Free Guitar Lessons Blog

Released as a single in 1977, “Hotel California” is the title song from the Eagles’ album of the same name. The song topped the Billboard hot 100 singles chart for one week in May of 1977. Since the song’s release there have been many interpretations as to exactly what the lyrics are referring to, however, [...]

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The single “Dust in the Wind” was released by the rock band Kansas on their album “Point of no Return”, in 1977. Later, Kansas also released a live version of the song on their album entitled “Two for the Show”. According to some sources, Kerry Livgren wrote the song after reading a book of Native [...]

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Released by Deep Purple in 1972, the classic song, “Smoke on the Water” can be found on their album entitled Machine Head. When the song was originally recorded, the band did not think it would be a hit. It was not until it was released in the United States as a single, a full year [...]

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Cash was inspired to write this song after seeing the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951) while serving in West Germany in the United States Air Force. Cash recounted how he came up with the “Reno” line: “I sat with my pen in my hand, trying to think up the worst reason a [...]

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Although Neil has never been one to worry about making hit records, this song is by far his greatest hit and probably best-known song. Neil wrote the song in 1971 while suffering from a back injury and released it on his harvest album in 1972. The song’s composition is not difficult but it has enough [...]

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Featured as the soundtrack in two science fiction movies in the eighties: An American Werewolf In London (1981) and Twilight Zone: The Movie (1982), “Bad Moon Rising” can be found on CCR’s 1969 album entitled “Green River”. There have been many theories as to exactly what this song is about. According to John Fogerty in [...]

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“Peaceful Easy Feeling” was written by Jack Tempchin and was the third single from the Eagles’ debut album entitled simply “Eagles”. Glenn Frey sings the lead vocal, with Bernie Leadon providing the main harmony vocal (starting in the beginning of the second verse) and Randy Meisner completing this three-part harmony. For the video below the [...]

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ZZ Top’s famous hit song about Miss Edna’s whorehouse, which at the time of the songs release was located in Texas. It was later closed down by the governor of Texas under pressure of a zealous TV reporter from Houston. The music is based on a John Lee Hooker song called “Boogie Chillen”. In 1992, [...]

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Arguably, the most famous rock song of all time, “Stairway to Heaven” was released by Led Zeppelin in 1971. Even though it’s banned in most guitar shops, (lol) the sheet music for this song has sold well-over a million copies. During an interview with Jimmy Page, Rolling Stone magazine asked how much of the song’s [...]

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“Born Under a Bad Sign” though recorded by many including Cream was Albert King’s signature song. It can be found on the album, which is also called, “Born Under a Bad Sign” which was released in 1969. The video below will also comes with a backing track that you can play along with.

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