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Top 25 Best Pop Songs for Classical – Spanish – Nylon String Guitars

October 12, 2019 By Klaus Crow Leave a Comment

Yes! Today we have a great list of pop songs specifically written for the nylon string guitar, classical guitar and Spanish guitar.

While you can also play these songs on an acoustic guitar, (and vice versa), they just sound profoundly better when you play them on a nylon string guitar. The classical, Spanish and nylon string guitars provide that warm and mellow sound that make these songs really come alive, and give them that special touch and feel.

In classical and flamenco music nylon strings are a prerequisite, but in pop music steel string is more common, so I thought it would be a good idea to put these songs in the spotlight and give them the attention they deserve.

Each song title in the list below contains a Youtube link to the original song. The “Chords” or “TABS” link will take you to the chords, tabs and lyrics and the “More Chords/TABS” link will show you the official transcribed TABS & Chords for more songs from the same artist.

Enjoy and have an amazing one!

1 – Tears in heaven – Eric Clapton – TABS – More Chords/TABS

2 – Fragile – Sting – TABS – More Chords/TABS

3 – 93 million miles – Jason Mraz – Chords – More Chords/TABS

4 – Is there anybody out there – Pink Floyd – TABS – More Chords/TABS

5 – Spanish guitar – The Doors – TABS – More Chords/TABS

6 – Jolene – Dolly Parton – Chords – More Chords/TABS

7 – Have you ever loved a woman – Bryan Adams & Paco de Lucia – TABS – More Chords/TABS

8 – Heartbeats – José Gonzales – TABS

9 – Belle – Jack Johnson – TABS – More Chords/TABS

10 – Keep Your Head Up – Ben Howard – TABS

How to Play, Locate, Memorize and Practice Bar Chords

September 20, 2019 By Klaus Crow 2 Comments

Once you know how to play bar chords, the next step is to learn how to instantly find, recognize and play every bar chord type all over the neck.

For that to happen you first have to locate, memorize and practice the four essential bar chord shapes (E major, E minor, A major and A minor) all over the fretboard in the most effective way.

The E major shape bar chord indicates a barre (first finger) with an E major (shape) chord played with your 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger.
The E minor shape bar chord indicates a barre with an E minor (shape) chord played with your 3rd and 4th finger.
The A major shape bar chord indicates a barre with an A major (shape) chord played with your 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger.
The A minor shape bar chord indicates a barre with an A minor(shape) chord played with your 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger. See diagrams below:

E major shape – E minor shape – A major shape – A minor shape bar chords

Major Bar Chords (E Major shape)
To find and recognize the names for all the E major shape bar chords you only have to memorize the natural notes on the low E-string, so no sharps (#) or flats (b). (See the neck diagram below).

Memorize the frets and their natural notes:
|1st fret = F | 3rd fr = G | 5 fr = A | 7 fr = B | 8 fr = C |10 fr = D |12 fr = E |

These are 7 natural notes and on each fret starts a bar chord with the same name. For example, when you play an E shape bar chord starting on the 3rd fret where the G note is located on the Low E-string, your chord also is called G major. When you play the E shape bar chord on the 8th fret you’re chord is now called a C major chord and so on. See diagrams below (The chord shape moves up and the chord name changes with it).

Move the entire chord shape up to any fret to change keys.

Mastering The Fretboard Through The Cycle of Fourths

August 30, 2019 By Klaus Crow 6 Comments

In becoming an adept guitar player it is important to master the fretboard, learn all the notes on the guitar, and be able to move freely around the neck and play all your scales, riffs, licks, chops and solos in every key.

You can cultivate this by using and practicing your musical ideas through the cycle of fourths. For in depth explanation of the cycle of fourths check out How to Benefit from The Circle of Fifths and Fourths. In this post we are going into the practical side of things.

Let’s say you play a cool lick in the key of A (See example below). Now the next thing you do is move the lick up a fourth (up 5 frets) and play it in the key of D (A to D is a fourth), then play it in the key of G (D to G is a fourth), next in the key of C (G to C is a fourth), then the key of F (C to F is a fourth), next key of Bb (F to Bb is a fourth), key of Eb (Bb to Eb is a fourth), key of Ab (Eb to Ab is a fourth), key of Db (Ab to Db is a fourth), key of Gb (Db to Gb is a fourth), key of B (Gb to B is a fourth), key of E (B to E is a fourth), and back to the key of A (E to A is a fourth).

Below an example of how to move the lick through the cycle of fourths from A to D to G. You try to figure out the other keys. If you want to learn this lick in a videolesson check out Cool Acoustic Electric Blues Guitar Lick

Now you’ve passed through every key via the cycle of fourths. Practice this with your chords, triads, licks, arpeggios, scales, etc and you’ll discover it’s purpose and benefits. You will feel it’s different, akward and challenging to play the same lick, scale or exercise in other keys. You have to relearn that lick or scale a bit in various positions, because you have moved it up or down the neck.

Why and How to Stop Playing What You Already Know!

July 29, 2019 By Klaus Crow 1 Comment

There comes a stage in the guitar player’s journey where a faster learning curve emerges and a lot of progress is made. The guitar player is picking up things eagerly and easily. It’s a time of fun and flow.

There is also a time for a lot of guitar players when the learning slows down or stops all together. This usually happens during adulthood. Life gets busier and more demanding. Time to practice becomes frugal and priorities are going elsewhere.

Now whenever you pick up the guitar and the same old songs, riffs, licks and chops are coming out of your fingers and you are tapping from an unaltered rusty dusty guitar vocabulary something has got to change. You are stuck in a rut and often without even realizing it.

You get easily bored with the instrument, the practice, the excitement, the fun and challenge, because there is no real practice anymore, only repetitive playing. That’s the sign that you need to spice up your game.

The time has come to reinvent yourself. You have to stop playing what you already know. It’s time for learning new things, adding fresh flavours to your playing, taking the next step, or heading for a different road or approach.