UPDATE: May 6, 2021

Quick heads up! The educational PDFs for my “song” lessons are being temporarily removed – while I work out some copyright issues. I’m currently working out licensing arrangements with the copyright holders, so they can be properly credited & compensated. Fortunately, 100% of my video lessons remain available on YouTube – and I have plenty of educational PDFs for my non-song lessons!

👉 For more about the copyright situation, check out this update I posted on Patreon (no login required). Thanks!

Support me on Patreon ($3/month, cancel anytime) to get access to the growing catalog of 200+ educational PDFs I’ve been creating since August 2018. I have been adding ~1-2 new lessons a week (video and PDF).

Annual plans are also available (which saves you 15%). Thanks for supporting me and this project, it means a lot!

Support me on Patreon

Free PDF sampler pack

Here’s a free sample pack of some of the songs I’ve written up nicely formatted PDFs for. Download these as you please, and print them out! They’re designed to fit well on notebook-sized paper. If you find these helpful, please consider tossing a few dollars into my Paypal tip jar. If you want access to PDFs for all new lessons I create, please consider supporting me on Patreon ($3/month).

• Travis Picking vs. Traditional Fingerstyle (tips & techniques)
• Essential Mods for the A-major chord (tips & techniques)
• Fingerstyle Walkdown exercise, Key of C (warm up exercise)
• "Happy Birthday" triad exercise, Key of G (warm up exercise)
• Blank guitar tab templates

What members are saying

You have the very best tabs on the net! Easy to follow, logically designed, complete with all information. That's why I'm a supporter!

– Jimbo

Thank you David for the most excellent guitar lessons. I am getting old now and my guitar is a new and awesome instrument that gives me peace in our troubled world. Your contribution and dedication to your lessons provides me with hours of learning in an easy fun style. I am blessed to have been able to support you on Patreon and have access to everything you put out there.

– Harvey

I've seen more guitar instructional videos on the web than I can count but but no one does a better job of explaining and simplifying a song as you do, with the added bonus of a downloadable PDFs. I just got back into playing acoustic guitar last year after a hiatus of too many decades. Keep up the good work you do for all us beginners, re-beginners and not so beginners.

– David

Thank you 🙏 you are a wonderful teacher as well as a fabulous musician not often do you get both in the same package.

– Eileen

I have just picked up the guitar after 30 years of saying 'I would love to learn that'. Out of all the lessons I have come across online yours are the best. You have a way of making the song sound close to the original and making it pretty easy to learn as a beginner to learn. I could not keep watching the lessons without donating something because learning the guitar takes time and devotion. You deserve to get something back for all you put in. I have subscribed to your channel, and I have never subscribed to anything online. I wish you all the best and hope you have continued success.

– Joshauh

I enjoy your lessons and teaching style. They are practical and I love that you break things down in an easy to understand way. Also your lessons are fun! :) I'm a happy supporter and thank you for providing great service and your musical gift.

– Tangie

I’ve tinkered with the guitar since I was a teenager but never really committed to practicing it. I could never find the passion or the structure from a teacher to keep me at it. I have a full time job and kids...and life is busy. Almost two years ago, I broke my ankle playing baseball and dusted off the guitar. I stumbled across your lesson Say It Ain’t So by Weezer. I was completely sold. I decided to become a patreon supporter of yours. Tonight, I was just completely compelled to send you a message. Your lessons, teaching, PDF’s...you name it...Are pure quality. You come across as passionate about your work and it truly makes a difference. Anyway. I hope you and your family are staying healthy and safe during these times. I wish you all best. Thank you for the lessons and I also hope that your site becomes so successful that you can just do this full time. No response necessary. Just reaching out to say I wish lots of good karma to go your way! Cheers!

– Jason

You are such an amazing teacher! You describe steps in detail that is so necessary for beginners like me. Thank you for all that you do!

– Cara

Man, you're the best out there and the way you break things down with printables along with the different camera angles helps me in ways I can't put into words. It's truly a pleasure to be a Patreon supporter of yours!

– BB

You are the very best on the web for teaching how to play a particular song down to the details that deliver a truly professional sounding version. I love it!

