Session 1
We began the first session with a recap on recognising song structures and with the student concert two days away we decided on the two full songs we are going to perform:
- Everybody Hurts – REM
- Run – Snow Patrol
Rob, a returning student to the class from last years course, has put himself forward to play an unaccompanied performance of ‘Blackbird’ – The Beatles.
Rob performs his rendition of The Beatles ‘Blackbird’
Session 2
We began session 2 with a look at altered tunings. We dropped our 6th string (Thick E string) down to a D note to produce the tuning: DADGBE, commonly known a dropped D tuning. This allowed us to play one finger barre chords and experiment with blues riffs using a slide.
Session 3

The class practice hard!
After lunch we regrouped with our sights set on learning a new song ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out) – Radiohead.
In preparation for this song, which is arranged for finger picking guitar as opposed to the original that was played with a plectrum, we played through some practice finger picking patterns to warm up.
Session 4
We focused our attention back to our performance songs for the final session of the day.
Students Rob and Heather practice REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’