Play-Alongs – Dan's Guitar & Ukulele Instruction

This page is for guitarists only…

The audio tracks on this page are songs (Beatles, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Pink Floyd, T-Bone Walker, etc.) that I recorded with my band mates at live practice sessions. For each song, I can teach you to play the guitar part, which you can then practice by playing along with the tracks.

Note: each song has only one guitar being played (and no bass guitar), so it’s easy to hear what you’re focused on learning.

This page is broken into Flat-Picking, Fingerstyle, Strumming and Solos/Intros sections. I chose songs that allow us to work on a wide variety of skills (the targeted skills are listed/described under each song):

FLAT-PICKED SONGS:

Love Me Two Times (The Doors):

One of the learning targets here is a technique called a trill…which is the rapid repetitive hammer-on and pull-off of notes. You get to play those a lot in this song. You also alternate between playing bass-note riffs and strumming chords throughout the song. Some of the chords get played with a staccato technique (where they get cut-short as soon as you play them), and you also use some arpeggio riffs…where the notes of a chord get played one at a time.

Mailbox Blues (Taj Mahal):

This is a song that uses quite a few jazz chords…and many are played with a staccato technique. You also use some moveable triads (3-note chords) in the intro and turnaround. Besides learning to play the chords, this is a great song to study if you want to learn the theory behind the make-up of complex chords…some chords in this song are E9, E13, E7(#9), C#7(♭13), G#m7, etc. I have all of the chords diagrammed with each note identified and explained.

Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress (The Hollies):

The main learning focus here (other than learning to play the cool intro) is learning to play power chords…you play those when you’re not playing the ongoing bass note shuffle throughout the song. Power chords are two-note chords played on the bass strings…one of the notes is the root note of the power chord (so if it’s a G power chord, one note is a G and the other note is the 5th note in a G major scale…a D note). The G major power chord would be called ‘G5‘ on the sheet music.

Angie (The Rolling Stones):

Again there’s the intro to learn, and many hammer-ons, base note walk-downs, and connecting riffs between chord changes. There’s also a mid-song lead that’s both strummed and flat-picked.

Moon’s Goin’ Down (Charley Patton):

This blues song from the 1920’s is played in Open G tuning…which means you have several strings tuned to alternative pitches (they’re tuned D G D G B D). This means that all of the chords you play are formed differently than ‘normal’ chords. There are many bass note walk-downs and multi-note slides.

Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi):

The intro to this song is fun to play…it starts up on frets 13 and 14, then descends down to the first few frets…so it’s a good chance to study the fretboard a bit. It repeats a few times throughout the song. There are also many different bass note hammer-ons between chord changes, and some higher-note hammer-ons as well, mostly on Sus2 and Sus4 chords.

She Talks to Angels (The Black Crowes):

This song is played in Open E tuning by the Black Crowes, but we lowered it two half-steps to Open D tuning to suit our vocal range. The strings are tuned D A D F# A D (so the chords are all played differently in this song because of the altered tuning). There are many double-note hammer-ons, and a few short solos (in the intro and also mid-song).

FINGERSTYLE SONGS:

Rolling Log Blues (Lottie Kimbrough):

This is a peppy ragtime tune from the late 1920’s that uses many single-note bends and slides. It’s a song that’s played in Drop D tuning, which means that you lower (drop) the 6th string from an E note down to a D note…listen for that distinctive low D bass note played throughout.

Link of Chain (Chris Smither):

A very cool song but it’s pretty challenging. You start by playing a multi-note bass riff with your thumb and pointer finger, and then you have to keep that bass riff going as you play the rest of the fingerstyle arrangement. There are many hammer-ons and single-note slides throughout. You also switch to strumming at times.

Tears in Heaven (Eric Clapton):

This is a classic fingerstyle song. Two of the learning targets here are the use of trills (rapid-fire hammer-ons and pull-offs), and multi-note slides. This song also has you fingerpicking while playing barre chords…a skill that takes some time and patience to develop (it’s hard at first to make each individual note ring clearly).

Come Back Baby (Ray Charles):

A blues classic from the late 1950’s. You use single-note bends, pull-offs, hammer-ons, and single-note / multi-note slides. This is another song where you get to practice fingerpicking while playing barre chords.