– Nick

Songs I have video lessons for

📝 PDFs for my "song" lessons temporarily unavailable! I'm working out a proper copyright solution that will fairly credit & compensate the rights holder of each song. Get the latest info here (last updated May 6, 2021)

Warm Up Exercise PDFs:

• Combining chords with a melody riff (Key of G)
  May 13, 2021 • Lesson #364
• Adding pentatonic fills over D-Cadd9-G
  Jan 23, 2021 • Lesson #348
• Melody Exercise for "Can't Help Falling in Love" (w/ guitar tabs)
  Jan 10, 2021 • Lesson #344
• 'Starlight' Riff in F#
  Nov 8, 2020 • Lesson #336
• Riffs with Circular Bass Notes
  Jul 25, 2020 • Lesson #314
• Happy Birthday triad exercise (Key of G)
  Jul 23, 2020 • Lesson #312
• Backwoods Pull-Off Exercise (Key of C)
  Jun 1, 2020 • Lesson #304
• "I've Just Seen a Face" by The Beatles (intro riff)
  May 8, 2020 • Lesson #299
• Country Bass Line Exercise in 6/8 Time
  Apr 26, 2020 • Lesson #297
• Walk-down exercise inspired by the Turnpike Troubadours
  Mar 15, 2020 • Lesson #290
• Sierra Ferrell "In Dreams"-inspired riff
  Jan 21, 2020 • Lesson #278
• Practicing Walk Ups & Walk Downs in G
  Jan 7, 2020 • Lesson #276
• 2-string blues riffs for beginners (step by step)
  Dec 14, 2019 • Lesson #271
• "Death By 1000 Cuts" Fingerstyle Walkdown Exercise (Key of C)
  Oct 26, 2019 • Lesson #264
• D-Cadd9-G riffin' on "Thank You" and "Can't You See"
  Sep 21, 2019 • Lesson #259
• Latin Bassline Groove from "Seniorita"
  Sep 8, 2019 • Lesson #257
• 4-finger magic with E major
  Aug 24, 2019 • Lesson #253
• Colter Wall's Sleeping on the Blacktop intro riff
  May 11, 2019 • Lesson #237
• Breezy strumming on E-Bsus4-Asus2
  Apr 15, 2019 • Lesson #231
• Triad exercises using A, D, & E
  Mar 29, 2019 • Lesson #228
• Cowboy chords and walking bass lines
  Feb 22, 2019 • Lesson #219
• Barre Chord Exercise for Smells Like Teen Spirit
  Feb 13, 2019 • Lesson #215
• Open chords in key of D w/ major & minor triads
  Feb 9, 2019 • Lesson #214
• "Blue on Black" grooving on D5-Cadd9-G
  Jan 26, 2019 • Lesson #210
• Open chords in the Key of A
  Jan 12, 2019 • Lesson #206
• Open chords in the Key of E
  Dec 26, 2018 • Lesson #202
• Backyard grooving in E-major ("Posters" by Jack Johnson)
  Nov 20, 2018 • Lesson #193
• A-minor pentatonic walk-down groove
  Nov 6, 2018 • Lesson #189
• "One Horse Town" intro riff
  Oct 27, 2018 • Lesson #186
• Transitioning between Em7 - D/F# - G
  Oct 7, 2018 • Lesson #185
• Mudfootball G-D7 Shuffle
  Oct 7, 2018 • Lesson #180
• Murder ballad groove in A-minor
  Oct 1, 2018 • Lesson #179
• Blaze Foley country strumming
  Sep 21, 2018 • Lesson #176
• "Sultans of Swing" chorus lick
  Sep 18, 2018 • Lesson #174
• Easy E Fingerpicking Fun
  Sep 2, 2018 • Lesson #171
• Two-finger acoustic blues in Drop-D Tuning
  Jul 24, 2018 • Lesson #163
• "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash (Intro riff)
  • Lesson #262

Practice Log PDFs:

