Shutup & Play

This week is a flashback post of a video I put up in April of 2015 on "Still Got the Blues" by the late, great Gary Moore. I can't believe that was over 5 years ago! Gary is one of my favorite guitar players. There are a lot of guys that are more sophisticated and polished, but no one plays with the fire and passion that Gary played with. I loved making this video. I hope that it helps you to learn this awesome Gary Moore blues masterpiece. Cheers Andy https://www.shutupandplay.ca/still-got-the-blues--solo.html

This week is a new video that I've made on "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones. If you watch recent live videos of the Stones, you'll see that they play it in standard tuning, but the original version on "Let It Bleed" is in open E. That's how I'm teaching it in the video. Everyone that's familiar with Keith Richards knows that he's more of a jam/feel type of guitarist that never plays anything the same way twice, but because this intro is so iconic, I did my best to transc...ribe it note for note. I really enjoyed working on this song, recording my demo and filming the lesson. I think it'll really help you if you're wanting to learn the tune. I hope that you get something from the video. Cheers Andy https://www.shutupandplay.ca/gimme-shelter--electric.html See more

This week is a look back at a lesson I first posted a couple of years back on "Calico Skies" by Paul McCartney. It's a great acoustic tune from the Flaming Pie Album. I really enjoyed making this video as this is such a perfect and beautiful piece of music.... I hope you get something out of the lesson. Cheers Andy

This week is a flashback post of a lesson I made back in 2017 on "The Boys Are Back In Town" by Thin Lizzy. This is a total classic and one of my favorite rock songs from the seventies. The chords are cool, but the harmony guitar parts are just awesome.... I really had a good time working on these parts, it's such a fun song to play! I hope you enjoy the videos. Cheers Andy

Earlier this week I was excited to see that the Official John Lennon Facebook page had put up my lesson on Julia! They've put up several of my videos recently so it's been a real honor for me. As simple as it sounds, this one can be tricky and will take a bit of practice to play some of the bar chords. I always love working on Beatles tunes. Their music is just so good!... I hope that you get something from the video and that it helps you to learn how to play this beautiful Beatles classic. Cheers Andy

This week is a look back at a lesson I did in 2015 on "Love In Vain" by The Rolling Stones.The acoustic guitar part was played by Keith Richards. I've always thought that this is one of their best songs. The guitar playing in the intro and first verse and chorus is absolutely perfect. It's a great example of how you dont need to be complicated to be good. Its just D, C and G chords, but the way its put together is where the genius lies.... I had a lot of fun working on this one. I hope you enjoy the video. Cheers, Andy.

I planned to take some time away from making new videos for a while, but when I heard that Peter Green had passed away, I felt like I needed to make a video as a tribute to him and his fantastic guitar playing. He was a major influence on a whole generation of guitar players. So, here's my take on "Black Magic Woman" released way back in 1968 as a single. Peter Green is one of those guys that played the same five notes as everybody else, but somehow made it sound interesting ...and different. Much like Eric Clapton and David Gilmore, they're a testament to the fact that it's not how many notes you play or how many scales you know, it's more about what you "say" with the notes you choose. A lot of that comes down to phrasing, something all of the great players have and something Peter Green had in spades. I hope that you get something from the video. R.I.P. Peter Green...Cheers, Andy

Today is a sad day. I just heard that the great Peter Green, founding member of Fleetwood Mac has passed away. He was such a fantastic guitarist and writer and has always been my all time favorite blues player. He was a major influence on so many great players, one of those was Gary Moore who recorded an entire tribute album of Peter Green covers called "Blues For Greeny". He played the same '59 Les Paul that Peter Green had used on the original tracks and actually wound up buying it from him. One of the best guitarists ever... RIP Peter Green.

