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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A while back I posted a solo guitar arrangement of Happy Birthday.
I’ve since received a few requests for an easier accompaniment part suitable for basic strumming so here’s the version I teach my beginning/intermediate students. It’s in D major, uses only first-position chords, features a basic bass/chord strumming pattern, and best of all – it sounds really good! The optional introduction simply places the final few bars of the melody atop the chords and will help you set up the tempo and key for the big sing-along. Please leave a comment below if you enjoy the arrangement.
Happy Birthday Accompaniment for Guitar PDF
Looking for a solo fingerstyle guitar arrangement?
Try Happy Birthday for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar!
I learned Paul Simon’s guitar accompaniment for “Scarborough Fair” probably about 20 years ago from a transcription that ran in Frets magazine. The instantly recognizable guitar part does a great job of complementing the vocal line with its hypnotic repetition of airy, ambiguous chords occasionally shifting gears to reinforce the melody by harmonizing or doubling it. Those spots where the melody was doubled made me ask myself if it might be possible to maintain the melody throughout the piece, creating a solo version. It turns of that it wasn’t too difficult to do, and I ended up with the not-too-difficult arrangement you see below.
These days I use it mostly as a solo piece, but you could also use it as an instrumental break if you’re performing the song with vocals. Have fun with it, it’s been a great addition to my repertoire. If you enjoy the arrangement or have any questions please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
The Music
In PDF format:
Scarborough Fair
Practice Notes
The arrangement is pretty straight-forward. Bringing the piece to life mostly rests on your ability to bring out the melody. It was difficult to notate the melody notes separately from the accompaniment, so I’ve included the vocal line to clear that up. Be aware of the melody at all times and work to keep it above the level of the other notes.
Continue reading 'Scarborough Fair for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar'
A couple of years ago I decided that while I really wanted to do a lot of the old standards on my dinner music-type gigs, I was a little concerned that I might alienate some listeners with songs that they were unfamiliar with. Although the tunes I like to present are old classics, they are no longer a part of the mainstream media. Most people seem to be only peripherally aware of these wonderful tunes and if anything they seem to have become a part of our musical collective unconscious.
So I turned to the movie soundtracks of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. These films and few others like them use a lot of great sentimental old tunes in their soundtracks. I hope that by including these songs in my sets they will suggest the same air of romance and nostalgia that they did in the films, and sound at least a little bit familiar to the average listener.
I’ve been winging my way through one of these tunes: “You Made Me Love you” from Sleepless in Seattle on the gig for a while now with just a lead sheet and I figured that it’s about time to write out some of my better ideas and clean up the rough spots. This arrangement seems to lean heavily on some of the ideas I picked up from studying Barry Galbraith’s work. Below is the arrangement for you to check out in PDF format. If you enjoy the arrangement or have any questions please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
The Music
NOTE: The arrangement was updated Friday March 6, 2009. The newer version includes first and second endings and a tag.
