For When You Have the Motivation but None of the Friends
Survivor's Eye of the Tiger for one guitar: the C minor riff, its sneaky offbeat, plus tabs and a backing track to rock alone …
Sweep Picking Basics
Sweep Picking is probably the most fascinating technique on the guitar ever. Never have I been asked so much about techn…
Playing Avicii's "Waiting for Love" With Only My Index Finger and Pinky (and Still Getting Funky)
Avicii's "Waiting for Love" on guitar with only my index finger and pinky — two fingers, one groove, zero dignity …
MelodyChords / ChordMelody / Fingerstyle
Whoever can play the guitar knows this all too well; you’re somewhere far from home, with only the foxes and hares sayin…
Beds Are Burning: How Two Fingers and a Fistful of Power Chords Saved the Planet
Two fingers, no thirds, one planet saved: the Beds Are Burning chorus riff broken down into power chords and octaves …
Harmonic Analysis
Do I need to know this?
A Meshuggah-Style Djent Exercise Built From Stolen Bits of "Demiurge"
A compact Meshuggah-style djent exercise stolen from "Demiurge" — learn the polymeter and palm muting that make the riff crush …
Reading Sheet Music - Reading Notes on the Guitar
Notes don’t bite. I have to tell my students that over and over again. I don’t force anyone to read music, of course, bu…
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger on Guitar: How to Loop Riffs When You're Too Broke for a Looper
Daft Punk's Harder Better Faster Stronger, stacked riff by riff on one guitar — the looper pedal for people who own no looper pedal …
Pentatonic Groupings
Why Groupings?
When You Still Don't Know the Difference Between Ionian and Lydian (So Here's a Duckling)
The whole difference between Ionian and Lydian is one raised note. I prove it with a duckling and a single sharp 4th …
Smoke on the Water on a 7-String, No Bassist, and a Very Optional Relationship With Timing
The world's most famous riff on a 7-string, no bassist, dodgy timing — and why it's secretly fourths, not power chords …
2–5–1 Cadence Voicings on Guitar
Anyone who starts playing jazz knows that 2–5–1 cadences are ubiquitous. The 2–5–1 cadence is the most commonly used cho…
Life Is A Highway on Guitar: The Riff That Legally Requires You to Roll a Window Down
The main and chorus riff of Life Is A Highway — driving downstrokes, a touch of palm muting and a classic-rock I-IV-V …
Drop 2 Chords on Guitar
The Real Slim Shady on Guitar: Please Stand Up, Your Picking Hand Is Being Called Out
Eminem's harpsichord hook lands on six strings — a snappy, staccato picking riff in D minor, no rapping required …
I Named a Song "Peter's Tricycle With Four Wheels" and Then Had to Solo Over It
I named an instrumental "Peter's Tricycle with Four Wheels", then had to solo over my own fingerpicking. One minute of work in progress …
How do I write my own pop song?
What do I need to know?
The Love Story Picking Riff: Four Chords, One Key Change, and Zero Emotional Restraint
The Love Story picking riff decoded: four chords, one music-box arpeggio, and the key change everyone air-guitars …
Venus by Shocking Blue: The Strumming Pattern Your Right Hand Has Been Faking This Whole Time
The Venus strumming pattern by Shocking Blue on guitar — the down-up sixteenth groove over Em–A that drives the whole song …
Improvisation on Guitar — Part 1
Musical improvisation is similar to when you’ve made a mistake and then have to fix it -> You become creative! 🙂 However…
The Pursuit of Vikings Riff: How to Gallop on the Low B String Until Your Neighbours Grab a Shield
B standard tuning, a palm-muted gallop and harmonised thirds: how Amon Amarth's Pursuit of Vikings riff turns one string into a raid …
String Skipping Technique
One of the more challenging techniques on the guitar is the string skipping technique. String skipping means “skipping s…
A Cool Thrash Metal Riff That Trains Your Palm Mutes While Quietly Wrecking Your Wrist
An original thrash metal riff built to drill your palm mutes and power chords — tight chugging, free tab, one very tired picking hand …
Lonely Day's Riff: How to Play System of a Down Without Retuning Your Whole Guitar
The main "Lonely Day" picking riff by System of a Down — played in standard tuning instead of Drop C#, so you can skip the retune …
Pentatonics on Guitar
The pentatonic scale is the most popular scale on the guitar. Probably not least because it is simpler and has “only” 5 …
Je Ne Parle Pas Français on Guitar: The Fingerpicking Pattern I Recorded for No Reason and Beginners Secretly Love
The main fingerpicking pattern of Namika's Je Ne Parle Pas Français, slow and beginner-friendly over three friendly minor chords …
The Wicked Game Strumming Pattern: Three Chords, One Very Wet-Sounding Reverb, and a Broken Heart
Just Bm, A and E — plus the one raised note that drags Wicked Game into Dorian and makes it sound so dreamy …
Easy Twelve Bar Blues
We all know this; you’re sitting with other musicians in the practice room. Person 1 wants to play song 1, but you don’t…
Zombie on Guitar: One Instrument Playing Both the Chords and the Bassline (Because Hiring a Bassist Is Expensive)
Play Zombie by The Cranberries on one guitar, with the descending bassline built right into the Em, Cmaj7, G6 and D/F# chords …
The Alternate Picking Exercise That Turns Your Wrist Into a Sewing Machine
A short, loopable alternate picking exercise for guitar — build picking-hand speed and clean, even strokes, one wrist complaint at a time …
Rhythm Exercise
In this lesson, the focus is on being able to play independently.
Crazy Horses: The Riff Where The Osmonds Accidentally Invented Proto-Metal
The Osmonds' Crazy Horses is two power chords a whole step apart — and somehow one of the heaviest hooks of 1972. Here's the riff …
How Do I Read Guitar Tabs?
What are tabs / What is a tablature?
I Knew You Were Trouble on Guitar: Taylor Swift Was Basically Writing Metal and Nobody Told Her
The main riffs of "I Knew You Were Trouble" on guitar, plus the distortion the song was secretly begging for the whole time …
Pinzin Kinzin on Guitar: Avishai Cohen's 5-Over-4 That Turns One Instrument Into a Whole Trio (and Your Foot Into a Liar)
Avishai Cohen's Pinzin Kinzin on one guitar: bass and piano together in a 5-over-4 polyrhythm that gently gaslights your foot …
When You Say Nothing At All: The Fingerpicking Riff That Says Everything (No Words Required)
The gentle G–D–C–D fingerpicking riff behind Ronan Keating's "When You Say Nothing At All," explained one thumb at a time …
How to play the same chord in different ways on the guitar?
With my students, I always read sheet music. That means each of my students should be capable of looking at a sheet of m…
Billy Talent's "Pins And Needles" Riff: Punk Rock Fuelled by Palm Mutes and Slightly Dead Strings
The main riff of Billy Talent's "Pins And Needles" on solo guitar — punk power chords, tight palm mutes, and gloriously old strings …
Halestorm's "I Miss the Misery": Four Power Chords That Punch You in the Sternum
Halestorm's "I Miss the Misery" in a minute: Drop D power chords, Am–C–G–D and the palm-mute trick that makes it hit …
Simple Guitar Strumming and Fingerpicking Patterns
Who doesn’t know it? You’re playing your 200,000th song, but it sounds exactly like the other 199,999 songs before it. O…
How do I use ToneX as an interface (Mac)?
Press and hold the button in the top-left corner.
Blackbird Fingerpicking: The Beatles Riff Built Entirely on Tenths (and One Very Busy Open String)
The Beatles' Blackbird fingerpicking riff, decoded: tenth-interval chords, an open-G pedal tone, and an honest confession about the picking …
Voice Leading Arpeggios Through Every ii-V-I, Because Your Fingers Deserve to Suffer Beautifully
Arpeggios through IIm7-V7-IMaj7 around the circle of fourths, moving the least notes legally possible for smooth jazz phrasing …
How do I play Barre Chords (Bar Chord) on the Guitar?
What are barre chords?
Take A Look Around: The Limp Bizkit Riff That Stole a Spy Theme and Never Gave It Back
The Mission: Impossible theme, down-tuned and dragged into a nu-metal pit — plus the sneaky 5/4 count that makes it tick …
Love Is A Long Road: The Tom Petty Riff GTA 6 Turned Into an Earworm You Didn't Ask For
The rolling Tom Petty intro riff you rediscovered in the GTA 6 trailer — four chords, one lazy drag, and pure earworm …
The Seven Modes In Major on Guitar
Modes
The Melody That Haunted Me for Weeks Turned Out to Be Leonardo DiCaprio's Fault
A melody haunted me for weeks, then turned out to be the Man in the Iron Mask masquerade theme — now fingerstyle, with tabs …
Knockin' on Heaven's Door: Four Chords, One Slash Solo You'll Never Learn
Knockin' on Heaven's Door on guitar: four campfire chords, Guns N' Roses style, and the rhythm trick everyone misses …
What are intervals?
In music, we have ONLY 12 tones, each of these tones has a name, and the distance from tone 1 to tone 2 (and so on) also…
U2's "One" on Guitar: Four Chords That Ache So You Don't Have To
The aching Am–Dsus2–Fmaj7–G intro of U2's "One" on solo guitar — four chords, one open-string pedal tone, and all the feelings …
Bitter Sweet Symphony on Guitar: The String Riff That Loops Forever and Never Once Apologises
The Verve's endless string hook on one guitar — the cyclical riff over E, Bm7, Dsus2 and A, and why timing beats notes …
What is an Arpeggio?
To be able to play arpeggios, one should first understand what arpeggios are.
The 40 Seconds Guitar Challenge: How Much Can You Say With Nothing But a Drumbeat For Company?