Stormy Monday (T-Bone Walker):

Another blues classic (this one’s from the 1940’s) that uses many jazz chords and also some barre chords. This song also has many 3-note (triad) slides, and the playing of bass notes up and down the neck (one of the benefits of playing full barre chords is that you create your own easily-accessible bass notes as you move around the fretboard).

Filthy Rich (Kenny Sultan):

I play solo on this ragtime song. You use alternating bass notes for most of the arrangement, but there are times where the bass notes stay on one note for a measure or two, other times they’re descending, etc. The bass notes are also at times played as staccato-ed (cut-short) notes, and sometimes as notes that you bend.

Fire and Rain (James Taylor):

Another classic fingerstyle song with some single-note slides and hammer-ons that are unique to James Taylor’s playing style. It’s mostly fingerpicked, but does switch to strumming at times.

Blackbird (The Beatles):

This can be played as a flat-picked song, but I choose to play (and teach) a fingerpicked version. Here you get to work on keeping a moving bass note going as you move up and down the neck (a good chance to study the fretboard from the 1st to the 12th fret).

Killing the Blues (Chris Smither):

This song is played in Open D tuning…which means you have several strings tuned to alternative pitches (your strings are tuned D A D F# A D). Learning to play in open tuning takes time and practice because all chords are played differently than ‘normal’ chords.

Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young):

This song has a descending bass note portion that can be a bit challenging at first, and some hammer-ons and single-note slides.

Helplessly Hoping (Crosby, Stills & Nash):

This is a great song to work on hammer-ons…it has a lot of them, including a few double-note hammer-ons. It also has some bass note walk-ups and walk-downs between chord changes.

Hesitation Blues (Reverend Gary Davis):

This song was from the early 1960’s by Davis…and also by Hot Tuna in the early 1970’s. It uses hammer-ons, single and double-note slides, and (mostly) alternating bass notes.

Long, Long Time (Linda Ronstadt):

This is one of the simplest fingerstyle song on this page. The chords and the fingerpicking pattern are both fairly basic. It’s a beautiful song though. There are some bass note walk-ups and walk-downs.

Hey There Delilah (Plain White T’s):

This song uses a repetitive ‘play a bass note with your thumb–then pluck a two-note chord’ fingerstyle pattern throughout, with some bass note walkdowns and walk-ups sprinkled in. Part of the learning is knowing which bass note goes with each two-note chord.

Wandering (James Taylor):

We performed a bluesy version of this song. This has bass note walk-downs, single-note slides, and hammer-ons.

STRUMMED SONGS:

Chains (The Beatles):

In this song you strum while using a bass note shuffle, some bass note walk-ups, and some jazz (9th) chords.

Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin):

A toned-down acoustic version of this electric guitar song. Lots of staccato strums and barre chords. I do also teach the electric guitar version of this song (you can find that version in the ‘Solos/Intros’ section below).

Breathe (Anna Nalick):

Here you start with a basic strum, then the strum morphs into a more complex pattern (then returns to basic, then re-morphs…).

Mr. Jones (Counting Crows):

This song uses a few different strum patterns and techniques.

Help (The Beatles):

Fairly brisk strumming with some bass-note walkdowns.

Wild Horses (The Rolling Stones):

In this song a lot of the chords get strummed with a staccato (cut-short) technique. There are many single and double-note hammer-ons, and some arpeggio riffs (where the notes of a chord get played one at a time).

Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell):

This song is played in Open D tuning (the strings are tuned D A D F# A D), which changes the way all chords are played.

Heart of Gold (Neil Young):

This is the first of two songs where you can learn to strum your guitar and play harmonica at the same time. You would need a ‘key of G’ harmonica for this song. The song has fairly easy strumming, with some bass note walkdowns and also some bass note hammer-ons.

Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young):

Another great song to use to learn to strum and play harmonica at the same time. You would need a ‘key of C’ harmonica.

Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles):

Along with the strum pattern, you also add in bass-note walkdowns, and Sus2 and Sus4 hammer-ons while strumming. A good chance to learn the make-up of Sus chords, if that interests you.

Eight Days a Week (The Beatles):

Easy strum pattern to learn…fun to play.

SOLOS & INTROS:

Unlike all the songs until now, these next songs all have 2 guitars being played. I can teach you either (or both) of the guitar parts…the rhythm (strummed or fingerpicked) and the lead (intros, solos, etc):

Gravity (John Mayer):