How to Play the Music of Stevie Wonder by Adam Rafferty is a fantastic new release aimed at fingerstyle guitarists wanting to hone their chops and add some R&B and funk to their repertoire with arrangements of the Stevie Wonder hits “Superstition”, “I Wish”, “Overjoyed”, and “Sir Duke.” The DVD/booklet sells for $34.97 at www.adamrafferty.com.
The DVD lasts just under two hours and Adam spends between 20 to 30 minutes teaching each arrangement. The video begins with a short introductory segment in which Adam encourages guitarists not to be intimidated or frustrated with the complex material presented in the video. He then briefly talks about what he calls “learning how to learn” and describes four specific stages of the learning process that students will encounter while working through the pieces. Adam adds that he continues to practice these pieces often and that he too is still fine tuning his performances!
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I updated my Practice Record forms yesterday, with room to record roughly eight weeks of both repertoire and fundamental studies with tempo markings and list long-term goals. A good way to keep track of your progress on weekly assignments and document your daily practice routine. The Practice Record will continue to be available from the Student Resources page.
Download Practice Record (PDF Format)
Until recently, I’ve never bothered to learn a respectable arrangement of “Happy Birthday.” Here’s a song that I never plan on performing, and yet receive more requests for than any other. When you consider that most folks go out to a bar or restaurant with friends and family to celebrate their special day, I guess it should come as no surprise that there’s a birthday in the room almost every night. So after faking my way through a few times, I finally sat down to create a solo guitar arrangement for myself. If you enjoy the arrangement or have any questions please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
The Music
Below you can download my arrangement in PDF format and listen to a recording of it. Please leave a comment below if you enjoy the arrangement.
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Looking for an easier version?
Try Easy Happy Birthday Accompaniment for Guitar!
Practice Notes
My goal was to create a simple, traditional sounding arrangement that would support vocals if anyone wanted to sing along. No fancy ornamentations or chord substitutions were used, although I am considering doing a jazz arrangement at some point.
Continue reading 'Happy Birthday for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar'
