A blast from the past

Hi all, this week's lesson looks at a tune written back in the 1500's. It's called Greensleeves and I'm positive you'll recognize it when you hear it. Interestingly, it's structure follows the same format at Stairway to Heaven; both are in a minor key but move to the related major chord for the chorus section.

Go to Guitar for Beginners and Beyond, negotiate the pesky speedbump and have fun with it. I've posted part 1 this week, I'll do part 2 next week.

There are several dropped D slide lessons at my other site ... I've said it here many times: while open tunings may be the traditional way to play slide guitar, dropped D is in my opinion the best of all. You only need to alter one string (the low E string), so the layout of the fretboard is pretty much as you have got to know it. I gave up on open tunings decades ago because my brain couldn't accommodate them all. I'd spent years mapping out standard tuning just to have it all smeared out by the open tunings. You will be surprised at how rich an environment standard/dropped D tuning is for slide, once you know what you're looking for.

While you're there, you can read about my book PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book. I'm happy to say that sales continue to grow and that the private forum you can join once you've purchased the lesson now has 600 members and close to 1000 posts. We all agree that this simple visualization technique truly is the 'trick' to having the whole fretboard at your disposal at all times. Visit the PlaneTalk site by clicking here.

OK, get the first half of Greensleeves under your fingers, I'll be back next week with the second half.

Cheers and all the best,
Kirk