Guitar Logic

Cachito

"Cachito" is a popular Latin American song composed by Consuelo Velázquez in 1953. The song features a lively and captivating rhythm, blending elements of bolero and mambo genres. "Cachito" gained widespread acclaim and was notably performed by renowned artists like Pedro Infante and Nat King Cole, who recorded their own renditions. With its catchy melody and playful lyrics, "Cachito" has become a timeless classic cherished by music enthusiasts worldwide.

This arrangement is yet anothe...

35 Bonus - June 2023 - Fingerstyle Booster 10

This fingerstyle exercise is a continuation of the exercises from the previous month.

Once again, fingerstyle patterns are utilized:

a, m, i, p (arpeggio going upwards from high strings to low)

p, i, m, a (arpeggio going downwards from low strings to high)

but this time in a broader rhythmic context.

This is something I use all the time and find very useful. I would like to add one tip to all of this: when you start playing the pattern, it c...

Don't Worry Be Happy

Released in 1988, Bobby McFerrin's chart-topping hit "Don't Worry" quickly captured the hearts of listeners around the world with its infectious melodies, innovative use of a cappella techniques, and its empowering message of embracing positivity and finding joy in life's challenges, solidifying its status as a timeless anthem of hope and resilience that continues to inspire and uplift audiences to this day.

For this fingerstyle cover, I chose a slightly shorter arrangement than the ori...

Sabor a mi

"Sabor a mí" is a Latin American bolero song released in 1959, composed by Álvaro Carrillo. With its romantic melodies and poetic lyrics, the song evokes a sense of longing and bittersweet nostalgia. "Sabor a mí," meaning "Taste of Me" or "Flavor of Me," has been covered by various artists, making it a classic and symbol of passion in Latin music.

Several years ago, I transcribed Tonny Motolla's version of this song on my YouTube channel. However, this time, I decided to create my ow...

34 Bonus - May 2023 - Fingerstyle Booster 9

Here is an interesting and useful arpeggio tool/device.

The idea here is to play four strings like a chord, but not entirely at the same time, but almost at the same time. The last tone in a row should fall on a beat, and the three notes played before it are very fast.

For this exercise, I have prepared three combinations of 4 notes for the right hand:

• a, m, i, p (arpeggio going upwards from high strings to low)
• p, i, m, a (arpeggio going downwards from low st...
  2023-05-29 11:30:26 +0000 UTC View Post

Tea for Two

"Tea for Two" is a jazz standard originating from the 1925 musical "No, No, Nanette" by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar. The song's enduring popularity can be attributed to its catchy melody and playful rhythm, while the lyrics depict a couple enjoying a peaceful afternoon and envisioning a future filled with love and harmony.

Over the years, "Tea for Two" has been interpreted by a multitude of famous artists, each bringing their own distinct style and interpretation to this timeless ...

33 Bonus - April 2023 - No Blues (Miles Davis)

Here are two blues studies of Miles Davis' composition called "No Blues." The first study is for fingerstyle and the second is for flatpicking jazz style. Both exercises play the "No Blues" theme, but the fingerings and positions on the fretboard are quite different. This is because fingerstyle requires a totally different approach to melodies in comparison with flatpicking style.

To get the most out of these two studies, I have marked the fingers of both hands for the fingerstyle guita...

Lullaby of Birdland

"Lullaby of Birdland" is a popular jazz standard written by George Shearing and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Shearing in 1952, and the song quickly became a hit, with many other musicians and vocalists covering it over the years.

The song is known for its catchy melody and upbeat rhythm, and the lyrics describe the atmosphere of Birdland, a famous jazz club in New York City that was popular during the 1950s. The lyrics talk about how the music at Birdland is like a lulla...

Sidney Bechet - Si tu vois ma mère

Sidney Bechet was widely regarded as one of the greatest clarinet players of all time. One of his most famous compositions is "Si tu vois ma mère", a hauntingly beautiful song that captures the essence of New Orleans jazz. Bechet's signature style is on full display in this piece, with his soulful clarinet solos weaving in and out of the melody. 

"Si tu vois ma mère" was also used in the 2011 movie "Midnight in Paris" directed by Woody Allen. The song was played during a scene wh...

Sing it Back (Moloko)

"Sing It Back" is a timeless dance-pop classic that was released by the British-Irish duo Moloko in 1998. With its captivating melody, groovy bassline, and lead singer Róisín Murphy's sultry vocals, the song quickly became a hit in the club scene and has since become an anthem for dance music fans around the world.

