New Lessons, Tunes, and Techniques for March 2023

Great new material from the Peghead Nation instructors available now!

By: Dan Gabel

March 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 March 2023. Join us in any course and get your first month free. Just use promo code Learn22 at checkout!

GUITAR COURSES

Alternate Tunings Fingerstyle Guitar with Doug Young

CGDGAD Tuning Learn a low-C tuning, CGDGAD, in which the top four strings are the same as the top four strings of DADGAD. Doug shows you chords and scales in CGDGAD and how to play the traditional song “Lady Owen’s Delight.”

Bluegrass Guitar Fingerboard Mastery with Stash Wyslouch

Triads on the ADG and EAD String Sets In previous lessons you’ve learned triad shapes on the GBE and DGB strings sets. In this lesson you’ll learn the triads on the remaining two string sets, ADG and EAD, using the song “Columbus Stockade Blues.”

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

The Winding Stream “The Winding Stream” is a beautiful old song in 3/4 time with some interesting rhythmic things going on in the lead, which doesn’t quite match the phrasing of the sung melody.

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.

Monroe-Style Mandolin with Mike Compton

Thinking About You “Thinking About You” was recorded at the same November 1959 session as “Lonesome Wind Blues.” Bill just plays a short intro on the recording so Mike has created a Monroe-style solo based on the melody.

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

Hamish’s Morphine Pill “Hamish’s Morphine Pill” comes from Canadian dobro and clawhammer banjo player Ivan Rosenberg. It’s a three-part tune in Bb, and Joe has adapted it from Ivan’s clawhammer banjo version.

Brazilian Choro Mandolin with Ian Coury

Um Tom Pra Jobim “Um Tom Pra Jobim” is a baião written by Sivuca and Oswaldinho do Acordeon. Baiãos have a more syncopated, underlying feel than choros, but “Um Tom Pra Jobim” has a melodic and harmonic style similar to choros.

Chord Melody Mandolin with Aaron Weinstein

“It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” was composed by Duke Ellington in 1931 and soon became a jazz standard, with recordings by numerous musicians, including Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.

Octave Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh

Red-Haired Boy The fiddle tune “Red-Haired Boy” is one of the most popular bluegrass fiddle tunes. You’ll learn a version of the melody that lays out well on the octave mandolin and some ways to voice the chords.

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

Knut Ramlet’s Hambo Bruce shows you a tune from Norway, quite a departure from the other tunes you’ve been learning. “Knut Ramlet’s Hambo” comes from Hardanger fiddler Anon Egeland, and Bruce plays it in double D tuning.

FIDDLE COURSES

Western Swing Fiddle with Chad Manning

Panhandle Shuffle The instrumental “Panhandle Shuffle” comes from the Sons of the West, a Western swing group who played around the Amarillo, Texas, area during the late 1930s and early ’40s.

Beginning Celtic Fiddle with Emerald Rae

The Wind That Shakes the Barley “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” is another classic reel in the key of D. There’s a big jump in the first part so Emerald shows you how to “rock” your bow to make this jump cleanly.

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.