New Lessons for April 2023

Peghead Nation instructors have released hours of new lessons with great tunes and helpful techniques!

By: Dan Gabel

April 3, 2023

Peghead Nation instructors have released hours of new instruction in their courses, and here are the tunes and lessons we’ve just published for April 2023. Join us in any course and get your first month free. Just use promo code Learn23 at checkout!

GUITAR COURSES

Alternate Tunings Fingerstyle Guitar with Doug Young

EBDGBD Tuning and “The Foggy Dew” EBDGBD tuning was inspired by guitarist Will Ackerman’s FCE♭A♭CE♭tuning, which Doug tuned down a half step to get EBDGBD. He uses it to play the Irish song “The Foggy Dew.”

Bluegrass Guitar Fingerboard Mastery with Stash Wyslouch

Closed-Position Scales, Position 2E Stash shows you the first in a series of closed-position scales on the fingerboard, using the Hank Williams song “We Live in Two Different Worlds.” Stash calls the position you’ll learn in this lesson Position 2E.

Maybelle Carter-Style Guitar with Cathy Fink – NEW COURSE!

You Are My Flower “You Are My Flower” is one of the few examples of Maybelle Carter adding something to the song that isn’t the melody. In the verse and chorus she plays a fill behind the sung melody, and also plays the fill in her lead.

Irish Flatpicking Guitar with Flynn Cohen – NEW COURSE!

Learn to play traditional Irish dance tunes such as reels, jigs, and hornpipes on the guitar in the style of Paul Brady, John Doyle, Arty McGlynn, and others. With technique lessons on jig picking, triplets, and other techniques derived from traditional Irish tenor banjo playing.

MANDOLIN COURSES

Swing and Jazz Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh – NEW COURSE!

Learn to play swing and jazz melodies and classic solos from jazz legends like Lester Young, Miles Davis, and Django Reinhardt, as well as swing mandolinists like Tiny Moore and Jethro Burns. For each song, you’ll learn the melody and a solo, along with tips on technique, phrasing, and improvisation.

Honeysuckle Rose Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose” is a swing and jazz classic and seemingly everyone has recorded it. You’ll learn the melody and basic form, as well as a solo by Lester Young and an excerpt from a 1946 Benny Goodman solo.

Monroe-Style Mandolin with Mike Compton

Come Go with Me Bill Monroe recorded this Marty Robbins song on November 5, 1959. His solo is only six bars long, but Mike adds two bars of his own devising to the solo so you’ll have a complete solo to play.

Old-Time Mandolin with John Reischman

Breaking Up Christmas “Breaking Up Christmas” is a great square dance tune in the key of A. It comes from Round Peak fiddler Tommy Jarrell, but John learned it from Joseph DeCosimo.

The Advancing Mandolinist with Joe K. Walsh

The Tobogganist “The Tobogganist” comes from the band Hawktail and was written by bass player Paul Kowert. It’s a bright, playful fiddle tune in the key of F and has some surprising resolutions.

Brazilian Choro Mandolin with Ian Coury

Chorinho Na Gafieria “Chorinho Na Gafieira” is a beautiful choro/samba written by Astor Silva. It’s in the key of C and has more of a samba groove than a traditional choro.

Chord Melody Mandolin with Aaron Weinstein

The Blue Room The jazz standard “The Blue Room” was composed by Rodgers and Hart. Aaron approaches his arrangement a little differently at times, with double stops in place of full chords that match the phrasing of the melody.

Octave Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh

Pearl Polska “Pearl Polska” comes from Swedish guitarist Roger Tallroth, who recorded a solo octave-mandolin performance of the tune. It has a lot of ornaments, which can make it tricky, but you can play the melody without ornaments.

BANJO COURSES

Contemporary Bluegrass Banjo with Wes Corbett

Goodbye Liza Jane “Goodbye Liza Jane” is a classic fiddle tune and festival jam session favorite. Wes’s arrangement combines single-string and melodic style.

Old-Time Banjo with Bruce Molsky

Christmas Eve “Christmas Eve” is a great old square dance tune in the key of D, played in double-D tuning. There are a few good sources for it, including Gribble, Lusk, and York; Isham Monday; and Jim and Zelma Bowles.

FIDDLE COURSES

Western Swing Fiddle with Chad Manning

Corinne, Corinna “Corinne, Corinna” is an old folk and blues song that Bob Wills recorded in 1940 with Louis Tierney on fiddle. You’ll learn the melody in the key of Bb as well as Louis Tierney’s solo.

Beginning Celtic Fiddle with Emerald Rae

The Butterfly “The Butterfly” is a three-part slip jig in the key of E minor and is one of the most popular traditional Irish tunes. Slip jigs are in 9/8, as opposed to normal jigs, which are in 6/8.

PLAY-ALONG RHYTHM TRACKS – Available to all subscribers. Guitar accompaniment video, downloadable audio, and chord charts for popular bluegrass, old-time, and roots tunes and songs.