Guitar Logic

Recado Bossa Nova

Recado Bossa Nova is a jazz standard from the 60’s. Probably the most widely known performance of this composition is the one by Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan. Also, many other prominent artists like Roy Eldrige, Zoot Sims and Eydie Gorme shared their impression and gave a special mark to this song.

The song is somewhere between bossa nova and Afro-Cuban style. The key is G minor and the form is AABA. For this arrangement, I laid down a nice groove in the intro part which later repeats i...

24 Bonus - July 2022 - Chord Booster 1

In this episode of the monthly bonus TABs, I want to start discovering and getting familiar with the chords that I most frequently use in my arrangements.

First we will get to know minor chords, more precisely minor, minor maj7, minor 7, minor 6 and minor 9. Literally every arrangement contains some of these chords.

In the PDF file, this sequence of minor chords is shown in each position on the fingerboard. In one row the sequence is in one position, and in the next row it is in t...

Wild Horses

Grand ballad from Rolling Stones "Wild Horses" is yet another composition which needs no introduction.

It felt like this cover was a nice ground to make a blend of bossa nova and casual fingerstyle.

Enjoy ;)

Pretend You Don't See Her - Jerry Vale

Pretend You Don't See Her is a beautiful ¾ ballad, sang in 1961 by the legendary Jerry Vale accompanied by Percy Faith orchestra. Many years later, this recording appeared in Martin Scorsese’s movie Goodfellas (1990) where Jerry Vale’s character sings for the hotshots.

This composition was also covered by Bobby Vee and Jim Reevs.

The song is in the key of Bb major, it has a simple form of 32 bars which repeats two times. In the second chorus, the whole harmony modulates chrom...

23 Bonus - June 2022 - Fingerstyle Booster 6

This month’s bonus tab is another fingerstyle exercise. This is something that I often play when I practice and I think that you will enjoy the benefits of this exercise both in terms of technique and rhythm.

The whole material is in 6/8 and it is divided into two main exercises with two preparations each.  

The main idea (A1 preparation) is to play 6 consecutive notes in one bar by alternating thumb and index finger. Those six notes are divided into two groups of 3 and it ...

Moonglow

Here is another beautiful jazz standard from the 30s. It has been recorded by many famous jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Carly Simon, Les, Brown, June Christy, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and even Rod Stewart!

It's a regular AABA jazz tune with the prominent intro which later repeats in a different variation at the end of the each A part. This arrangement is in the style of Chet Atkins and Merle Travis and it has always been one of my favorite tune...

I Put a Spell on You

“I Put a Spell on You”, a composition written and recorded by Screamin ’Jay Hawkins, was a huge commercial success from the start.

It was listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, and also in the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Since then, many famous musicians such as Nina Simone, Annie Lennox, Bryan Ferry, Joss Stone and many o...

22 Bonus - May 2022 - Django - John Lewis

For this month's bonus tab we have a composition "Django" composed by John Lewis and first recorded with his Modern Jazz Quartet in 1954. This composition was dedicated to the guitarist Django Reinhardt who died at that time. Miles Davis described "Django" as one of the best compositions ever.

The introductory section (A) starts with a slow tempo of 78 bpm and is followed by a faster tempo solo section (B) in 108 bpm. The solo section repeats two times and ends with a part derived from ...

Lover Man

This piece is a renowned jazz ballad from the 40’s. Lover Man is a composition originally written for Billie Holiday, who later recorded it, but many other musicians such as Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Barbra Streisand, Blossom Dearie, Yusef Lateef gave their contribution to its popularity with their interpretations.

The story goes that Charlie Parker recorded this composition totally intoxicated, but as it happens, his jazz version is truly impressive and widely app...

Baby Elephant Walk

Here is an adaptation for fans of electric retro sound. Baby Elephant Walk by the legendary Henry Mancini is the composition that won him one of his 20 Grammy Awards! This cheerful song was composed in 1961 for the film Hatari.

The form of this composition is 12 bar blues in the key of F. This time I stayed true to the key and the original arrangement, I just adjusted the orchestral lines and solos for electric guitar. The 12 bar blues form is interspersed with 4 bar melodic riffs.

21 Bonus - April 2022 - Cello Suite No. 1 - Bach

For the April edition of the bonus tabs, we have the famous Bach suite written for cello in G major.