A riff and a few licks over nothing but a drumbeat — my 40 Seconds Guitar Challenge entry, and why no chords means no hiding …
Jazz Blues Comping With Chords So Easy Even Your Rhythm Hand Stops Sweating
Easy jazz blues comping on guitar with simple chord voicings rooted on the low E string. Fewer notes, more swing, no scary barres …
Notes and Rest Values
Rhythms are naturally very important. Not only to play better solos, but also to be able to play better accompaniments.
I Gave Dr. Mario's Fever Theme a Wall of Distortion, and It Feels Worse Already
The Dr. Mario Fever theme, plugged in and cranked up: power chords, palm mutes and syncopation turn a Game Boy classic into metal …
Greensleeves on Guitar: The 500-Year-Old Breakup Song That Still Out-Sads Your Whole Playlist
A one-minute fingerstyle chord-melody take on Greensleeves — melody, harmony and 500 years of heartbreak on one guitar, with tabs …
How To Tune A Guitar
Often, tuning a guitar can be more challenging than initially thought. However, once you know how each string should be …
Ti Amo on Solo Guitar: Saying "I Love You" So Hard the Neighbours Blush
Umberto Tozzi's "Ti Amo" on solo guitar: melody and harmony at once, and the chord-melody trick that makes one guitar sound like the whole heartbreak …
Jazz Blues Comping, But Now the Roots Live on the A String and Nobody Told Your Left Hand
The jazz blues, moved up to the A string — simpler voicings, smoother voice leading, and finally some room for your fingers …
Melodic Rhythm (on Guitar)
A melodic rhythm is a term used to describe a rhythm that is achieved not through individual notes and rests, but throug…
Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" on Guitar: Four Chords That Have Been Emotionally Manipulating You Since 1997
Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" runs on four chords — F–C–Dm–B♭ — and a relentless strum. Here's the rhythm part that drives the 90s hit …
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on Fingerstyle Guitar: Your First Chord-Melody, No Baby Required
An easy chord-melody take on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, your gentlest first step into solo fingerstyle guitar, with free tabs …
How do I read chord diagrams on guitar?
What are chord diagrams?
Viva La Vida on Guitar: Four Chords, One Relentless Pulse, and Coldplay Owning It
The main riff and rhythm of Coldplay's Viva La Vida on guitar: four chords, one relentless eighth-note pulse, zero orchestra …
Spread Triads: When Your Major Chords Grow Long Legs and Learn to Voice Lead
Open-voiced major triads on the B, G and A strings, gliding through the circle of fourths with smooth voice leading …
(Most) chords on guitar
Here is a list of all (or most) guitar chords for the guitar. Of course, as always, there are many more Voicings that ca…
Lady Madonna on Guitar: Stealing Paul's Piano Riff With Six Strings and Zero Shame
The Beatles' bluesy boogie-woogie hook, kidnapped from the piano and taught to strut on six strings — shuffle feel, blue note and all …
Open String Riffs: How to Make Two Lazy Strings Do All the Work
Let two or three open strings drone while you slide triads on top — an instant, ear-opening guitar riff idea you can steal today …
Barney's Magic Phone Ringtone on Guitar: The HIMYM Earworm That Rings Only When It's Convenient
Barney's Magic Phone ringtone from How I Met Your Mother, on one guitar — a 34-second HIMYM earworm with tab …
Autumn Leaves on Guitar: The Easy Chords That Trick People Into Thinking You Can Play Jazz
Comp the most-played jazz standard on guitar with easy voicings and smooth voice leading — no scary shapes required …
Right-Hand Finger Independence: Teaching Your Fingers to Stop Gossiping With Each Other
Teach your picking hand to hold a steady bass thumb while your fingers play a different rhythm on top — a short, brutal independence drill …
What is the difference between major and minor?
As we already know, (or not know) the difference between major and minor is the interval called “third” in a chord.
Every Breath You Take: The Add9 Riff That's Been Politely Stalking You Since 1983
The prettiest guitar part for the creepiest lyric: how Andy Summers' add9 arpeggio riff for Every Breath You Take actually works …
The Pokémon Theme on Solo Guitar: Gotta Fret 'Em All
The Pokémon "Gotta Catch 'Em All" theme as a fingerstyle chord melody for solo guitar — melody and chords in one, tabs included …
Nightwish's Wishmaster Intro: 19 Seconds of Symphonic Metal That Dares Your Picking Hand to Keep Up
The Wishmaster intro riff on guitar: fast, palm-muted power metal in harmonic minor, plus PDF and Guitar Pro tabs to learn it …
Dust in the Wind on Guitar: The Fingerpicking Pattern That Taught a Generation Their Right Hand
Everyone calls the Dust in the Wind riff Travis picking. It isn't — and once your right hand knows the difference, the whole thing flows …
Bam Bam on Guitar: Four Open Chords, One Sneaky Latin Strum, Zero Barre Chords
Bam Bam by Camila Cabello and Ed Sheeran with easy open chords, no barre, and a capo on fret 1 to play along with the original …
Autumn Leaves on Guitar: Comping the World's Most Over-Taught ii–V–I, One D-String Chord at a Time
Comp the jazz standard Autumn Leaves with simple chords rooted on the D string, and let the guide tones do the heavy lifting …
Ghost Love Score on Guitar: One Player Pretending to Be an Entire Symphony Orchestra (and the Choir)
One guitar pretending to be a whole symphony orchestra: the Ghost Love Score intro riff by Nightwish, broken down in D minor …
Autumn Leaves on Guitar: The Jazz Standard You Comp With Bass Notes on the A String (So the Bassist Stops Glaring)
Comp Autumn Leaves with simple chord voicings rooted on the A string — two ii-V-Is, barely any hand movement, and free tabs …
Save Tonight on Guitar: Four Chords, One Wrist Motion, and a Whole 90s Hit
The entire Eagle-Eye Cherry hit is one Am–F–C–G loop. Learn the easygoing strumming pattern and you own the whole song …
Gone With The Sin on Solo Guitar: HIM's Palest Ballad, Now Playable Without a Band (or a Candle Budget)
HIM's "Gone With The Sin" as a MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement — melody, harmony and bass all on one very pale solo guitar …
The Exorcist Theme on Guitar: The 7/8 Riff That Quietly Possesses Your Picking Hand
The creepiest riff in horror on guitar: Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, in wobbly 7/8 and A minor - and how to count it …
Autumn Leaves on Guitar: Comping the Whole Standard From One String
Comp the whole Autumn Leaves progression with simple jazz chords rooted on the low E string — ii–V–I made easy …
Solsbury Hill on Guitar: The Fingerpicked Riff That Steals One Eighth Note and Dares You to Notice
Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill intro on guitar: the 7/8 fingerpicking riff and how to count the eighth note that isn't there …
Nights In White Satin on Fingerstyle Guitar: Melody and Chords Crammed Onto One Very Emotional Six-String
The Moody Blues' Nights In White Satin as a solo fingerstyle chord melody — melody and Em–D chords on one guitar, tabs included …
An Allan Holdsworth Wannabe Lick, or: How to Fake Fusion Fluency With One Chromatic Slide Downhill
A seven-second Allan Holdsworth style legato lick that's secretly just a chromatic descent in a nice suit …
Spread Triads on Guitar: How to Make Three Notes Sound Like You Hired a String Section
Open-voiced major triads on the E, B and D strings, walked through the circle of fourths so three notes sound huge …
Last Train Home on Guitar: The 80s Riff So Clean It Files Its Taxes on Time
The bright, chorus-soaked 80s intro riff from John Mayer's Sob Rock, broken down clean and simple — with tab, PDF and Guitar Pro …
Blue Bossa on Guitar: Where Your Thumb Gets a Steady Job and Your Fingers Refuse to Show Up on Time
Blue Bossa comped fingerstyle: a steady thumb bass under syncopated chord stabs, and the classic bossa nova groove that only looks easy …
Dream Theater's "In the Presence of Enemies" Riff: The Intro That Sounds Easy Until Your Foot Files a Missing-Persons Report for Beat One
The intro riff and lick of Dream Theater's "In the Presence of Enemies," played to a bare metronome — sounds easier than it is …
Augmented Triads: The Only Four Chords in the Universe (and How to Crawl Them Up the Neck)
There are only four augmented triads in the entire universe, and here's how to voice-lead them up the neck one fret at a time …
Korn's "Here To Stay" on Guitar: One Riff Written Entirely in the Key of Heavy
Korn's "Here To Stay" riff on guitar: the down-tuned, palm-muted chug in the key of heavy, and why the groove matters more than the notes …
Almost Lover on Solo Guitar: The Ballad That Breaks Up With You in Every Key
A Fine Frenzy's "Almost Lover" as a solo fingerstyle chord-melody — melody, chords and bass on one guitar, zero band, all the heartbreak …
The Angels Solo Without a Slide: Making Bare Fingers Sing Like a Bottleneck
The Angels solo was born on a bottleneck slide. Here's the easy version where string bends fake that vocal glide instead …
Augmented Triads on Guitar: The Chord That Refuses to Pick a Root and Just Keeps Climbing
Augmented triads through the circle of fourths on three strings: two stacked major thirds, four chords total, endless spooky voice-leading fun …
Lose Yourself on Guitar: The Eminem Riff You Only Get One Shot At (So Don't Miss Your Chance to Blow)
That unstoppable D minor intro riff from Eminem's "Lose Yourself," now on six strings — palms optionally sweaty …
The Rose on Solo Guitar: One Instrument Playing the Melody and the Chords, So You Can Cry Alone in Style
Bette Midler's The Rose as a fingerstyle chord melody — the tune and the harmony carried by one lonely, tender guitar …
The Freestyler Lick on Guitar: Rocking the Microphone With Zero Turntables