Here's a video I made back in 2014 on "Going To California" by Led Zeppelin. This has always been one of my favorite Led Zep songs. The combination of the two guitars and mandolin is quite complex and really beautiful, but it makes it hard to play anything that comes close to the recording. Like a lot of Jimmy Page's stuff, the basic idea isn't complicated, but there are a ton of variations on the basic theme. I tried to get as many as I could in my arrangement.... I hope you enjoy the video and I hope it helps you to play this amazing song. Cheers Andy

This week is a "flashback" lesson I did back in October of 2013 on "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. Maybe my favorite tune of hers, "Don't Know Why" was actually written by Jesse Harris. There's some really interesting, unique and beautiful guitar playing on this one. The song has such a chill vibe to it. It suits Norah Jones perfectly. You see people play it a lot of different ways, but my lesson shows you how Jesse Harris played it on the recording, or at least my interpret...ation of how he played it. If you don't use the correct voicings of the chords it just won't sound right. I really had fun working this one out. I hope you enjoy the video and that it helps you to learn this mellow classic. Cheers Andy

I'll be taking some time away from making new videos for a bit over the summer, so this week is a "retro" post of a video I made back in 2018 on "Badge" by Cream. I've always loved this tune! It was written by George Harrison and Eric Clapton and appears on Cream's final album. George and Eric made some great music together. It's an interesting song and has some great guitar parts, especially that cascading arpeggio part that was put through a leslie cabinet. I had a great ti...me working on this song. I hope that it helps you to learn this late sixties classic. Cheers Andy See more

This week is a "flashback" post of a video I made back in 2017 on "Foxglove" by Bruce Cockburn. This is an awesome instrumental track from his "Night Vision" album released way back in 1973. It's only a minute and 29 seconds long, but there's some really tough playing in this one! There are a couple of techniques you need to master before you can play this and I'll show them to you in the video.... If you're willing to put in the time, once you get it, it's a lot of fun to play. I hope you enjoy the video. Cheers Andy

This week I'm looking at another Joni MItchell song. Although the "Night Ride Home" album didn't sell much, I've always thought the title track was one of her best songs. It's so positive and has a real magical feel about it. It's in open Cadd9 tuning, which makes for some really beautiful sounding chords .... I hope you enjoy the video and that it helps you learn this great song. Cheers, Andy.

This week I'm looking at "Amelia" by Joni Mitchell. I've been putting up these lessons for almost seven years now, and haven't done any Joni Mitchell songs! I really don't know how that happened, as she's one of my favorite artists.... Amelia is one of her more well known tracks and I've always thought it was one of her best and most moving songs. It really showcases her strong songwriting talent. Along with the effortless key changes and the incredible lyric, the guitar playing is really special. I hope that you get something from my video and that it helps you to play this beautiful and haunting Joni Mitchell classic. Cheers, Andy.

This week I'm looking at "Moonlight Mile" by The Rolling Stones. This has to be one of the most under rated Stones ballads. I've always thought that it was an excellent song and I'd put it right up there with Angie and Wild Horses. I really enjoyed working this one out. It put me in a great mood all week. With all of the mayhem in our world the past few days that's saying something!... I hope that you enjoy the video and that it helps you to play this fantastic old Stones classic. Cheers Andy

This week is a "flashback" post of a video I made a couple of years ago on the rhythm and lead guitar parts to "Parisienne Walkways" by the late, great Gary Moore. This is such an awesome song and the guitar playing on it is epic, especially the live versions. Gary was a very aggressive guitarist who played with a lot of fire and passion. He always had phenomenal tone and his bends and vibrato are some of the best. He was also incredibly fast. He really was the complete packa...ge! I enjoy working on every video I make, but I enjoyed this one more than most. I hope that you get something from it and that it helps you to learn this awesome song. Cheers Andy

This week I'm looking at "Substitute" by The Who. I've always thought that this was a perfect song. From the powerful drumming, to the great bass lines, excellent vocal and the signature guitar riff in the intro and choruses, along with the clever and funny lyric, it all fits together so well and is super catchy. I hope that you enjoy the video and that it helps you to learn this Who classic. Cheers, Andy.

