New Lessons Added for November 2021

Take a look at new the new lessons just released in Peghead Nation courses!

By: Dan Gabel

November 5, 2021

Peghead Nation instructors have released hours of new instruction in their courses, and here are the tunes and lessons we’ve just published for August 2021. Join us in any course and get your first month free. Just use promo code Learn21 at checkout!

GUITAR COURSES

Roots of Jazz Guitar with Matt Munisteri

Teddy Bunn’s “Wild Man Blues” Traditional jazz bands have been playing Jelly Roll Morton’s “Wild Man Blues” since 1927. You’ll learn guitarist Teddy Bunn’s solo from the 1938 Johnny Dodds recording of “Wild Man Blues.”

Irish Backup Guitar with Flynn Cohen

The Peacock’s Feather “The Peacock’s Feather” is a hornpipe in the key of D minor. Flynn shows you two ways to back up “The Peacock’s Feather,” one in first position and using high-D drone chords and closed-position, double-D chords.

Alternate Tunings Fingerstyle Guitar with Doug Young

Shenandoah It’s important to learn the harmonized major scales in whatever tuning you’re in. In this lesson, Doug uses the traditional song “Shenandoah” to show you the harmonized major scale in dropped-D tuning.

MANDOLIN COURSES

Bluegrass Mandolin Jam Favorites with Joe K. Walsh

Daybreak in Dixie The banjo tune “Daybreak in Dixie” is often called at bluegrass jams. Joe shows you a version of “Daybreak in Dixie” played by the great Adam Steffey that combines phrases from the banjo melody with connecting phrases.

Monroe-Style Mandolin with Mike Compton

Brand New Shoes Bill Monroe’s 1957 solo on “Brand New Shoes” is in the key of A and is played out of open position with all downstrokes. It includes a lot of hammers and slurs and has a blues feel.

The Advancing Mandolinist with Joe K. Walsh

Ah, Spring! “Ah, Spring!” is the leadoff track on Chris Thile’s second album Stealing Second. It’s a moderate tempo tune in the key of G that sounds like a bit of an exercise, with repeated patterns and arpeggios that you can apply to other tunes.

Melodic Mandolin Tunes with John Reischman

The Old Steeple “The Old Steeple” is another original tune of John’s from his album New Time and Old Acoustic. It’s in the key of G minor and John plays it in GDGD tuning, with the A and E strings tuned down a whole step.

Irish Mandolin with Marla Fibish

The Concert Reel (#1) In this lesson, you’ll learn the first of another pair of tunes recorded by Frankie Gavin and Alec Finn with the same name: The Concert Reels. The first “Concert Reel” is in the key of A Dorian.

Chord Melody Mandolin with Aaron Weinstein

Pennies from Heaven “Pennies from Heaven” is one of the most popular jazz standards Aaron starts his arrangement with a standard chord-melody treatment and then varies things with some single-note melodic lines and bass lines punctuated by chordal hits.

Octave Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh

Song Accompaniment in C: “Cold, Cold Heart” Joe shows you how to accompany a singer with double stops in the key of C, using the Hank Williams song “Cold, Cold Heart.”

BANJO COURSES

Bluegrass Banjo with Bill Evans

Welcome to New York Bill Emerson wrote the banjo tune “Welcome to New York” in the 1970s and recorded it on Welcome to the Red Fox. It’s in the key of D and has an unusual chord progression: the first part is D–C–G–D, while the second part uses a G minor chord.

Contemporary Bluegrass Banjo with Wes Corbett

Gold Rush The Bill Monroe fiddle tune “Gold Rush” is a bluegrass jam classic. In this lesson, you’ll learn an intermediate-level version of “Gold Rush” that combines melodic and single-string style passages with Scruggs-style licks.

Old-Time Banjo with Bruce Molsky

Flying Indian “Flying Indian” comes from Virginia fiddler Jesse Shelor and works well as a banjo tune. Bruce plays it on the banjo in an unusual tuning: gDGDE, which is sometimes called “Last Chance” tuning.