The unmistakable Freestyler hook by Bomfunk MC's, pulled off the sampler and onto the guitar in about fifty syncopated seconds …
Augmented Triads on Guitar: The Chord That Sounds Like a Dramatic Flashback (and Refuses to Resolve)
Take a major triad, shove the fifth up a semitone until it sweats, and walk the result around the circle of fourths on three strings …
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: The Handful of Notes That Made Marilyn Manson Scarier Than a Synthesizer
The most recognisable synth hook of the '80s, unplugged and handed to a guitar with anger issues — the Sweet Dreams intro riff, note by note …
Malcolm in the Middle on Guitar: The Theme That's Legally Not the Boss of You (But This Arrangement Kind of Is)
The Malcolm in the Middle theme, Boss of Me, arranged for solo fingerstyle guitar — melody and chords in one bouncy part …
I Stole a Giacomo Turra Funk Line, Which Is the Most Guitarist Thing I Could Possibly Do
Ten seconds of Giacomo Turra funk, lifted note-for-note: chromatic approach notes, slides and syncopation you can steal too …
Augmented Triad Voice Leading: The Chord That Can't Decide Which Root It Has
Run augmented triads through the circle of fourths on the top three strings — symmetrical shapes, smooth voice leading, gloriously spooky harmony …
The Billie Jean Bass Line on Guitar: Four Notes and Your Brain Already Filed the Rest
Michael Jackson's most famous bass line, squeezed onto six strings as an easy version in G minor — here's why the groove sticks …
The Ecstasy of Gold on One Guitar: Metallica's Intro, Minus the 20,000 People and the Pyro
Morricone's Ecstasy of Gold — the tune Metallica opens every show with — on one solo fingerstyle guitar, melody and harmony in a single part …
The Tears of the Kingdom Theme on Guitar: The Melody That Only Makes Sense When You Play It Backwards
The Tears of the Kingdom theme on guitar, forwards and backwards — because it is secretly the classic Zelda theme in reverse …
Diminished Triads That Refuse to Sit Still: Voice Leading Through the Circle of Fourths
Diminished triads walking through the circle of fourths on the D, A and E strings, connected with smooth voice leading …
Cowboys From Hell: The Riff That Struts Into the Room and Kicks Over Your Amp
Pantera's Cowboys From Hell riff struts in on the low E — all syncopated swagger and Dimebag attitude. Here's how the groove actually works …
The Margy Song on Solo Guitar: Doug Heffernan Wrote a Jingle, and Now It's a Real Fingerstyle Piece
Doug Heffernan's throwaway jingle from King of Queens, rebuilt as a proper chord-melody fingerstyle piece for solo guitar …
A Seven-Second Sweep Picking Exercise That Fires One Note Per String and All of Your Excuses
A seven-second sweep picking exercise inspired by Dream Theater's Metropolis — arpeggios, one note per string, one honest lesson …
Diminished Triads That Slide Through the Circle of Fourths While Your Fingers Barely Move
Diminished triads sliding through the circle of fourths on the G, D and A strings — a tiny exercise in very smooth voice leading …
I Wanna Rock on Guitar: The Riff That Legally Obligates You to Pump Your Fist
The intro and main riff of Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock" on guitar — power chords, palm muting and enough swagger to tease your hair …
Rock Lobster on One Guitar: A B-52's Surf-Punk Classic Squeezed Into a Single Fingerstyle Part
The B-52's surf-punk classic folded into one fingerstyle MelodyChords part — melody, chords and that riff, all from a single guitar …
Sixteenths vs Triplets: The Ten-Second Rhythm Gear-Change That Grinds Your Picking Hand
Ten seconds of switching between 16th notes and triplets — the little rhythm gear-change that trips up so many players. Keep the beat, change the density …
Diminished Triads That Voice-Lead So Smoothly Your Neighbours Think You Finally Learned to Play Nicely
Diminished triads gliding through the circle of fourths on the B, G and D strings — smooth voice leading, one nervous little chord at a time …
Fingerpicking, Palm Mutes and Plucking Walk Into a Riff: Your Right Hand Is Not Ready
Fingerpicking, palm mutes and plucking crammed into one tiny riff to train your right hand's texture and dynamics …
Stone Cold on One Guitar: Belting Out a Demi Lovato Power Ballad With Nobody in the Band
Demi Lovato's "Stone Cold" as a solo fingerstyle chord-melody — vocal line and chords in one guitar part, no band, no piano, no mercy …
Switching Between 16th Notes and Triplets: The Rhythm Exercise That Quietly Rearranges Your Brain
Four notes per beat, then three. This 12-second drill isolates the switch between 16th notes and triplets and exposes your timing …
Diminished Triads: The Spooky Little Chords That Creep Up Your Top Three Strings
Play diminished triads on guitar and voice-lead them smoothly through the circle of fourths on the top three strings …
Message In A Bottle: One add9 Shape, Slid Around Until Andy Summers Nods Approvingly
The Police's Message In A Bottle intro is one add9 shape slid around C# minor — here's the jangly riff decoded fret by fret …
All Good Things (Come to an End) on Solo Guitar: One Instrument Doing the Job of Nelly, Timbaland, and a String Section
Nelly Furtado's wistful hit as a solo fingerstyle chord-melody piece — melody and chords on one guitar, plus how to arrange it yourself …
The 8-Second Speed Burst That Tricks Your Hand Into Playing Faster
Eight seconds of slow notes with sudden fast bursts, the sneaky trick that builds real picking speed without the panic sweat …
Minor Triads That Voice-Lead Around the Circle of Fourths Without Your Hand Ever Leaving the Sofa
Minor triads walked through the circle of fourths on the low D, A and E strings, with each voice taking the shortest route …
Opeth's Deliverance Intro: The Tritone Riff That Sounds Like the Ground Opening Up Beneath You
The tritone intro to Opeth's Deliverance: the devil's interval, a whole step down, and why it sounds so gloriously wrong …
Can't Help Falling In Love on Solo Guitar: Melody and Chords in One Very Emotionally Manipulative Package
Elvis' most wedding-proof ballad as a solo fingerstyle chord melody: melody and chords on one guitar, in the friendly key of C …
The Final Countdown on Guitar: The Synth Fanfare That's Been Opening Concerts (and Elevator Rides) Since 1986
Europe's triumphant synth fanfare, moved from keyboard to six strings — plus the theory trick that makes a minor-key riff sound this heroic …
Minor Triads Through the Circle of Fourths: Three Notes That Refuse to Jump When They Can Tiptoe
Minor triads through the circle of fourths on three strings, moving one note at a time so your chord changes finally stop lunging …
The Stand Still Intro Riff: How Rik Emmett Says More in 16 Seconds Than I Do in an Entire Solo
Sixteen seconds of tasteful blues phrasing from Rik Emmett's "Stand Still" — a masterclass in bends, vibrato and leaving space …
Run on Solo Guitar: How to Play a Snow Patrol Ballad Leona Lewis Already Cried All Over
Run by Leona Lewis (Snow Patrol) as a solo fingerstyle guitar arrangement — melody and chords woven into one very emotional part …
Slash's Anastasia Line: When a Top Hat and a Les Paul Discover Harmonic Minor
Half a minute of Slash's Anastasia lead line, and the one raised note that turns polite E minor into full neoclassical drama …
Minor Triads That Tiptoe Through the Circle of Fourths on Your Middle Three Strings
Minor triads walked through the circle of fourths on the B, G and D strings — voice leading so smooth you barely move a finger …
The Kashmir Riff: How Jimmy Page Faked a Whole Desert With Four Fingers and a Weird Tuning
Four fingers, one open tuning and a chromatic climb — how Jimmy Page faked a whole desert with the Kashmir riff in DADGAD …
Flowers on Solo Guitar: Buying Yourself Melody AND Chords, Because Hiring a Band Is Expensive
Flowers by Miley Cyrus as a solo fingerstyle MelodyChords arrangement — melody and disco-funk chords in one guitar part, in 80 seconds …
Muse's Hysteria Solo: Where B Minor Pentatonic Straps On a Fuzz Pedal and Loses Its Mind
The licks from Muse's Hysteria solo, broken down: fast, fuzz-soaked B minor pentatonic that only sounds impossible …
Minor Triad Voice Leading: How to Change Chords While Barely Moving Your Fingers
Minor triads around the circle of fourths on the top three strings — changing chords by barely moving your fingers …
Where's Beat One? The Circus Maximus Riff That Stole My Downbeat
The Circus Maximus "Sane No More" riff hides beat one in plain sight — here's how to finally find the displaced downbeat on guitar …
The Neverending Story on One Guitar: Melody and Chords Riding the Same Luck Dragon
Limahl's 80s classic on one guitar: the famous melody and the chords played at once, fingerstyle. With tabs …
The Pentatonic Bending Lick That Makes Five Notes Cry Like They Owe You Money
A short pentatonic bending lick from a ZüriWest tune, where a few expressive string bends do all the emotional heavy lifting …
Major Triads That Refuse to Jump: Voice Leading Through the Circle of Fourths
Stop teleporting up the neck. Walk major triads through the circle of fourths on three strings, moving every voice as little as humanly possible …
Octaves on Guitar: The Cheapest Way to Make a Single Note Sound Like a Wall
Write a riff, add distortion, watch your melody vanish? Double it in octaves. Here's the fat little octave riff from Killing Spree …
For The Damaged Coda on One Guitar: The Evil Morty Song That Makes You Feel Like the Villain of Your Own Life
Blonde Redhead's For The Damaged Coda — the Evil Morty song — on solo guitar, melody and chords together, with free tabs …
The Pre-Bend Lick: How to Bend a Note Nobody Heard You Play Yet
Bend the string silently, strike it, then release into the note — the sneaky pre-bend behind Slash's crying "Heaven's Door" tone …
