New Lessons for September 2026
Peghead Nation instructors have hours of new lessons, tunes, and techniques for you!
Peghead Nation instructors have released hours of new instruction in their courses, and here are the tunes and lessons we’ve just published for September 2026. Join us in any course and get your first month free. Just use promo code Learn26 at checkout!
GUITAR COURSES
Norman Blake-Style Guitar with Greg Schochet
Randall Collins: This first-person account of a hard man on the lam has been a staple of Norman Blake performances over the years. It’s a relatively simple song structure with a lot of chord changes as it shifts between several tone centers.
Irish Guitar with John Doyle
Born for Sport: Here’s another grand old piping jig that is regularly played at seisiúns and céilí dances. John teaches a basic version of this before introducing a more embellished version with intriguing substitutions and rhythm shifts.
Contemporary Flatpicking Guitar with Grant Gordy
Denver Belle: This perky tune is associated with long-time Blue Grass Boys fiddler Kenny Baker and his family. Grant shows you a guitar-friendly arrangement of the tune. The A part is in the key of C, and it modulates to G for the B part.
Irish Flatpicking Guitar with Flynn Cohen
The Bank of Turf: This jig in the key of D is a staple of the Irish repertoire and includes D-major arpeggios, a few slides and shifts, and some ornamental rolls, most notably starting on the second fret of the G string.
Western Swing Guitar with Matt Munisteri
I Had Someone Else Before I Had You: Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys laid down the canonical version of this sassy number in the key of B♭. Matt walks you through a chord-melody version and gives you tips for fingering the trickier passages.
MANDOLIN COURSES
Weekly Mandolin Workout with Ethan Setiawan
Bluegrass Kickoffs: This month’s regimen focuses on mandolin introductions (aka kickoffs) for bluegrass songs, with proven introductions for straight-ahead standards in 4/4 time, gospel songs in waltz time (3/4), some longer intros, too.
Monroe-Style Mandolin with Mike Compton
Salt Creek: “Salt Creek” is in the key of A with a distinctive flatted seventh chord (G) in both parts. Mike says “you get a lot of mileage out of simple shapes” in Monroe’s setting, which makes the tune relatively easy to play at a snappy pace.
Gypsy Jazz Mandolin Essentials with Aaron Weinstein
It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing): This Duke Ellington standard was recorded by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli and it remains a favorite with jazz manouche groups today. It’s in the key of G minor with an AABA format.
The Advancing Mandolinist with Joe K. Walsh
Big Bug: “Big Bug” is a fast bluegrass number in the key of E major written by Peghead Nation mandolin instructor John Reischman. The tune has an AABB form with a melody that includes a lot of flatted sevenths and flatted thirds.
Octave Mandolin with Joe K. Walsh
Peartree: This sweet tune is generally credited to fiddler Gaither Carlton, who was Doc Watson’s father-in-law. There are lovely recordings by Doc Watson, Billy Strings, and others. The tune is in the key of G and has a standard AABB format.
FIDDLE COURSES
Jazz Violin with Aaron Weinstein
How High the Moon: This ubiquitous jazz and swing standard is interesting because it changes tonality every two to four bars. Aaron describes his solo as a “lopsided” variation of the melody with shifted phrasing and other improvisational techniques.
Old-Time Fiddle with Bruce Molsky
Burt Anderson’s Tune: Bruce learned this crooked C tune from Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport. It has a four-bar A part is played three times, resulting in a lopsided first half of 12 bars. The B part is a standard eight-bars repeated once.
BANJO COURSES
Beginning Banjo by Ear with BB Bowness
Worried Man Blues: This chestnut is a simple 16-bar form in the key of G with just three chords. BB shares an arrangement that melds the melody with forward-backward rolls for a classic bluegrass sound.
Creating Bluegrass Banjo Solos with Bill Evans
Songs in C: Bill introduces you to creating solos in the key of C with the bluegrass jam classics: “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” and “I’ll Fly Away.” You’ll stay in the same G tuning, but you’ll learn a different scale and a new chord.
Clawhammer Banjo with Evie Ladin
Brown’s Dream: Not to be confused with “John Brown’s Dream” in the key of A, this G tune comes from the Roan Mountain HIlltoppers. It’s a two-part tune with a repeating four-bar A part and a B section that drops an octave on the repeat.
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.
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