This fingerstyle guitar cover of "Sing It Back" by Moloko utilizes a capo on the 4th fret, which allows for easier chord shapes and gives the song a brighter and more upbea...

32 Bonus - March 2023 - St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins

Here is a fingerstyle version of a tune called "St. Thomas", a vibrant and uplifting jazz composition by the legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins. The song is named after the capital city of the Caribbean island of the same name, and its melody and rhythm reflect the island's cultural heritage. With its catchy calypso beat and infectious melody, "St. Thomas" has become a classic jazz standard and a favorite among musicians and audiences alike. 

The tune is originally in the key of C...

Snowbird

"Snowbird" is a song written by Gene MacLellan and was originally recorded by Anne Murray in 1969. It quickly became a hit, reaching number two on the Canadian singles chart and number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song has since been covered by numerous artists, including Elvis Presley, Lynn Anderson, and Bing Crosby.

Interestingly, Gene MacLellan wrote "Snowbird" while living in Los Angeles, where he was homesick for his native Prince Edward Island. He described the song as a...

31 Bonus - February 2023 - Fingerstyle Booster 8

Here's an interesting short exercise that incorporates both rhythmic and technical elements to improve your fingerstyle technique.

The exercise features a simple 4/4 time signature with an eighth note pattern that is occasionally broken up by sixteenth notes. The pattern is primarily divided into 5+3 eighth notes, providing a refreshing change from the typical 4+4 division. Additionally, the exercise includes several hammer-ons and a few finger stretches to challenge your technical abil...

Nuages

"Nuages" is a jazz composition written by Django Reinhardt in 1940. The title translates to "Clouds" in English, and the song is known for its moody, melancholic melody and its use of unusual chord progressions. The piece was written during a difficult time in Reinhardt's life, as he was struggling to recover from severe burns to his hand that had temporarily sidelined his guitar playing. Despite this setback, Reinhardt was able to create a beautiful and enduring piece of music that has since...

Only You

"Only You" is one of the greatest hits composed by Buck Ram. 

The song was originally recorded by The Platters in 1955 and this guitar arrangement is based on their version.

30 Bonus - January 2023 - All the Things You Are/Bach

The jazz standard All the Things You Are is an excellent composition for a multi-faceted exercise session on the guitar as you can practice fretboard navigation, scales, chords, shapes, and more. This study is a blend between All the Things You Are and Bach's suite for cello.

Basically, in this study I took the melody lines (shapes) from the Bach suite and fit them into the harmony of All the Things You Are, making a point to include thirds of each chord in the line, because the melody ...

Amado Mio

Here's another evergreen classic! Amado Mio was composed by Doris Fisher and Allan Roberts for the noir film Gilda from 1946. The song has been covered by many artists, the most prominent ones being Rita Hayworth, Grace Jones, Luz Casal and Pink Martini.

The form of this composition is AABB, and in this arrangement I added the AA part once again. The rhythmic pattern is in the rhumba-beguine style and it matches perfectly with the clean surf tones of the electric guitar.

29 Bonus - December 2022

Here is a miniature but demanding exercise which consists of two arpeggios (A minor and E7).

This little sequence consists of consecutive hammer-ons and pull-offs which are strummed once with the index finger of the right hand followed by a single note on the second string plucked with the thumb. The only exception is at the very beginning when we play only one pull-off.

The trickiest part is at the transition from A minor arpeggio to E7. At the moment of performing the first stri...

Take the A Train

Billy Strayhorn's composition "Take the 'A' Train" is one of the most classic jazz standards everyone should know. Recorded in 1941, this song quickly became the signature tune of The Duke Ellington Orchestra. 

The original key of the song is C major and it has a straightforward AABA 32 bar form. This arrangement is done in the key of A major, but with using capo on the 3rd fret, it still sounds as it was done in C major. This was finalized with a short outro which has a nice arpeg...

Blue Bayou

Blue Bayou is a song composed by Roy Orbison in 1963, but its great popularity came with Linda Ronstadt's version from 1977, therefore this cover is based on her version.

The song's harmony is pretty simple - it has a tonic chord in B major and its dominant is F#7. Both chords appear in different variations throughout the song. B6, Bmaj7, B69, Bmaj7/F# for the tonic B major chord and F#9, F#13, F#7sus4 for the dominant F#7 chord.