Major Triads That Refuse to Jump: Voice-Leading Around the Circle of Fourths on the G, D and A Strings
Major triads that sneak through the circle of fourths on the G, D and A strings, moving as little as your fingers can get away with …
Alan and Cassandra on Guitar: The Sweetest Love Theme Ever Written in a Pawn Shop
Christophe Beck's Alan and Cassandra love theme from The Hangover Part III, arranged as an easy solo-guitar chord melody with free tabs …
Mission Impossible on Guitar: The Spy Theme That Counts to Five Just to Watch You Trip
The Mission Impossible theme on one guitar: Lalo Schifrin's 5/4 spy riff, melody and chords crammed onto six strings …
Major Triads That Glide Through the Circle of Fourths While Your Fingers Barely Lift Off the Strings
Major triads on the B, G and D strings, cycled through the circle of fourths with the least finger movement legally possible …
Paint It Black on Guitar: The Wednesday Riff That Sounds Evil but Is Secretly Beginner-Friendly
The easy Paint It Black riff from Wednesday, plus the one hidden note that makes it sound so gloriously sinister …
Bloody Mary on One Guitar: The Song Wednesday Addams Danced Back to Life
Lady Gaga's Bloody Mary — yes, the Wednesday dance song — as a solo MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement in A minor, tabs included …
The Pentatonic Superimposition Lick: How to Play the Same Old Box and Somehow Sound Like You Went to Berklee
Take your oldest pentatonic box, root it off the 3rd instead, and watch it spell 9, 11 and 13 like you actually studied theory …
Major Triads on the Top Three Strings: How to Make Three Little Notes Slide Around Like They Own the Place
Major triads on the top three strings, voice-led through the circle of fourths so your chords glide instead of jump …
The Painkiller Intro Riff: When Your Picking Hand Files for Hazard Pay
The Painkiller intro riff by Judas Priest: fast alternate picking, chromatic notes in E minor, and one very tired wrist. Free tabs …
Paparazzi on One Guitar: Melody, Chords, and a Restraining Order Waiting to Happen
Lady Gaga's Paparazzi as a fingerstyle guitar arrangement — one guitar plays melody and chords at once, tabs included …
The Dominant 7b5 Arpeggio: A Dominant Chord That Sold Its Fifth on eBay and Bought a Personality
Flatten the fifth of a dominant 7 chord and it splits in two: the symmetrical 7b5 arpeggio, voice-led through the circle of fourths …
Street Spirit on Guitar: The Fingerpicking Loop Radiohead Used to Quietly Hypnotise You
The hypnotic A minor fingerpicking pattern that drives Radiohead's Street Spirit — one relentless arpeggio, looped forever …
Morgen, Kinder, wird's was geben on One Guitar: A Whole Family Christmas Choir, Minus the Family Arguments
A 200-year-old German Christmas carol as fingerstyle MelodyChords: melody and chords on one guitar, so you can be the whole choir alone …
Paul Gilbert's "Olympic" Arpeggios: String-Skipping That Hurdles the Middle String For Gold
Paul Gilbert's "Olympic" arpeggios: skip the middle string, alternate-pick the shape, and steal his wide, percussive shred sound …
The Dominant 7#5 Arpeggio: The Chord That Grows a Moustache and Refuses to Resolve
Raise the fifth a half step and your polite little V chord grows a moustache. Here's the dominant 7#5 arpeggio, voice-led through the circle of fourths …
Rock You Like A Hurricane: The Riff That Legally Obligates You to Do a Windmill in Your Living Room
The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane" intro riff: E minor power chords, tight palm mutes, and swagger that lives in the gaps …
Last Christmas on One Guitar: The Song You've Been Trying to Give Away Since 1984
Wham!'s Last Christmas as a one-guitar fingerstyle arrangement — melody and chords together over four chords that never change, with free tab …
The Same Note on Different Strings: A Gloriously Useless Lick I Love Anyway
One pitch, several strings, one shimmering unison tone. A useless little lick that secretly teaches you the whole fretboard …
The Maj7b5 Arpeggio: A Major 7 Chord That Got Its Fifth Slightly Wrong (On Purpose)
The maj7b5 arpeggio is a major 7 chord with a stolen fifth — here's how to voice-lead it smoothly through the circle of fourths …
Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar: The Paul Gilbert Intro Where Your Picking Hand Skips Strings and Your Neighbours Skip Town
Paul Gilbert's Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar intro: a singable melody that quietly weaponises string skipping against your picking hand …
Snowman on One Guitar: Playing Sia's Wintry Earworm Before It Melts
Sia's Snowman arranged for solo guitar: melody and chords on one instrument, free tabs, and a thumb that will not thank you afterwards …
The Four-Finger Legato Lick: Where Your Pinky Finally Earns Its Keep
One picked note, then pure hammer-ons and pull-offs across all four fingers. A compact legato study your pinky will remember …
The Maj7#5 Arpeggio: A Major 7 Chord That Went to the Gym and Came Back With an Augmented Fifth
A major 7 chord with its fifth raised a semitone, voice-led smoothly through the circle of fourths on guitar. Bright, unsettled, deeply nerdy …
Just A Girl on Guitar: The Palm-Muted Riff That Sneered Its Way Onto Every 90s Radio Station
The palm-muted, single-note No Doubt riff that ran 90s alt-rock radio — broken down note by note, with free tab …
You Are My Sunshine on One Guitar: Melody and Chords Holding Hands So You Don't Have To Hire a Band
Melody on top, chords underneath — Johnny Cash's standard as a solo fingerstyle chord-melody, with free tab and one very busy thumb …
The Be My Wife Lick: Where Paul Gilbert Makes Your Picking Hand Do Three Jobs at Once
One hand picks, plucks and taps at once in this Paul Gilbert "Be My Wife" lick — hybrid picking meets tapping, tabs included …
7sus4 Arpeggios: The Chord That Refuses to Tell You If It's Happy or Sad
A 7sus4 has no third, so it never tells you major from minor — here's how to voice-lead twelve of them through the circle of fourths …
Island In The Sun on Guitar: Four Lazy Arpeggios That Secretly Nailed the Circle of Fourths
Weezer's Island In The Sun intro is four lazy arpeggios that quietly stroll the whole circle of fourths — here's how to play the riff on guitar …
I'll Make A Man Out Of You on One Guitar: Let's Get Down to Business (Melody AND Chords)
Disney's Mulan gym anthem on one guitar: a MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement with melody and chords stacked together, tabs included …
A Hybrid Picking Pentatonic Lick, or: How to Make Your Pick and Fingers Finally Talk to Each Other
A short hybrid picking lick built from pentatonic notes — a quick study for pick-and-fingers coordination on guitar …
The minMaj7 Arpeggio: The James Bond Chord That Can't Decide If It Loves You or Wants to Poison Your Martini
The moody minor-major 7 arpeggio, aka the James Bond chord, voice-led smoothly through the circle of fourths on guitar …
The 12 Bar Blues: Three Chords That Secretly Run the Entire Music Industry
Three chords, twelve bars, one turnaround: the easy 12 bar blues progression that props up half the songs you know, with free tabs …
Circle of Life on One Guitar: Melody and Chords in the Same Sunrise, No Baboon Required
The Lion King's Circle of Life as an easy fingerstyle arrangement — one guitar plays melody and chords together, free tabs included …
The Pentatonic String Skipping Lick: How to Make the Same Old Box Sound Like It Jumped Off a Cliff
A short string skipping pentatonic lick: jump non-adjacent strings, turn tired box shapes into wide, angular lines. Tab included …
The Diminished 7 Arpeggio: The Four-Note Shape That Refuses to Tell You Its Real Name
One symmetrical dim7 shape, voice-led through the circle of fourths — and the four-note arpeggio that's secretly only three chords …
The Seven-String Riff That Gives You a Whole Extra String Just to Feel Menacing
The seven-string riff from Atomic Symphony's Hybris intro: low B string, prog-metal weight, free tab and Guitar Pro included …
I Want It That Way on One Guitar: Melody, Chords, and Enough Nostalgia to Reactivate Your Old MSN Account
The Backstreet Boys hook on one guitar: melody and chords together, plus free tab so you can play it unaccompanied …
The String Skipping Pentatonic Lick That Makes the Same Old Box Sound Like You Went Somewhere
Same pentatonic notes, one skipped string, and your solo suddenly leaps in wide, modern intervals instead of boxy steps …
The m7b5 Arpeggio: The Half-Diminished Chord That's Two-Thirds of the Way to a Panic Attack
The m7b5 arpeggio is a minor triad with a flattened fifth and a minor seventh — the half-diminished sound that quietly runs every minor ii-V-i …
A Hybrid Picking Riff From "Nightfall" That Teaches Your Pick and Fingers to Finally Talk to Each Other
A short hybrid picking riff from Atomic Symphony's "Nightfall" — teach your pick and fingers to finally cooperate. Free tab included …
He's A Pirate on One Guitar: The Swashbuckling Theme That Makes You Feel Like You Owe Money to a Skeleton
Play the Pirates of the Caribbean theme on one guitar — melody and chords at once, in D minor, easy MelodyChords tab included …
The Sliding Open String Lick: A Shameless Sweet Child O' Mine Wannabe (and Proud of It)
The open strings ring, the fretted notes slide, and suddenly you sound like a Sweet Child O' Mine wannabe — pulled from my band's Oath Taker …
Dominant 7 Arpeggios That Refuse to Jump: Voice Leading Around the Circle of Fourths
Voice-lead dominant 7 arpeggios around the circle of fourths so shapes connect smoothly instead of jumping all over the neck …
The Love Yourself Riff: The Politest Breakup Line of 2015, Now Under Your Fingers
The Love Yourself intro riff on guitar, with two fingerings for the same melody so you can pick whichever one your hand likes …