This composition has been transcribed countless times for guitar and, as it turns out, the best key for guitar is D major. The most usual transcription is played in drop D tuning.

My purpose with this version is to adapt it to playing with a pick, so I came up with a few different solutions regarding the positions in which the lines are played.

Tuning is standard and this tra...

Peer Gynt - Edvard Grieg

Here is a lovely classical piece composed by Edvard Grieg. It's called "Morning Mood" and this is the first movement of four of Edvard Grieg's larger composition Peer Gynt, Op. 23. which he composed for Henrik Ibsen's play of the same name.

The original context of this piece was intended to describe the rising of the sun in the Moroccan desert to set the scene for Ibsen's play. However, "Morning Mood" has since then become widely known as music that evokes a Spring awakening, therefore ...

Englishman in New York

This is another cover done by my friend and colleague Nikola. The popular Sting composition "Englishman in New York" needs no introduction. This simple arrangement in the key of B minor is done in a classical guitar style. Enjoy :)

20 Bonus - March 2022 - Rhythm - Tango Brasileiro

The Brazilian tango is a rhythm variation which originated from the maxixe dance rhythm. It developed at the end of 19th century in Brazil about the same time the tango was developing in Argentina and Uruguay. Pianist Ernesto Nazareth composed many Brazilian tangos which creatively combine diverse influences into the music.

Brazilian tango will be a very nice addition to your guitar rhythm skills. For the basic exercise I took an opening riff from the composition Cacique by Attilio Bern...

All Blues - Miles Davis

Miles Davis’s composition All Blues is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential pieces in jazz. It belongs to the modal type of songs.

A strong, simple bass line opens the song, the horns and the piano join in, slowly setting the scene for the theme played by Miles which immediately follows.

The song was originally written in G mixolydian mode but for this arrangement I used a capo on the 3rd fret turning it into E mixolydian (which is the key of A major).

As thi...

Always With Me, Always With You - Joe Satriani

This Satriani masterpiece has always been one of my favorites. It contains some really beautiful arpeggiated chords in 3/4 time signature. I adapted Satriani's flat-picking style to a fingerstyle and streamlined the melodies as much as I could without losing the essence of this remarkable piece.

The form of the song is AABA; the intro and the outro are arpeggiated chords from part A. Both parts are in the key of B, but part A is in B major and part B is in B minor.

19 Bonus - February 2022 - Fingerstyle Booster 5

The goal of this exercise is to build endurance and strength in the left hand. Oftentimes when playing long sequences of bar chords that appear frequently in ones repertoire we experience fatigue - this exercise will help with that issue.  I do suggest to rest your hand whenever you feel tension and come back to it again a few minutes later.

The inspiration for this post, like for the previous booster, also came from flamenco music. Specifically, the harmonic progression in this ex...

Blues & Coffee

Here is another collaboration with my friend Pile on keys!

I have been exploring the music and style of T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters recently and I started tinkering with their simple yet powerful language on guitar. This inspired me to create a simple blues form and implement some lavish blues lines.

The sound of Hammond complements the tune in a perfect manner. In the last chorus we switched the keys sound to Vibraphone and added some nice harmonic descending lines to relieve ...

Calypso Guitar

Hey guys, this post is a very, very special one for me because for the first time I'll be introducing some of my own work.

The inspiration for this project came to me when listening to Afro-Caribbean music on the radio. One particular calypso rhythm pattern stood out in my mind and I immediately thought it would be great material for a song. I made up some simple melody lines and intertwined them with this rhythm pattern.

Harmonically the song is very straightforward. It involve...

18 Bonus - January 2022 - Água de Beber

For all of you who like to play bossa nova style this monthly bonus song is going to be a real gem! Água de Beber is a bossa nova jazz standard composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim. It's in the key of A minor and involves some really beautiful chord changes!

This score is an easy fingerstyle transcription and I actually intend to make a future YouTube video for this song so this post could be considered an early sneak peak into my work. Hope you'll enjoy...

September by Earth, Wind & Fire

Here we have another great song, this time from the soul and R&B genre. September by Earth, Wind & Fire repeatedly topped the charts worldwide when it came out, and even now it has infinite covers, remixes, and mashups.

