Category: Free tabs

“Sheep May Safely Graze” Arrangement

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This is my solo guitar arrangement of J.S. Bach’s beautiful “Sheep May Safely Graze.” I use it when I play for the hospitalized ‘premies’ (babies born before the full gestation period) in Portland. Play it as smoothly and gently as you can.  Suggestions: 1. To make the parallel thirds in the opening measures consistent in tone I pick EACH PAIR OF TREBLE NOTES with my index and middle fingers, including the low C on the fifth string; 2. In measure 2, sustain the low C note throughout; on beat 2, lift the middle finger silently (relax!) and place it along with […]

Cool Chord Progressions

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By Mark Hanson It was fun to read about Sting studying scores of French Impressionist composer Maurice Ravel (“Bolero”) for new harmonic and chord progression ideas. In this article we’ll study a chord progression you may not have seen: a dominant 7th chord resolving down 1/2 step (G7 to F#, or D-flat7 to C, for instance) — the “Augmented 6th” progression. First, here’s a fundamental harmonic movement to understand: You all know that V7 chords (“dominant 7th”) resolve regularly to the I chord (“tonic”): G7 to C, for instance. They also resolve effectively up to the vi chord of the […]

A Suggested Low-Stress Practice Routine

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Maybe sitting in front of an interactive computer screen is part of your practice regimen (that’s yours truly in the photo jamming with BB King’s band at his museum in Indianola, Miss.). But if not, here are some thoughts I recently offered to a student. To avoid the Yngwie Malmsteen-like physical maladies caused at least partly by shredding without warming up, I suggest starting your sessions with major scales at the end of the neck, using open strings. You’ll fret about two-thirds of the notes, so your fretting hand relaxes continually. Play the scales relatively slowly and softly to avoid […]

Scales for Warm Up

Posted on Mark Hanson3 CommentsPosted in Free tabs, Stories, Tips from Mark

CAGEDScalesEndOfNeck Warm Up Correctly & Shoot 100% As I shot baskets at 24-Hour Fitness recently, I was thinking about my old coach’s advice about warming up and shooting accurately, and how his advice might pertain to guitarists. He said to start by shooting easy shots – close-in layups – to get your mechanics going, your muscles loose, and your confidence level up. You should shoot these at close to 100%. Then gradually increase the distance from the basket, shooting easily, being as relaxed as you can. His comment: If you can’t make the easy close-in shots, you won’t make the […]

Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” Main Theme – Playable Version

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Here is a my relatively easy fingerstyle arrangement of the main theme of J.S. Bach’s beautiful melody “Sheep May Safely Graze.” It is set in the key of G, standard tuning. To play it in the original key of B-flat, capo it at III.   One challenging “stretch” fingering occurs in measure 3: an F#dim chord over a droning G in the bass. (You can think of this as a D7 chord with G in the bass.) Finger the sixth string in that passage with your ring finger, and the fourth-fret note with your little finger. SheepMaySafelyGrazeMainTheme    

Chord Chart for the Pixar Movie Coco’s “Remember Me”

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Remember Me Chord Chart I’ve had several students (one is singing it in both English and Spanish) ask for these chords after looking at rather suspect versions online. This chart contains chords for the main version you can hear on the soundtrack and YouTube, not the slow lullaby version in C. The recording is in the key of G, sung very high in places. I’ve also provided guitar chords in the key of D, in case you need to sing it in a lower key. Using key-of-D chords with the capo at V produces the original key. An unusual chord […]

“Slap” Harmonics

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Tip From Mark – ‘Slap’ Harmonics I had a question from a client recently about making harmonics sound properly. In particular, he asked about picking-hand ‘slap’ harmonics in my arrangement of “Moonshadow” in Travis Pick the Hits! I will discuss technique using that example. If you need more information about playing harmonics successfully, I’ve written an extensive article that you can read here. At measure 60 in “Moonshadow” (shown below), I barre the four treble strings at the 2nd fret, an Amajor chord. This must happen quickly, as I have just fretted two individual strings with fingertips, and pulled off […]