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm on One Guitar: The 90s Hook With No Words, So I Let the Strings Hum It
The Crash Test Dummies' wordless 90s hook on solo guitar — one instrument playing melody and chords, tabs included …
The Tritone Triads Lick: How to Stack the Devil's Interval and Call It Art
The tritone got banned by the Church, so naturally I built a lick out of it — angular, unresolved and inspired by Extreme's Cupid's Dead …
Minor 7 Arpeggios That Refuse to Jump: Voice Leading Through the Whole Circle of Fourths
Four notes per chord, moved as little as possible: minor 7 arpeggios that voice-lead smoothly through the whole circle of fourths …
Mood by 24kGoldn on Guitar: The Four-Chord Loop That Moved Into Your Head Rent-Free
Two easy ways to play the Mood by 24kGoldn intro riff on guitar: strum the chords, or pick out the melody hiding on top. Tab included …
Sailing on One Guitar: Rod Stewart's Foghorn Ballad, Melody and Chords in a Single Boat
Rod Stewart's Sailing on one guitar: a fingerstyle chord melody where the tune and the chords ride the same boat. Tabs included …
Glasgow Kiss on Guitar: John Petrucci's Intro Lick, or How to Headbutt a G Major Scale Into Submission
Petrucci's Glasgow Kiss intro is a legato G major line that sings without a single hard pick attack. Here's how to make it flow …
Maj7 Arpeggios That Voice-Lead Around the Circle of Fourths While Your Top Note Sings Instead of Jumps
Melodic voice leading with major 7 arpeggios through the circle of fourths, so your top voice sings instead of jumps around …
She Hates Me, But the Guitar Riff Loves You Back
Puddle of Mudd's She Hates Me is three friendly chords wearing an angry face. Here's the intro riff, two ways, tab included …
7 Years on Solo Guitar: The Ballad That Makes You Do Math About Your Own Life
7 Years by Lukas Graham as a MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement: one guitar plays the melody and the chords at once. Tabs included …
Billy Joel's Pressure on Guitar: The Synth Riff That Yells at You Until You Practice
Billy Joel's Pressure opens with a synth riff so tense it needs its own HR department. Here it is on guitar in 15 seconds …
Seventh Intervals on Guitar: The Widest Stretch That Always Sounds Like It's About to Confess Something
The seventh: one half-step from home, endlessly dramatic, and a proper stretch to finger. Here's how to hear it and land it every time …
Sacrificed Sons on Guitar: The Dream Theater Riff Where Your Foot Politely Gives Up on Counting
The Dream Theater "Sacrificed Sons" odd-meter riff on guitar, and how to count a time signature that refuses to introduce itself …
My Way on Solo Guitar: Doing It Your Way, With Nobody Left to Blame but Your Fretting Hand
Frank Sinatra's My Way as a MelodyChords arrangement: one guitar plays the melody and the chords at once, with a descending bassline doing all the aching …
The Chromatic Circus Lick: A Dream Theater Run That Marches Your Fingers Through Every Fret Like Circus Elephants
Nine seconds of Dream Theater chromatic chaos that build finger independence and picking precision, one uncomfortable fret at a time …
Sixths on Guitar: The Warm, Sweet Interval That Makes You Sound Like Motown Hired You
Two notes, one skipped string, and your guitar suddenly sounds like Motown. Learn to play sixths and voice-lead them around the circle of fourths …
Last Christmas, But the Beat Gave Its Heart Away and Never Got It Back
Panzerballett rebars Wham's Last Christmas into a proggy odd-meter riff on guitar, and your tapping foot never stood a chance …
Make You Feel My Love on Solo Guitar: Melody and Chords in One Package So Emotionally Manipulative It Should Come With a Warning Label
Bob Dylan's ballad via Adele, arranged so one fingerstyle guitar carries the melody and the chords at once — free tabs included …
One Note, Four Fingers: The Guitar Exercise That Exposes Your Lazy Pinky
One note, one fret, all four fingers in turn. The most boring-looking exercise on the channel is secretly rebuilding your neglected pinky …
Perfect Fifths on Guitar: The Interval That Powers Every Power Chord (and Flatly Refuses to Sound Sad)
Perfect fifths are the backbone of every power chord. Here's a melodic voice-leading exercise that walks them through the circle of fourths …
Down With The Sickness on Guitar: One Finger, One Low String, and Enough Chug to Legally Concern the Neighbours
The Disturbed nu-metal riff, decoded: drop tuning, one-finger power chords and a palm-muted chug that hits like a truck …
Amazing Grace on One Guitar: The 250-Year-Old Hymn That Somehow Fits on Six Strings
The 250-year-old hymn squeezed onto six strings: melody and chords on one solo guitar, with free tab to steal …
The Octave Displacement Tapping Lick: How Bumblefoot Makes a Simple Line Leap Around Like It Skipped a Step on the Stairs
Same notes, half of them thrown up an octave and tapped — Bumblefoot's angular octave displacement lick that makes a scale sound like it fell downstairs …
Fourths on Guitar: May the Fourths Be With You (Yes, That's the Whole Joke)
Your low strings are already tuned in fourths — so here's the exercise that turns that hidden pattern into a smooth, modern melody …
Kickapoo on Guitar: The Rock Opera That Needs Three Riffs, Two Guest Stars, and One Destiny
The epic Pick of Destiny opener on guitar — acoustic strumming, big power chords, and the transitions that hold the whole saga together …
The Tetris Theme on One Guitar: Stacking Melody and Chords Until Everything Fits
The Tetris theme (Korobeiniki) on solo guitar: melody and chords in one MelodyChords part, plus free tab and the harmonic-minor trick behind it …
To Be With You: The Solo Where a Shred God Chooses to Just Be Tasteful
The fastest picker alive plays his slowest solo. Here's Paul Gilbert's singing To Be With You lead, and why every single bend lands …
Thirds on Guitar: The Two-Note Interval That Secretly Holds Up Every Song You Love
The little two-note interval that decides whether every chord is happy or sad — moved smoothly around the circle of fourths …
House of the Rising Sun: The Rolling 6/8 Arpeggio Every Guitarist Fakes at the Campfire
The rolling 6/8 arpeggio from The Animals, chord by chord — the intro riff every guitarist secretly fakes at the campfire …
The Animal Crossing Main Theme on One Guitar: Melody and Chords From a Town That Runs Entirely on Debt
One guitar plays the melody AND the jazzy chords of the Animal Crossing main theme — a cozy MelodyChords arrangement with free tab …
The Dave Kikoski Outside Lick: How to Play the Wrong Notes on Purpose and Still Get Applauded
Dave Kikoski's outside lick over "Compared to What," adapted for guitar — how deliberately wrong notes side-slip back into something hip …
Melodic Voice Leading With Seconds: The Interval Exercise Where Nobody Is Allowed to Jump
Exercise #1: seconds as melodic voice-leading intervals crawling through the circle of fourths, one tiny step at a time …
YYZ on Guitar: The Riff That Spells an Airport in Morse Code Using the Devil's Favourite Interval
Rush spelled an airport code in Morse and built YYZ on a single tritone. Here's the 10/8 intro riff on guitar, tab included …
Happy Birthday in Minor: The Guitar Arrangement for Everyone Over Eighteen
Happy Birthday, but in a minor key — a fingerstyle chord-melody arrangement for everyone who stopped enjoying birthdays at nineteen …
Buckethead's "Jordan" Lick: Where the Devil's Interval Gets a Pick AND a Finger
A tritone hybrid picking lick from Buckethead's Jordan: pick the low note, pluck the high one, and make the devil's interval sing …
Space Oddity on Guitar: The Strumming Riff That Makes You Sound Like You're Having a Crisis in Orbit
Two chords, one loose wrist, and Bowie's whole drifting-in-orbit mood — here's the Space Oddity strumming riff, demystified …
abcdefu on One Guitar: The Pettiest Breakup Anthem, Now With the Melody AND the Chords
GAYLE's abcdefu on one guitar, melody and chords at once — a MelodyChords arrangement with free tabs, no band and full petty breakup energy …
The Whole Tone Shred Lick: Six Notes That Forgot How Gravity Works
Six notes, all a whole step apart, no gravity in sight — a fiery whole tone shred lick built from sweep picking, alternate picking and legato …
House of Memories on One Guitar: Melody and Chords Sharing the Same Haunted House
Panic! At The Disco's House of Memories as a MelodyChords arrangement — tune and chords on one guitar, no band, no synth …
Welcome To Bucketheadland on Guitar: The Creepy Carnival Riff From a Man in a KFC Bucket
Buckethead's theatrical carnival opener on guitar — the creepy phrasing, the note choice, and why space beats speed here …
Faded on One Guitar: Alan Walker's EDM Anthem, Now Playing the Melody and the Chords at the Same Time (Sorry, DJ)
Alan Walker's Faded on one guitar — the MelodyChords trick where a single fingerstyle part plays the melody and the chords all at once …
The Justin Lee Schultz Outside Lick, or: How to Play the "Wrong" Notes on Purpose and Get Applauded for It
A Justin Lee Schultz-inspired outside lick: upper-structure triads and chromatic superimposition, tension and release …
Paranoid on Guitar: The Riff Black Sabbath Wrote in 20 Minutes and Accidentally Invented Metal
The Paranoid intro riff is three notes, a fistful of palm mutes, and the exact moment heavy metal figured out what it wanted to be …
Just Give Me A Reason on One Guitar: Melody and Chords Having a Duet Without a Second Person
Pink's duet on one guitar: a MelodyChords arrangement where the tune and the chords share the same six strings, no band needed …
The C Lydian Open String Lick, or: How Six Lazy Open Strings Accidentally Nail That Raised-Fourth Sparkle
C Lydian on guitar, where six ringing open strings quietly nail the raised-fourth sparkle and one F# takes all the credit …
Vivaldi's Summer on Guitar: The Baroque Storm Riff, Now With Extra Wrong Notes