For this fingerstyle cover I remained pretty true to the original. You might get the impression that the song is in D major but actually it is in A major scale, the Dmaj which appears as a leading chord is just a lydian mode of it and that's what gives a special ...

Some Day My Prince Will Come

Hey happy New Year to all!

The song "Some Day My Prince Will Come" was written by composer Frank  Churchill and lyricist Larry Morey for Walt Disney's animated film Snow  White and the Seven Dwarfs. This jazz standard is a favorite and has  been recorded many, many times. One of the first  jazz recordings was by Donald Byrd and The Dave Brubeck Quartet in  1957. Bill Evans has also recorded the song several times. And who can  forget John Coltrane's m...

Behind the scenes (January, 2022)

Hello, here is a quick reveal on my next installments:

For the next song cover we will have a guest guitarist from the YouTube channel Acoustica. Nikola is an excellent classical guitar player and his channel is mainly focused on covers that are a blend between classical guitar music and other genres.

Right now we are working on a tune called Someday My Prince Will Come. It's a famous theme from a Disney movie and a song that is favored by many jazz musicians.

After this pro...

17 Bonus - December 2021 - Smile (Charlie Chaplin)

Season's Greetings!

Hi guys, for this month's bonus tab we have a really nice song from Charlie Chaplin's movie Modern Times (1936). The song "Smile" was composed by Chaplin himself as an instrumental accompaniment for the movie. Years later beautiful lyrics were added based on lines and themes from the movie, in essence telling the listener to cheer up; for tomorrow will be brighter just as long as they smile. 

I made this arrangement based on Nat King Cole's version, which ...

Night and Day

Cole Porter was one of the most prolific composers and song writers in jazz and theater music. He wrote many, many popular songs such as I love Paris, Begin the Beguine, All of You, Love for Sale, What Is This Thing Called Love?, I Get a Kick out of You, I've Got You Under My Skin, just to name a few.

"Night  and Day" is arguably one of his most popular pieces amongst musicians, as it has been performed and recorded so many times. I think that what makes it so appealing to musici...

Africa (Toto)

Toto's song Africa is so famous that it needs no introduction 🙂

In making this arrangement I stayed true to the original key of B major. The song is composed of three parts - intro, verse, and chorus.

The intro consists of two phrases: one in Amaj7 chord and the other in C#m7 chord. The second phrase has quite an intricate pattern for the right hand so I have written out in the PDF the exact fingering I used to make it easier.

In the second part, the verse, the orig...

16 Bonus - November 2021 - Fingerstyle Booster 4

The subject matter of this exercise is odd time signature rhythm.

The inspiration for this post came from fiddling with Ebmaj7 flamenco chord which turned out to be a great foundation for this stimulating fingerstyle workout.  

What makes this exercise so mind-bending is a double time division. The fingerstyle pattern is played on three consecutive strings and then on another four consecutive strings. This is played two times which sums into 14 sixteen notes: 3+4 + 3+4

...

Ain't Misbehavin'

With the song "Ain't Misbehavin'" we continue with the thread of great jazz tunes from the past. This one was composed by Fats Waller, a jazz pianist who was an expert in ragtime and stride style. After the song came out it became so popular amongst musicians that pretty much all the big names have a recording of it: Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, Anita O'Day, Sarah Vaughan, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry James, Miles Davis, Art Tatum, Sonny Stitt, Sidney Be...

Caballo Viejo

This is a simple flat-picking guitar arrangement of the wonderful Venezuelan classic Caballo Viejo composed by Simon Diaz. Its popularity soon spread outside Latin America and it was performed by many artists: Celia Cruz, Julio Iglesias, Gipsy Kings, Ray Coniff, Roberto Torres and Plácido Domingo and others...

A massive Gypsy Kings hit Bamboléo is actually a version of this song. It borrowed some verses from the Caballo Viejo but the theme and the chorus are different. 

Wit...

Behind the scenes (November, 2021)

Hey everyone, here is an another sneak peak into some of the new material I am working on.

For the next installments I want to do some Latin music and then more  jazz after that. The song I'm currently working on is the well-known  Caballo Viejo. This beautiful Venezuelan folk  song has made an international crossover across music styles and cultures  to become a timeless classic. The arrangement will involve some very nice Cuban salsa rhythms in an easy f...