The basic rhythm pattern is the beguine, which is a...

28 Bonus - November 2022 - A Spoonful Blues

A Spoonful Blues is a composition by Charlie Patton, who is considered one of the most significant and influential blues musicians of all time. This song is not the same as Willie Dixon's Spoonful which came later and became a very popular blues song. However, it is believed that it had a major influence on the creation of Spoonful.

A Spoonful Blues has an interesting harmony and form that is not the classic 12 bar blues. Harmony is based on a segment from the cycle of 4ths. It starts w...

Gelem Gelem / Je L'aime Je L'aime

Here is another very interesting composition. Gelem Gelem is a famous Gypsy song from the Balkans, often considered the unofficial anthem of all Gypsies. One of the covers by world famous musicians that is worth mentioning is by Vaya Con Dios, an outstanding interpretation released in 2004, with lyrics in French.  

This fingerstyle cover is in Dm. It's easy to play and it only has an intro and two parts. In a few places I spiced it up a bit with flamenco rasqueados, but that is opt...

27 Bonus - October 2022 - Donna Lee

Here is little something for bebop lovers. This is my flat-picking transcription of a famous Charlie Parker tune called Donna Lee. 

This piece is generally considered an essential pillar when delving into jazz music and jazz guitar as well. It is a bit more complicated for the guitar due to the difficulty of finding the right hand positions and picking. I remember it took me a long time to find the best and most effortless way to play it.

In this pdf I have markings for the l...

Danny Boy

The wonderful ballad Danny Boy was written back in 1913 by Frederic Weatherly and the melody was taken from the traditional Irish song Londonderry Air.

This song is so well known that it has been covered by many musicians from all genres. Judy Garland, Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Sinéad O'Connor, Eva Cassidy and Johnny Cash are just a few of them.

For this arrangement, I made an effort to enrich the harmonic background and to create a magical atmospher...

Cantaloupe Island - Version 2 (Capo 1st fret)

Here is another version of Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island. I already released a version of this composition a couple of years ago but this time I used a capo on the 1st fret and I think it's much easier to play this way. In addition, I also transcribed 3 choruses of Herbie's exciting piano solo. So, plenty of good stuff to work on ;) Enjoy...

26 Bonus - September 2022 - Fingerstyle Booster 7

Here we have another set of fingerstyle exercises.

All three exercises have the same pattern, but with different harmonies and positions. This way you'll be able to master the pattern more proficiently and eventually use it in your own playing. With these exercises not only will you practice your right hand, but the left one as well by playing a few pull-offs and hammer-ons. I recommend you play this in a slower tempo so all the sixteen notes could be even and the whole patte...

Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley

This arrangement is Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier adaptation for fingerstyle guitar.

The song has four sections marked A, B, C and D. Since I wanted to stay true to Marley's voice melodies, I tried to transcribe the exact melodies of his voice and eventually it turned out that A section appears four times in the arrangement, but each with different variations. This could be a bit difficult to memorize so if it's too much you could just use one variation at a time until you get them all w...

Killing Me Softly with His Song

"Killing Me Softly with His Song", is one of the greatest hits composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel. It gained major popularity in the 70s with Roberta Flack's wonderful interpretation. Another rendition worth mentioning is Lauryn Hill's (Fugees) that made this song very popular in the 90s as well.

This is a sweet classical guitar arrangement done by my friend and colleague Nikola Milovanović. 

Enjoy...

25 Bonus - August 2022 - Song for my Father

I'm sure you are already familiar with Horace Silver's beautiful composition "Song for My Father". This one I will post on YouTube sometime in the future but I did want to give you an early sneak peak of it because I am enjoying it a lot!

The form is AAB and it's in the key of F minor, but we'll use a capo on the 1st fret so that we can play it in the the key of E minor and so gain lots of possibilities to use chords and phrases with open strings.

Also, there are two notes in the ...

Cissy Strut

Cissy Strut is an amazing funk composition by The Meters! I would call this one the funkiest funk. It's a very simple pentatonic melody with only two melodic lines, yet they are so strong that nothing more is needed :)

Did you know that Cissy Strut was used in the films Jackie Brown, Red, King Richard and Another Round, as well as in the BBC television series The Pursuit of Love.

The song was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011, which, per Grammy organization, honor...