Here's my take on "Her Majesty" by The Beatles. At just 23 seconds, it's the shortest Beatles track ever recorded and was one of the first hidden tracks on an album. There are a lot of chords in this one, I count 17, including 6 slash chords, 3 secondary dominants, and 1 borrowed chord. It's a lot trickier to play than you'd think, especially up to speed which is 100 beats per minute. Fitting in all of those chords in 23 seconds is tough!... I had a great time learning this one so I hope that you get something from my video. Cheers Andy

This week I'm looking at "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens. One of the best and most loved songs from the 1970 album "Tea For the Tillerman." It's a fairly simple song based around mostly first position chords. The intro is two guitars, but I'll show you a couple of options to play both parts if you're playing it by yourself. I hope that you enjoy the video and that it helps you to learn this seventies classic. Cheers... Andy See more

This week I'm looking at the guitar parts from Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time." This is one of those classic seventies, super catchy riff based songs. I go over the opening riff in depth in the lesson, as well as all of the other guitar parts. The lick in the breakdown is really different and will take a bit of practice to get down. It's all triplets and the timing is tricky as well. I had a great time recording my demo for this one as this riff has always been one of... my favorites. I hope you enjoy the video and that it helps you to learn this Foreigner classic! Cheers, Andy.

This week is a flashback post on a lesson I did back in 2017 on The Beatles "Revolution." I remember when the single came out. Hey Jude was the A-side, but I must have listened to Revolution on the B-side forty times in a row! I couldn't get enough of it and it still sounds great fifty two years later. I really had fun working on this video. I hope that you enjoy it and that it helps you to learn the parts to this Beatles classic.... I hope everyone is staying healthy and getting in lots of guitar practice! Cheers, Andy.

This week I'm looking at "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison. This is such a great song from the excellent Moondance album released way back in 1970. I was originally just going to do the acoustic parts, but my demo sounded so empty that I wound up playing the melody on my Les Paul.... I really enjoyed working on these videos. When the world is as crazy as it's been lately, it's nice to get into some Van Morrison! I hope everybody is doing well and I hope that you enjoy the videos. Cheers Andy

As promised, here's the lesson on my version of "Stormy Weather". One of the coolest things about this song is that it uses both a diminished and an augmented chord in the main progression. Those are two chords that are seldom heard these days although Jeff Lynne used diminished and augmented chords all the time with ELO and in his solo work.... I hope that you get something from the video. Stay safe, everybody! Cheers Andy

In keeping with the current situation that we all find ourselves in, this week I'm putting up my demo/cover of "Stormy Weather". I think this song pretty well sums up how gloomy a lot of people may be feeling right now. My version is based around the one Jeff Lynne did back in 1990.... I've also put up a standalone audio track for those who might want to listen to just the audio. The link is on the webpage. I'll be posting the lesson next week. Cheers Andy

Just thought I'd let everyone know that after a ton of requests, I put up an mp3 of my backing track for "Hitch a Ride". It's exactly the same as my demo, minus the lead guitars. The link is just under the picture near the top of the page.... I hope that it helps you to practice the solos. Cheers Andy

As promised here's my electric guitar lesson for "Hitch a Ride". This has got to be one of my favorite solos ever recorded. It' a perfect blend of melody, harmony, blazing speed licks and killer vibrato! There's a lot of production and layering of the guitars in this one, and one lick in particular that can only really be played smoothly by overdubbing the second part of it. I go over all of that in the video.... I hope that you enjoy the videos and that it helps you to learn some of this this crazy good playing! Cheers Andy

I hope everyone is well and staying healthy through these "strange days indeed". I'm sure it won't be long before this whole thing is behind us and everything gets back to normal! In the meantime, if you're stuck at home there is an upside. You've got plenty of time to work on your guitar playing!... As promised, this week I'm looking at the acoustic guitar part to "Hitch a Ride" by Boston. I hope you enjoy the video. Cheers Andy

Coronavirus pandemic, stock markets crashing. Damn, nothing but bad news! Here's an idea. It's Saturday morning, make some coffee, fire up your computer and buy some of my merch while checking out my new DEMO of Hitch a Ride by Boston. Then spend the rest of the weekend playing guitar!... This weekend, March 14th & 15th you'll get 10% off of all my merchandise. Use this code on checkout: P1DAY2020 Cheers, Andy.

