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All My Lessons from 2025!

Jan 8, 2026

My friends! A new year is upon us, and before my next lesson I want to share a summary of all the lessons I made in 2025. For your convenience, I’ve grouped them all by category. Each lesson is linked below… enjoy!

At Long Last… My Guitar 101 Course!

In Spring 2025, I finally released a much-requested series on videos on guitar fundamentals. These are aimed at folks who are getting started or otherwise looking for some guidance along their guitar-playing journey.

While there are more videos I plan on adding to this series, I’m proud of this initial batch! Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Leaning Into the PDF Handbooks

While my weekly lessons almost always feature a members-only PDF with practice notes, I’ve started to create some more comprehensive “handbooks” that go deep on a particular topic or technique.

Below are the topics I tackled in 2025. I have a lot more ambition to continue pulling on this thread in the new year, so after enjoying what’s below — stay tuned for more!

Songs: Strum & Sing!

Here’s the song lessons I made in 2025 which more-or-less feature straightforward strumming. Some of these songs are more beginner-friendly than others, but they all can be tackled with basic strumming patterns — if that’s what you’re after.

Songs: Strum, with Lead and/or Melody

These lessons are also strummed, but each one features some sort of lead guitar or melody deep-dive.

Songs: Fingerstyle

Fingerstyle and Travis Picking is a favorite playing style of mine, and I made plenty of lessons in 2025 using these techniques! Each of these songs, along with all those above, came in by member request.

Other Helpful Tips

The following lessons don’t fall into any of the categories above, but I wanted to share just the same! These range from practice tips to technique-specific deep-dives.

Here’s to a great 2026!

I look very much forward to continue growing my Song Notes lesson library in the new year. I have a bunch of ambitions & ideas, both for new lessons as well as considerable improvements to my website.

If you have any particular requests, especially for courses or website updates, please reply to this email and let me know! And thanks again for coming along this journey with me… your support means the world. See you in next week’s lesson!

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Featured Courses

Guitar for Beginners

A guide to getting started with guitar! Everything you need to know to begin your journey. Choosing a guitar, other gear you'll need, fretting notes & chords, learning your first songs, and more.

14 lessons

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Beginner Chord Guide

A guide to the must-know chords you'll need when getting started with guitar! The quickest way to learn major chords, minor chords, the chords in each key, and more.

22 lessons

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Reading Music for Guitarists

Learn to read tabs, chord charts, fretboard diagrams, strumming patterns, and more! This course explains how to understand all of these must-know notation styles.

6 lessons

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Blues Starter Kit

A guide to must-know elements of beginner blues guitar! I'll walk you through the essential topics, showing you fun things to play along the way.

18 lessons

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Christmas Songbook
Strumming & Rhythm
Learning Lead Guitar
Fingerstyle & Travis Picking
Practical Music Theory
Major Keys
Minor Keys
Double Stops
Diagonal Pentatonics
Walk Ups & Walk Downs
Using a Capo
CAGED Shapes
Practice Tips
Barre Chords

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Interactive fretboard map! See the patterns behind every scale in any key.

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Capo Captain

An easy way to calculate key & chord combinations, for any capo location!

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Key Master

See and hear the notes, chords, scales used in each of the most common keys.

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Blank Tabs

Free PDF templates to download, print, and write out your own guitar tabs!

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Coming soon is Jambox – which shows all the video jam tracks I've made. It's note quite ready for the spotlight, but check it out if you like!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!

Recent Lessons

  • Jan 16, 2026

    Melodic Fingerstyle Fun with "Piano Man"

    Learn to play the melody to "Piano Man" in a rich, fingerstyle arrangement that includes additional chord tones for harmonic depth. Simplified version included!

  • Jan 8, 2025

    2025: All My Lessons in One Place!

    Here's a mega-list of all the lessons I made in the past year! I've grouped them by category, to help you dial into the playing style you're looking for.

  • Dec 19, 2025

    "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues

    Learn how to play this 1987 Christmas classic from The Pogues, featuring Kirsty MacColl. This isn't one I knew of until a few years back, when several Song Notes members sent it in. It's now one of my all-time favorites, and I'm excited to share it with you today.

  • Dec 12, 2025

    "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole

    Chestnuts roasting on an open fire begins this all-timer of a Christmas tune... which I'll teach you to play! My lesson includes a simplified arrangement, as well — for those of you who want to avoid barre chords.

  • Dec 4, 2025

    "If I Needed You" by Emmylou Harris & Don Williams

    After many member requests, I'm happy to share my step-by-step lesson for this fingerstyle classic from Townes Van Zandt (taught in the style of Emmylou).

  • Nov 21, 2025

    Learn to Play "Hey Joe", Step-by-Step

    Let's dive into this classic from the 1960s! I teach an acoustic version inspired by Billy Roberts, who first recorded this song in 1962 (a few years before Hendrix). Tons of fun!

  • Nov 15, 2025

    Songs Using the One-Four-Five Chords

    A round-up of all the song lessons I've made using the most common chords in any major key: the one, four, and five! Including a new 3-page PDF guide, which will help you recognize the 1-4-5 chords at a glance.

  • October 31, 2025

    "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" by The Hollies

    Learn to riff & strum along with this 1971 classic from The Hollies! The intro in particular is some of the most fun I've had learning a new riff in quite some time.

  • October 24, 2025

    "Dust in the Wind" Intro Fingerstyle, Step-by-Step

    I break down the 16 measure introduction to this all-time classic from Kansas, walking you through things step-by-step. Whether you want something simple or advanced, I've got you covered.

Browse All Recent Lessons →

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