New Lessons for January 2024

Peghead Nation instructors kick off the year with great lessons, tunes, and techniques for you to learn.

By: Dan Gabel

January 5, 2024

Peghead Nation instructors have released hours of new instruction in their courses, and here are the tunes and lessons we’ve just published for January 2024. Join us in any course and get your first month free. Just use promo code Learn24 at checkout!

GUITAR COURSES

Bluegrass Guitar Fingerboard Mastery with Stash Wyslouch

Position 2D Arpeggios In this lesson, you’ll learn G major seven and G dominant seven arpeggios using pattern 2D, as well as C major seven and C dominant seven arpeggios in pattern 2D.

Maybelle Carter-Style Guitar with Cathy Fink

Lonesome Pine Special Maybelle’s lead to “Lonesome Pine Special” is a great demonstration of the classic “Carter scratch.” You’ll learn her main lead as well as her quirky intro, which doesn’t have much to do with the song but is fun to play.

Irish Flatpicking Guitar with Flynn Cohen

Lark on the Strand The jig “Lark on the Strand” is commonly played in G, but Flynn plays it in D because it sounds great on the guitar and because there’s a great version in D played by the band Dervish, with Séamie O’Dowd on guitar.

Western Swing Guitar with Matt Munisteri

We’re happy to announce the latest Peghead Nation course, Western Swing Guitar, taught by the great Matt Munisteri. In this course, you’ll learn to play the classic western swing rhythm style pioneered by Eldon Shamblin, as well as “twin guitar” solos from Bob Wills’s guitarists and the soloing styles of greats like Junior Bernard, Jimmy Wyble, and others.

The extensive lessons in Western Swing Guitar include transcriptions of Shamblin’s groundbreaking chordal work, as well as transcriptions of twin guitar solos from songs like “Roly Poly,” “Bob Wills Special,” and “I Hear You Talking.” You’ll learn Western swing classics from Bob Wills, Leon McAuliffe, and others, with arrangements of classic songs like “Faded Love,” “Panhandle Rag,” “Right or Wrong,” and more. Matt will add new lessons to the course each month, and all lessons include detailed notation and Play-Along Track videos and audio downloads so you can play along with Matt.

Faded Love “Faded Love” is probably Bob Wills’s most famous song. He recorded it in 1950, but it wasn’t until Patsy Cline recorded it in 1963 that it became a big hit. In this lesson, you’ll learn Eldon Shamblin’s reharmonization of “Faded Love.”

MANDOLIN COURSES

Swing and Jazz Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh

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.

Freddie Freeloader, Wynton Kelly’s Solo In the second part of the lesson on blues vocabulary in Bb, you’ll learn pianist Wynton Kelly’s solo on “Freddie Freeloader” from Kind of Blue.

Monroe-Style Mandolin with Mike Compton

“It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” 1960 Bill Monroe first recorded “It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” in 1947 with Flatt and Scruggs. His December 1960 rerecording features a Monroe solo that owes less to the melody than the earlier version.

Gypsy Jazz Mandolin Essentials with Aaron Weinstein

Learn to play swing and jazz mandolin from scratch, with a step-by-step method for learning swing chord voicings, as well as simple, swingin’, melody-based solos for some of the most popular songs in the jazz and swing repertoire. Designed for newcomers to playing jazz and swing.

Minor Swing Django Reinhardt’s classic “Minor Swing” is one of the most popular Gypsy jazz tunes. In this lesson, you’ll learn two new chord voicings (Am and Dm) as well as a simple solo to “Minor Swing.”

Dark Eyes “Dark Eyes” is a Russian folk song that was written in the mid-1800s. Tommy Dorsey recorded it in 1937 and it became a favorite with Gypsy jazz musicians after Django Reinhardt’s 1940 recording. It’s in the key of D minor and uses chord voicings you’ve already learned.

Old-Time Mandolin with John Reischman

Red Steer “Red Steer” is a three-part tune in A modal that originally comes from Dykes Magic City Trio. It’s usually played in A cross tuning (AEAE) on the fiddle but you’ll learn it in standard tuning on the mandolin.

The Advancing Mandolinist with Joe K. Walsh

Twinkle Little Star “Twinkle Little Star” is a Texas and western swing fiddle tune. There are a lot of different versions. Joe’s version is inspired by Bobby Hicks’s version.

Brazilian Choro Mandolin with Ian Coury

Cadência “Cadência” (“Cadence”) was written by mandolinist and composer Juventino Maciel. It’s not that common in the choro repertoire but there’s a beautiful recording by Jacob de Bandolim.

Chord Melody Mandolin with Aaron Weinstein

Cheerful Little Earful “Cheerful Little Earful” is a fun, swinging tune that was written in 1930 by Harry Warren, Ira Gerswhin, and Billy Rose for the musical Sweet and Low.

Octave Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh

“This Train” John McGann Solo In this lesson you’ll learn an octave mandolin solo by Joe’s mentor/teacher John McGann on the traditional gospel song “This Train” from a record by the Wayfaring Strangers.

BANJO COURSES

Old-Time Banjo with Bruce Molsky

Sourwood Mountain Bruce’s version of the square dance tune “Sourwood Mountain” comes from the playing of Glen Smith, who recorded it on a fretless banjo in eBEBE tuning, which puts it in the key of E.

FIDDLE COURSES

Western Swing Fiddle with Chad Manning

Bring It on Down to My House, Honey The blues song “Bring It Down to My House, Honey” is popular with western swing bands and was recorded by Bob Wills, Milton Brown and His Brownies, and many others.

Old-Time Fiddle with Bruce Molsky

Fiddler’s Reel “Fiddler’s Reel” is a straightforward dance in D that is not very well known. Bruce’s sources for the tune are Round Peak fiddler Benton Flippen and Mike Bryant of the New Dixie Entertainers.

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.