New Lessons! July 2024

New tunes, techniques, and exercises from our Peghead Nation instructors!

By: Dan Gabel

July 1, 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 July 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

Fisher’s Hornpipe Stash shows you a variation on the classic fiddle tune “Fisher’s Hornpipe” that uses arpeggios on D, G, A, and E chords up and down the neck. If you don’t know “Fisher’s Hornpipe,” we’ve included a version of the basic melody in notation/tab.

Maybelle Carter-Style Guitar with Cathy Fink

Coal Miner’s Blues Maybelle’s lead on “Coal Miner’s Blues” is an amazing confluence of early country music and blues. Unusually for Maybelle, it’s in the key of G (without a capo), with G, G7, C, and D chords.

Irish Flatpicking Guitar with Flynn Cohen

Bryan O’Lynn “Bryan O’Lynn” is a jig in A minor/D modal that Flynn first heard on a Steeleye Span record and is one of the first traditional Irish tunes he learned. His arrangement includes a lot of left-hand ornaments (rolls, grace notes, etc.).

Western Swing Guitar with Matt Munisteri

Home in San Antone “Home in San Antone” is one of the giant western swing tunes. It was written by Fred Rose and recorded by Bob Wills in 1942. Matt shows you how to play the melody in thirds in this lesson.

MANDOLIN COURSES

Weekly Mandolin Workout with Ethan Setiawan

In Weekly Mandolin Workout, Ethan Setiawan walks you through a series of workouts that will help you learn the fingerboard, strengthen and increase the dexterity of your fingers, expand your knowledge of chord and scale theory, and improve your picking and fretting techniques. He explores cross-picking, playing scales over chords, perfecting hammer-on and pull-off techniques, and much more, breaking up different mandolin concepts into bite-sized pieces that will help you steadily improve your playing. We are adding new lessons each month, so the course library continues to grow as you build your skills. The high-quality video includes multiple camera angles so you can see close-ups of both hands in action, and you get detailed notation, tab, and chord diagrams for each lesson.

String Crossings and Crosspicking Practicing string crossings and crosspicking is essential in developing a fluid picking hand. Ethan gives you string crossing exercises as well as an arrangement of the song “Handsome Molly” using crosspicking.

Swing and Jazz Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh

Blue Monk Thelonious Monk’s blues in Bb “Blue Monk” is one of his most popular tunes. You’ll learn the melody and two choruses of a solo on “Blue Monk” played by guitarist John Scofield from a live recording at the Blue Note in 2023.

Monroe-Style Mandolin with Mike Compton

Shady Grove Bill Monroe’s 1961 version of “Shady Grove” is primarily played in second position in C. The melodic content in no way mirrors the sung vocal but is nevertheless a light-hearted and light-handed melodic frolic.

Gypsy Jazz Mandolin Essentials with Aaron Weinstein

Pennies from Heaven “Pennies from Heaven” is one of the most popular jazz standards. It was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1936 film of the same name, and recorded by Billie Holiday and Django Reinhardt soon after.

Old-Time Mandolin with John Reischman

Good Ax Elve John learned “Good Ax Elve” from fiddler Brad Leftwich, who got it from a book of Missouri fiddle tunes. A “helve” is an ax handle, which may explain the title. It sounds like it could be a version of “The Cuckoo’s Nest.”

The Advancing Mandolinist with Joe K. Walsh

Tobacco Patch The key-of-E fiddle tune “Tobacco Patch” comes from fiddler/mandolinist Aubrey Haynie and his Doin’ My Time album. The B part has an unusual chord change and bounces between double stops, which can be challenging.

Chord Melody Mandolin with Aaron Weinstein

Confessin’ “Confessin’” was written by vaudevillian Chris Smith. Louis Armstrong’s 1930 recording was very influential in it becoming a jazz standard. Aaron’s arrangement aims to keep the momentum moving during the pauses in the melody.

Octave Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh

Skyward “Skyward” was written by pianist Jed Wilson. It’s a simple tune in the key of F and it lays out well on the octave mandolin with a capo at the third fret. It’s also a fun tune to improvise on.

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

Stay All Night “Stay All Night” was written by Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan and recorded by the Bob Wills band in 1945. You’ll learn the melody as well as a solo played by Johnny Gimble on the record For the Last Time.

Old-Time Fiddle with Bruce Molsky

Tippy Get Your Hair Cut “Tippy Get Your Hair Cut” comes from West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine. It’s a dance tune in the key of G and is played in GDAD tuning.

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.