Hello everyone. I've had quite a few people asking about the ads on my website lately. Ads help me to keep the site free, but they can be annoying and distracting for many people. I've been thinking about offering an ad-free version of my website as an option for those that don't like the ads for a small monthly fee, and thought I would do a survey to find out the level of support before I go ahead with it. If you have around thirty seconds, it would be great if you could fil...l out the survey. There's only three questions. Click the picture to take the survey. Thanks for your time. Cheers Andy

This week is a "retro" post of a lesson I did on "Heroes" by David Bowie back in 2016. It's one of those songs that never gets old and has always been one of my favorite Bowie tunes. I hope you enjoy the video and have fun playing this amazing tune. Cheers, Andy.

Hello everyone. This is just a reminder that this Sunday, 02/16/2020 will be the last day my tabs will be available. If and when I find a viable way to license the tabs, I'll let everybody know. Thanks to everyone who has supported what I do by purchasing the tabs and those who continue their support by donating, I really appreciate it! Cheers... Andy See more

A few months back due to popular demand, I started providing tabs to go along with my lesson videos. The response has been great and it was working out really well but unfortunately, due to potential licensing/copyright issues I can no longer provide access to the tabs. You can still get them from the website for the next week or so but after 02/16/2020 they will no longer be available. This doesn't affect my Christmas song arrangements so they'll be staying but everything el...se will be coming down. I'm looking into a couple of different options for licensing the tabs but haven't decided which way I'm going to go yet or if it will even be viable for me to continue to offer them at all. I'll let everyone know when I decide what to do. I realize how much some of you love having the tabs to go along with the lesson videos and I'm very sorry if you're disappointed by this. Unfortunately, without the proper licensing I can't continue to provide them. Cheers, Andy.

This week I'm taking a look at "Monkey Man" by The Rolling Stones. A tab for this lesson is available on the website under the TABS menu. I've had a lot of people asking me to do a lesson on this tune so here it is! Other than the iconic piano intro, played by the great Nicky Hopkins, this one is all about the guitar! Keef plays some truly funky licks in this one!... I hope you enjoy the video and have fun playing this great old tune. Cheers

A tab for this lesson is now available on the website under the TABS menu. This week is a "retro" post of a lesson I did back in February of 2017. It's the "fireside" performance of "Can't Find My Way Home" played by Stevie Winwood. I really like this version of the song, it's very honest and it really lets you see how talented Stevie Winwood is and what a great voice he has. I hope you enjoy the video and have fun playing this amazing tune. Cheers

This week is a "retro" post of a lesson I did back in 2017. It's my acoustic fingerstyle arrangement of "Eleanor Rigby". I've had a lot of people ask for a tab for this one so here it is! It's available on the website under the TABS menu. I spent a long time working this one out. I tried to get as many elements of the original recording as I could.... I hope you enjoy the video and have fun playing this amazing tune. Cheers, Andy

A tab for this lesson is now available on the website under the TABS menu. This week is a "flashback" post of a lesson I made back in 2015 on "Bron-Yr-Aur" by Led Zeppelin. Since I just did "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" last week I thought it made sense to highlight, and provide a tab for "Bron-Yr-Aur" as well. Who knows how Jimmy Page came up with this stuff, he really is an amazing writer. Once you get this piece down, you wont want to stop playing it! Cheers

A tab for this lesson is available on the website under the TABS menu. This week I'm looking at "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" by Led Zeppelin. I did a lesson on "Bron-Yr-Aur" from Physical Graffiti a few years back and since then have had hundreds of requests for "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp". This is a very quirky and difficult song to play on guitar! It's extremely aggressive and along with the hybrid picking, probably the hardest thing to deal with is the very strange timing in certain parts of... the song. It's definitely not for the faint of heart and will take a lot of focus and energy to get through! I always really enjoy working on Zep's acoustic stuff and this one was no exception. I hope that you're able to get something from the lesson and that you enjoy playing this Zeppelin acoustic classic. Cheers Andy