Vivaldi wrote Summer as a thunderstorm in sixteenth notes; I reworked it into a chromatic guitar riff and smuggled the wrong notes in on purpose …
Hey Jude on One Guitar: Melody, Chords, and a Na-Na-Na Outro That Legally Cannot End
The Beatles classic as a solo MelodyChords arrangement — melody, chords, and the theory behind that endless na-na-na coda …
Toccata and Fugue on Guitar: Bach Wrote the Original Horror Movie Riff, So I Turned It Into a Picking Workout
Bach's Toccata and Fugue, reworked into a neoclassical alternate picking and string skipping lick for guitar. Villainous by design …
Whole Lotta Love: The Riff That Kicks Your Speakers Down Whether You Asked It To or Not
Jimmy Page needed barely four notes to write rock's most recognisable hook. Here's the Whole Lotta Love intro riff on guitar …
Hotel California on One Guitar: You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, but Your Fretting Hand Can Never Leave
The Eagles' Hotel California as a solo guitar chord-melody: melody and chords at once, transposed to Am so one pair of hands can do it all …
The Hybrid Picking Octave Lick: Where Your Pick and Middle Finger Finally Carpool
A Guthrie Govan-style hybrid picking octave lick, where your pick and middle finger finally learn to carpool between octave shapes …
The Joker on Guitar: The Space-Cowboy Riff That's 90% Attitude and 10% Notes
The laid-back F major intro riff to The Joker by the Steve Miller Band — four notes, one slide, and the pocket that makes it swagger …
The Godfather Theme on One Guitar: An Offer Your Fretting Hand Can't Refuse
Nino Rota's Godfather theme on solo guitar: melody and chords in one MelodyChords arrangement, plus the harmonic-minor trick behind that sound …
The Hotel California Outro Solo: The Most Famous Harmonized Goodbye in Rock, and It's Just Triads Holding Hands
Rock's most famous harmonized ending, decoded: the Hotel California outro solo is basically triads sliding around in B minor …
Opeth's Deliverance Ending Riff: The Outro That Steals Beat One and Hypnotises You Into Forgetting Where It Went
The Opeth Deliverance ending riff looks simple until the drums prove beat one is nowhere near where your ear swears it is …
Astor's Birthday Party on Guitar: The Creepiest Kids' Party Music Ever Scored by a Serial Killer's Composer
Daniel Licht's eerie Dexter cue as a MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement — melody and chords for one very ominous solo guitar …
The Free Bird Polymeter Lick: How to Loop One Phrase Until the Beat Gets Dizzy
A repeating three-note phrase from the Free Bird solo that drifts against the beat — steal this polymeter lick for your own guitar solos …
Fly Away on Guitar: The Fuzzy Power-Chord Riff That Refuses to Leave the Planet Without You
Lenny Kravitz's Fly Away riff is three pentatonic power chords, one fuzz pedal, and enough groove to leave the planet …
Missing The Miracle on One Guitar: The Alanis Deep Cut Nobody Requests, Now Playing Melody AND Chords at Once
Alanis Morissette's quiet deep cut, arranged for one guitar — melody and chords together, no band required, tab PDF included …
Muse's Madness Solo: A Whole Vending Machine of Licks Worth Stealing
Matt Bellamy's Madness solo is a buffet of melodic licks and weepy bends — here's exactly which ones are worth stealing …
The Don't Fear The Reaper Riff: Four Chords, One Cowbell, and Zero Reasons to Panic
The legendary Blue Öyster Cult intro riff decoded: it's just Am, G and F picked one note at a time. Tab, lesson, cowbell optional …
Warriors on One Guitar: The League of Legends Anthem, Now Fought With Six Strings and No Backup
Warriors by Imagine Dragons as a solo guitar MelodyChords arrangement — the League of Legends anthem, melody and chords in one …
Wanted Dead or Alive on Guitar: The Cowboy Ballad Intro That's 90% Twelve-String Shimmer and 100% Steel Horse
Bon Jovi's biggest cowboy ballad opens with a shimmering 12-string arpeggio in D minor — here's how the intro lick actually works …
Smooth Criminal on Guitar: The Riff So Menacing It Doesn't Even Need a Fedora
Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal riff, cranked up a notch: the tense A-minor groove, tight palm mutes, and why the rhythm does all the work …
Jingle Bells on One Guitar: The Last Christmas Tune of the Year, With the Melody AND the Chords Bolted Together
Jingle Bells on solo guitar with the melody and chords at once — a short chord-melody fingerstyle arrangement, and my last Christmas tune of the year …
The Weird Spread-Fingers Exercise That Turns Your Fretting Hand Into a Reluctant Spider
One string, four fingers, one very wide spread. The weird guitar exercise that builds reach and finally puts your lazy pinky to work …
Can't Stop on Guitar: Frusciante's Riff Is 50% Notes and 50% Aggressive Muting
The Can't Stop intro riff is only six notes, but the funk lives in the muted ghost notes you don't actually play …
We Wish You A Merry Christmas on One Guitar: The Carol That Won't Leave Until You Cough Up the Figgy Pudding
The carol that threatens you for figgy pudding, now as a MelodyChords arrangement — melody and chords on one guitar in 3/4 …
The Super Mario Underground Theme on Guitar: Descending Into the Pipe, One Chromatic Step at a Time
Koji Kondo's Super Mario underground theme on guitar: the descending chromatic lick that made falling down a pipe sound joyful …
Blur's Song 2 on Guitar: Two Power Chords, One "Woo-Hoo," and the Entire '90s in Under Two Minutes
Two power chords, one giant "woo-hoo," and the loud-quiet-loud trick behind Blur's Song 2 riff …
What's Up on One Guitar: The Three-Chord Scream-Along That Never Actually Asks What's Up
One guitar, three chords, one giant scream: What's Up by 4 Non Blondes as a MelodyChords arrangement that fuses melody and chords …
The Johnny B Goode Intro Lick: The Ten Seconds That Taught Rock Guitar How to Walk
The double-stop lick that quietly invented rock and roll guitar, decoded note by note — with a free tab …
Blur's "Song 2" on Guitar: Two Minutes, One Riff, and Enough "Woo-Hoo" to Get You Evicted
The loud intro riff to Blur's Song 2 — fuzzy power chords, downstrokes and one very shoutable woo-hoo, learnable in minutes …
Sofia on One Guitar: Melody, Chords, and Enough Spanish-Pop Sunshine to Cause a Vitamin D Overdose
Play Alvaro Soler's Sofia on one guitar: a fingerstyle MelodyChords arrangement with the melody and chords of the sunny pop hit together …
A Paul Gilbert Style Shred Lick, or: How to Make Your Picking Hand Sweat in 26 Seconds Flat
A 26-second shred lick in the style of Paul Gilbert: fast, precise alternate picking and sixes that turn your wrist into a machine …
Crazy Train on Guitar: The Intro Riff Ozzy Rode All the Way Off the Rails
The Crazy Train intro riff, cleanly explained: F# minor, an A-major secret, and enough gallop chug to summon a train …
Behind Blue Eyes on One Guitar: The Sad-Boy Anthem The Who Wrote and Limp Bizkit Ugly-Cried Over
Behind Blue Eyes as a fingerstyle MelodyChords arrangement — The Who's sad-boy classic (yes, the Limp Bizkit one) on one lonely guitar …
Two-Hand Tapping for Beginners: The Easy Lick That Makes You Sound Like Van Halen Before You've Earned It
Tapping looks like guitar witchcraft, but this easy two-hand lick gets you tapping in minutes — no shredding license, no smoke machine required …
Groupings of Five: The Rhythm Exercise Where Your Foot and Your Fingers Officially Stop Speaking
A five-note cell looped over a 4/4 pulse until beat one packs its bags — the grouping-of-five rhythm exercise that outsmarts your foot …
I Remember My Name on One Guitar: The Squid Game Theme That Makes You Cry Without Losing a Single Marble
The haunting Squid Game theme as a MelodyChords arrangement: melody and chords on one solo guitar, no second player required …
Black Velvet on Guitar: The Sultry Intro Licks That Make Five Notes Sound Like a Slow Wink
The smoky intro licks to Alannah Myles' Black Velvet — pure E minor pentatonic, all sultry timing and lazy, unhurried bends …
Carry On Wayward Son on Guitar: The Prog-Rock Riff That Sounds Way Harder Than It Actually Is
The driving A-minor riff from Kansas' 70s anthem, minus the four-part harmonies you can't sing alone. Fourteen tidy seconds of prog …
Cover Me In Sunshine on One Guitar: Melody and Chords in the Same Sunbeam, No Band Required
Pink's sunniest duet on one guitar: melody on top, chords underneath, thumb on bass — a MelodyChords arrangement with free tab and PDF …
Muse's New Born, Reverse-Engineered Into a Sweep Picking Exercise (With Open Strings Doing Half the Work)
Muse's New Born, reverse-engineered into a sweep picking exercise where lazy open strings quietly do half the work for your fretting hand …
Muse's Psycho on Guitar: The Snarling Fuzz Riff That's Basically the Blues Wearing a Balaclava
Muse's Psycho is E minor pentatonic wearing a balaclava: one low string, a flat-5 blue note, and enough palm-muted fuzz to worry the neighbours …
Take Me Home, Country Roads on One Guitar: Melody and Chords for the Song Legally Required at Every Campfire
John Denver's Country Roads as a solo-guitar chord melody: melody and chords together, powered by the four chords of every singalong …
The Open String Lick: When Ringing Open Strings Turn One Guitar Solo Into a Waterfall
Six ringing open strings, one Atomic Symphony solo, and a cascade that sounds twice as hard as it actually is — here is the open string lick …
Fortunate Son on Guitar: The Riff You're Lucky Is This Easy
The Fortunate Son intro riff broken down: four notes, palm-muted downstrokes, and the swampiest hook in classic rock, isolated so you can nail it …
Bella Ciao on One Guitar: The Partisan Anthem a Netflix Heist Turned Into an Earworm
Bella Ciao on one guitar: the Money Heist folk anthem as a fingerstyle MelodyChords arrangement in A minor, melody and chords together …
The Two-Finger Tapping Lick: Where Your Right Hand Grows a Second Fretting Finger and Immediately Regrets It
A short two-finger tapping lick from Atomic Symphony's Nightfall solo — real music, twice the tapping fingers, twice the trouble …
Zitti e Buoni on Guitar: The Eurovision Winner That Told Everyone to Shut Up, Then Cranked the Distortion
The palm-muted power-chord riff that won Eurovision 2021 for Måneskin — furious to hear, secretly kind to your beginner fingers …
Right Round on One Guitar: The Hangover Banger That Somehow Fits the Melody AND the Chords on Six Strings
A dance-pop earworm from The Hangover, rebuilt as a solo guitar chord melody where one instrument plays the tune and the chords at once …
The Vietcong Hendrix Lick, or: How to Sound Like Jimi Without Setting Your Guitar on Fire
A 27-second Jimi Hendrix style blues lick built on double stops, hammer-ons and that sneaky major third that makes it sing …
Symphony X's "Nevermore" Riff: The Diminished Sound That Makes Every Chord Feel Like the Villain Just Walked In
Michael Romeo's Nevermore riff on guitar: stacked minor thirds, the octatonic scale, and why diminished harmony always sounds like the villain arrived …
A Thousand Years on One Guitar: The Wedding Song That's Been Waiting For You (in 6/8, No Less)
Christina Perri's A Thousand Years on one guitar — melody and chords at once, in gentle 6/8, with a free PDF and tab …
Blues Lick Number Two: The Little Line That Opens or Closes a Blues Without Asking Permission
A short, ready-to-use blues lick in C that works as a confident solo opener or a tidy closer, tab included …
Sultans of Swing on Guitar: The Riffs Mark Knopfler Plays With No Pick, No Mercy, and Somehow No Effort
The signature Sultans of Swing riffs in one clip — how Knopfler's pick-less fingerstyle works in plain D minor …
The Super Mario Odyssey Lullaby on One Guitar: Melody and Chords From a Plumber's Softest Moment
The tender Super Mario Odyssey lullaby from Fossil Falls, arranged as solo-guitar MelodyChords — melody and chords in one …
A Little Pentatonic Lick, or: How Five Notes Do the Work of a Whole Music Degree
A short, grab-and-go pentatonic lick built on the minor pentatonic scale — easy lead vocabulary for your next guitar solo …
Come As You Are on Guitar: The Watery Riff That's 90% Chorus Pedal and Two Very Lazy Strings
The Come As You Are riff barely leaves your two lowest strings — the famous watery sound is a chorus pedal, not a secret technique …
The Darker Side Lullaby on One Guitar: Super Mario Odyssey's Softest Theme, Now With the Melody AND the Chords Tucked Into the Same Six Strings
Super Mario Odyssey's Fossil Falls lullaby on solo guitar: melody and chords tucked into one gentle MelodyChords arrangement …
The Nothing Else Matters Lick: How Metallica's Softest Riff Sneaks Onto Your Fretboard Between Two Open Strings
The melodic E minor lick from Metallica's most beloved ballad — free tab, ringing open strings, and one very tasty hammer-on …
Killing In The Name on Guitar: The Riff That's 90% Attitude and 10% Actually Playing the Notes on Time
Five notes, one filthy groove: the Killing In The Name riff is easy to fret and brutally hard to place in time. Here's how to make it swagger …
Wellerman on One Guitar: The Sea Shanty That Boarded Your Brain in 2021 and Never Left
The viral sea shanty on one guitar: melody and chords together in D minor, no bearded crew required to sing the chorus …
Paganini Caprice 24 on Guitar: Stealing the Devil's Favourite Violin Lick, One String at a Time
The legendary violin theme lands on guitar: Paganini's Caprice 24 in A minor, with its harmonic minor tension broken down note by note …
Enter Sandman on Guitar: The Riff That Tucks You In and Then Kicks the Door Down
Metallica's Enter Sandman riff is a pedal tone on the low E, a pinch of pentatonic, and enough palm-mute menace to wake the whole street …
Horn of Plenty on One Guitar: The Hunger Games Anthem That Sounds Like the Government Is Watching (Because It Is)
Horn of Plenty from The Hunger Games as a solo-guitar MelodyChords arrangement — the tune and the chords on one instrument, no orchestra …
The Tritone Lick: How to Summon the Devil's Interval Without Losing Your Deposit
The tritone — the Devil's interval medieval monks feared — becomes a tense little lead phrase built on that unstable diminished fifth …
Do I Wanna Know? on Guitar: The Riff That's 10% Notes and 90% Not Rushing
Arctic Monkeys' Do I Wanna Know riff is dead simple on paper — G minor pentatonic. The hard part is the swagger. Here's how to actually groove it …
Shotgun on One Guitar: The Feel-Good Hit Where the Melody and the Chords Have to Share the Passenger Seat
George Ezra's Shotgun on one guitar: a MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement that stacks the melody and chords of the sunniest four-chord pop hit …
The Halloween Theme as a Two-Hand Tapping Lick: Michael Myers Comes for Your Fretting Hand
John Carpenter's Halloween theme, rebuilt as a two-hand tapping lick in 5/4 — spooky melody, sweaty fretting hand, and a genuinely useful tapping workout …
Nightfall's Intro Riff: The Mood-Setter That Makes Six Strings Feel Like the Sun Just Gave Up
The opening figure of Atomic Symphony's Nightfall, stripped to 49 seconds so you can hear the phrasing and steal the mood …
The Magic Key on One Guitar: The 2003 Earworm That Unlocked Your Brain and Never Gave the Key Back
The Magic Key by One-T on solo guitar: melody and chords in one MelodyChords arrangement of the 2003 Eurodance earworm …
The Dorian Blues Lick: How One Cheeky Natural 6th Sneaks Your Blues Into a Jazz Club
Blend the Dorian mode into your blues and one natural 6th turns the same old pentatonic box into something smoother and jazzier …
Highway To Hell: The Riff That Proves Three Chords and an Attitude Beat a Music Degree
Three chords, a sneaky bVII, and a whole lot of swagger: how to play the Highway To Hell intro riff by AC/DC on guitar …
Boulevard of Broken Dreams on One Guitar: Walking the Empty Road Alone, Which Is Exactly How Green Day Wanted It
Green Day's loneliest hit as a fingerstyle chord-melody: melody and chords on one guitar, plus the F minor twist behind the loop …
The Economy Picking Lick: How Bach Accidentally Wrote the Laziest Way to Play Fast
Economy picking is alternate picking that skips leg day — and Bach's BWV 1054 is the perfect line to teach your pick to fall through …
Symphony of Destruction: The Marching Riff That Makes One Guitarist Sound Like an Approaching Army
Megadeth's marching main riff, isolated: the palm-muted E minor chug and power chords that make one guitar sound like an army …
Nights in White Satin on One Guitar: The Moody Blues Weepie, Melody and Chords Bolted to the Same Six Strings
A MelodyChords take on the Moody Blues classic — melody and chords on one guitar in E minor, no mellotron required …
Sweet Child O' Mine: The Warm-Up Doodle That Accidentally Became the Greatest Intro in Rock
The legendary Sweet Child O' Mine intro is a string-skipping warm-up that got famous — here's the note-by-note analysis of why it works …
The Hells Bells Intro: How AC/DC Made Six Slow Notes Scarier Than a Two-Ton Bell
The tolling AC/DC intro where six slow, ringing notes do the work of a two-ton bell — here's how the Hells Bells riff sits on the fretboard …
Life in Technicolor ii on One Guitar: The Coldplay Sunbeam With Melody AND Chords Bolted On
Coldplay's most relentlessly uplifting song on one guitar — melody and chords at the same time, no Chris Martin required …
The Highway Star Bending Lick: How to Make One String Cry in Tune (After the Other One Snapped)
A Deep Purple Highway Star bending lick, plus the one ear trick that keeps your string bends from landing flat and sad …
Seven Nation Army on Guitar: Seven Notes, One String, and an Entire Stadium Singing Back at You
Seven Nation Army is seven notes on one string, yet an entire stadium knows it by heart. Here's the riff, why it hooks, and how to nail it …
Afterglow on One Guitar: Ed Sheeran's Warmest Song, Now With the Melody and the Chords Sharing One Sofa
Ed Sheeran's Afterglow on solo guitar — melody and chords fingerpicked into one warm, cosy MelodyChords arrangement, free PDF included …
Arpeggios From Hell on Guitar: Yngwie's Sweep-Picking Boss Fight, and Yes, Your Pick Hand Loses
Yngwie Malmsteen's Arpeggios From Hell, broken down: the sweep-picking run where your fretting hand does all the suffering …
Born to Be Wild on Guitar: The Riff That Legally Requires a Motorcycle You Don't Own
Steppenwolf's road anthem broken down: a handful of E-based power chords, one open string, and enough swagger to fake a motorcycle …
A Lydian Backing Track: Five Minutes to Fall in Love With the Raised Fourth (and Quietly Annoy Every Ionian Purist)
Nearly five minutes of A Lydian to jam over, so you can chase that raised-fourth sparkle instead of sliding back into plain old A major …
Chasing Cars on One Guitar: Just Lie Here and Forget the Whole Band Exists
Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars, arranged so one guitar plays the tune and the chords at once — no band, no backing, all the feelings …
The E Phrygian Dominant Backing Track: 4:20 of Jam Bed for Sounding Like a Flamenco Villain in a Sandstorm
A free E Phrygian Dominant backing track (HM5) — 4:20 of jam bed for that exotic Spanish, flamenco and metal soloing sound …
The Eruption Intro Lick: Six Strings, Zero Chill, and the Ten Seconds That Rewired Rock Guitar
The fast pull-off flurry that opens Van Halen's Eruption, slowed down into a legato exercise your fingers can actually follow …
Dance of Death: Iron Maiden's Galloping Ode to the Fact That Everybody, Eventually, Gets a Turn
Iron Maiden's Dance of Death main riff: the galloping, harmonic-minor line that turns a medieval danse macabre into pure metal joy …
A Dorian Backing Track: Am to D, Two Bars Each, and One Sneaky Note That Does All the Work
Two chords, Am and D, two bars each, twelve minutes of A Dorian — and the one F# that makes the whole mode sing …
An A Dorian Backing Track: 12 Minutes of Am to D to Finally Find That One Cheeky F#
A free 12-minute A Dorian backing track looping Am to D7(9) — plenty of room to hunt down that one cheeky F# …
Happy Birthday on One Guitar: Melody and Chords in Two Keys, So You Can Ambush the Birthday Kid Completely Solo
Happy Birthday as a solo guitar chord melody — melody and chords in one part, played in C major and then transposed to Ab major …
The String Skipping Lick That Makes Bach Hurdle Your Middle Strings
Bach never skipped a string on purpose. Paul Gilbert did — and turned his Prelude in G into a wide-interval picking workout …
Walk This Way on Guitar: Aerosmith's Funkiest Riff Is 90% Ghost Notes and 100% Swagger
Aerosmith's Walk This Way riff is a masterclass in funk swagger — steady sixteenths, sneaky ghost notes, and a groove that struts …
The Money Heist Theme on One Guitar: Melody and Chords Pulling Off the Same Job at Once (No Red Jumpsuits Required)
The Money Heist theme on solo guitar: a MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement weaving melody and chords into one very sneaky part …
The Chromatic Alternate Picking Lick That Turns Your Right Hand Into an Overworked Metronome
Lick #12: a chromatic alternate picking lick built to sharpen your right hand and expose every string crossing you've been faking …
Master of Puppets: The Riff That Turns Your Picking Hand Into a Jackhammer (and Your Forearm Into Soup)
The Master of Puppets intro riff, one downstroke at a time: how Hetfield's relentless down-picking works, and the tempo to chase …
Hurt on One Guitar: The Saddest Song You Can Ruin a Party With, Now With the Melody AND the Chords
The saddest three chords in music, now with the melody bolted on top — Hurt as a solo-guitar MelodyChords arrangement you can play all alone …
The Phrygian Dominant Scale: Seven Notes That Make You Sound Like a Flamenco Villain
The Phrygian dominant scale is the fifth mode of harmonic minor — the exotic, flamenco-meets-metal sound packed into one short, sneaky lick …
Write a Guitar Solo Over Two Chords: Fewer Chords, Nowhere to Hide
Two chords, no changes to hide behind, and a whole solo to build anyway. A tiny challenge on turning minimal harmony into real melody …
My Sharona on Guitar: The Riff That's 90% Rest and 100% Earworm
The Knack's My Sharona riff is a masterclass in silence: the rests hit harder than the notes, and your picking hand has to learn to shut up on cue …
Numb on One Guitar: The Nu-Metal Anthem That Folds the Melody and the Chords Into a Single, Very Emo Part
Linkin Park's Numb, folded into one solo guitar part — melody on top, chords underneath, and every ounce of that 2003 angst intact …
String Bending Licks: Where Your Guitar Finally Learns to Cry (In Tune, Ideally)
Lick #10: a 39-second set of string bending licks that teaches your fingers to land the note in tune, not just nearby …
Smells Like Teen Spirit: Four Power Chords That Accidentally Ended the '80s
Four power chords — F5, B♭5, A♭5, D♭5 — that ended the '80s, plus the quiet-loud trick that actually sells the Nirvana riff …
Silent Night on One Guitar: Melody and Chords Sharing the Same Silent, Holy Night
Silent Night as a fingerstyle MelodyChords solo — melody and chords in one gentle 6/8 part, with a free PDF and a very sleepy fretting hand …
O Christmas Tree on One Guitar: The Carol Whose Leaves Are Loyal, Whose Chords Are Sneaky, and Whose Melody Refuses to Sit Still
O Christmas Tree on solo guitar: melody and chords woven together in one festive MelodyChords arrangement, free PDF included …
Leise Rieselt der Schnee on One Guitar: The Snowiest Carol, Melody and Chords Falling Together
A MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement of the German Christmas carol Leise Rieselt der Schnee: melody and chords on one solo guitar …
A Short Blues Lick to Steal, Because Six Good Notes Beat a Hundred Fast Ones
Lick #9: a short blues line that proves phrasing beats speed. Steal the notes, the bends and the timing for your own solos …
Sweet Home Alabama on Guitar: Three Chords, One Immortal Riff, and Zero Reasons to Ever Learn a Fourth Chord
The immortal D–C–G intro riff from Lynyrd Skynyrd, decoded: three chords, a couple of cheeky pentatonic fills, and pure Southern rock …
Time on One Guitar: The Pink Floyd Classic That Reminds You You're Older, One Fret at a Time
Pink Floyd's Time on one guitar: a MelodyChords fingerstyle arrangement in F# minor that merges the melody and chords into a single part …
How to Play the Thunderstruck Intro Lick (Without Your Forearm Filing for Divorce)
AC/DC's Thunderstruck intro is one string, one ringing open note, and a fretting hand doing all the heavy lifting. Here's how the lick works …
You Shook Me All Night Long: The Riff That's 90% Groove, 10% Notes, and 100% Reason to Air-Guitar
AC/DC's feel-good classic runs on just G, C and D — but the real magic is the space Malcolm Young leaves between the chords …
Shape Of You on One Guitar: Ed Sheeran's Streaming Juggernaut, Melody and Chords Bolted to Six Strings
Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You, squeezed onto one guitar — melody on top, chords underneath, and the four-chord minor loop running the whole thing …
The Technical Difficulties Lick: Racer X's Bucket-List Shred That Politely Sets Your Picking Hand on Fire
Racer X's Technical Difficulties shred lick, decoded: alternate picking, string skipping, and one honest tip to get it up to speed …
The Constant Motion Riff: Where Dream Theater Puts Your Picking Hand on a Treadmill and Removes the Off Switch
Riff #7 from Dream Theater's Constant Motion: the palm-muted alternate-picking workout that keeps your hand moving whether it likes it or not …
Perfect on One Guitar: Melody and Chords for the Wedding Song That Legally Owns Your First Dance
Ed Sheeran's Perfect as a MelodyChords arrangement — melody and chords on one guitar, in rolling 6/8, with a free PDF …
The Am7 Tapping Lick: How to Make One Little Arpeggio Cascade Down the Neck Like It Fell Off a Ladder
A compact two-hand tapping lick that spells an Am7 arpeggio up the whole neck for that fluid, cascading shred sound …
Dream Theater's Strange Deja Vu Interlude Riff: Where Beat One Goes to Hide
Riff #6 from Dream Theater's Strange Deja Vu: the syncopated interlude that sounds terrifying until you stop feeling it and start counting …
My Heart Will Go On on One Guitar: The Titanic Theme That Refuses to Sink, No Matter How Full Your Fretboard Gets
My Heart Will Go On as a solo guitar MelodyChords arrangement — the whole Titanic theme, melody and chords, minus the iceberg …
The Alternate Picking Lick That Audits Your Right Hand for Sloppiness
Lick #5: a short alternate picking exercise for clean, even down-up strokes — where sloppy string changes go to get caught …
Haken's "Prosthetic": The Riff That Bolts Extra Limbs Onto Your Fretting Hand
Riff #5 from Haken's "Prosthetic": a downtuned, palm-muted prog-metal riff where steady chugs land off the beat and your foot quietly gives up …
Purple Rain on One Guitar: The Ballad That Makes You Cry, Now Playable Without Prince, a Band, or the Rain
Prince's Purple Rain on one guitar: melody and chords together in a fingerstyle MelodyChords arrangement, with PDF and Guitar Pro tab …
The Diminished Lick: Eight Notes That Sound Like a Villain Descending a Spiral Staircase
The symmetrical diminished scale repeats every three frets, so one creepy shape covers the whole neck with maximum drama …
A Funk Rhythm Riff Where 90% of Your Job Is Choking the Strings
A tight funk rhythm riff built on 16th-note muting, ghost notes and right-hand syncopation — free PDF and Guitar Pro tab included …
Hallelujah on One Guitar: The Song That Spells Out Its Own Chords and Still Makes You Cry Anyway
Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah as a solo fingerstyle arrangement — melody and chords in one part, with the song that teaches its own harmony …
The Hybrid Picking Lick, or: How to Make Your Pick and Your Fingers Finally Share a Gig
A short hybrid picking lick that teaches your pick and fingers to stop fighting and finally work the same string skip together …
The Palm Muting Riff: How to Choke Your Strings on Purpose and Call It Groove
Palm muting on guitar: a short chugging rhythm riff (Riff #3) that teaches your picking hand to choke the strings just right …
Shallow on One Guitar: The A Star Is Born Duet You Can Now Sing to Yourself in an Empty Room
Play Lady Gaga's Shallow solo on guitar: melody and chords in one fingerstyle part, free PDF and Guitar Pro tab included …
The Hotel California Bending Lick: Where One String Cries Louder Than Your Whole Amp
One string bend from the Eagles' most famous solo, and how to make it cry in tune instead of sounding like a sad cat …
The Abyss Riff: When Your Own Band Writes Something Too Heavy for Your Picking Hand
Riff #2 from Atomic Symphony's Abyss: a technical, palm-muted prog-metal riff my own band wrote to torment me — free PDF and Guitar Pro tab …
Heart Upon My Sleeves on One Guitar: Avicii's EDM Ballad, Melody and Chords Wearing Their Whole Heart on Six Strings
Avicii's Heart Upon My Sleeves on solo guitar: the first MelodyChords arrangement, melody and chords sharing one fingerstyle part …
Your First A Minor Pentatonic Lick, or: The Five Notes That Trick Everyone Into Thinking You Can Actually Solo
Five notes, one box, and the exact A minor pentatonic phrase every rock and blues solo secretly steals — your first real lick …
Lost Eden: The Riff That Kicked Off the Whole Series (and My Own Band, No Less)
Riff number one of the whole series — and I shamelessly opened with my own band. Palm mutes, prog-metal chug, tab and PDF included …