• Learning the opening chord to Neil Young's Old Man
  Sep 4, 2020 • Lesson #326
• 4 tips for learning Blackbird
  Nov 3, 2019 • Lesson #265
• Meditative fingerpicking practice, inspired by "The Wind" by Cat Stevens
  Sep 15, 2019 • Lesson #258
• Fingerpicking C-G-Am-F (based on Vampire Weekend's "Hold You Now")
  Jul 16, 2019 • Lesson #247
• How I composed a multi-part fingerstyle guitar arrangement
  Apr 12, 2019 • Lesson #230
• Travis picking finger technique (right-hand index & pinky)
  Mar 18, 2019 • Lesson #227
• A-minor blues improvisation w/ backing track
  Feb 20, 2019 • Lesson #217
• Adding fills to the Wild Horses intro
  Jan 24, 2019 • Lesson #209
• Improvised guitar pickin' on "The Gambler"
  Jan 16, 2019 • Lesson #207
• Practicing with a backing track (feat. Tennessee Whiskey)
  Dec 1, 2018 • Lesson #195
• How to spice up a 2-chord song (feat. Tennessee Whiskey)
  Nov 14, 2018 • Lesson #191
• Adding pinky accent notes to a chord progression
  Nov 11, 2018 • Lesson #190
• The "Pretty Woman" lick, played 4 different ways
  Oct 13, 2018 • Lesson #183
• Learning to Travis Pick with "Clay Pigeons"
  Sep 13, 2018 • Lesson #173
• "The Chain" and Double-Drop D tuning
  Aug 6, 2018 • Lesson #168

Tips & Technique PDFs:

• How to add grit to your walk-ups and walk-downs
  Apr 25, 2021 • Lesson #361
• Understanding the 12 notes (Practical Music Theory Ep. 1)
  Mar 26, 2021 • Lesson #356
• Walk-ups, Walk-downs, and the fretboard
  Mar 7, 2021 • Lesson #354
• Blank Guitar Tab Template
  Jan 9, 2021 • Lesson #345
• Guitar walk-ups and walk-downs, quickly explained
  Dec 18, 2020 • Lesson #342
• G-chord finger position guide
  Oct 25, 2020 • Lesson #334
• Silencing the strings on the 2 count (percussive technique)
  Aug 23, 2020 • Lesson #325
• How to silence the strings with your left hand
  Jul 18, 2020 • Lesson #311
• Travis Picking vs. "Normal" Fingerstyle
  May 16, 2020 • Lesson #302
• Syncopation and Sus Chords
  Mar 19, 2020 • Lesson #289
• 12 easy ways to modify the A-major chord
  Nov 23, 2019 • Lesson #267
• How to read & write strumming patterns
  Oct 6, 2019 • Lesson #260
• 2-finger chords in the key of C
  Aug 2, 2019 • Lesson #249
• Ring Finger Barre Strength Exercise
  Jun 25, 2019 • Lesson #245
• Fingerstyle F with wrapped thumb
  Jun 21, 2019 • Lesson #244
• An easier way to play F#m (no barre chord)
  Jun 4, 2019 • Lesson #241
• Add easy flourish to C-F-G-Am
  Mar 4, 2019 • Lesson #223
• Guitar chords on a ukulele
  Dec 13, 2018 • Lesson #198
• Slap strumming basics (percussive rhythm technique)
  Dec 7, 2018 • Lesson #197
• Playing A-major with big fingers or a small fretboard
  Nov 27, 2018 • Lesson #194
• How to play F#m (F sharp minor)
  Nov 18, 2018 • Lesson #192
• Palm muting basics
  Oct 30, 2018 • Lesson #187
• How to play Fadd9
  Sep 24, 2018 • Lesson #177
• Walking up & down between the E, A, and B7 (bass note transitions)
  Feb 27, 2017 • Lesson #49

240 PDFs, and counting!

If you’d like access to all the lessons above, please consider supporting me on Patreon! It’s truly appreciated, and goes to support my independent efforts (and costs) of creating all these lessons to share with the world. Thank you.

Support me on Patreon

Prefer to buy the PDFs individually?

I currently don’t sell any of my PDFs for individual purchase – but maybe I will one day in the future. Shoot me an email if this is something you’re theoretically interested in. I can’t promise anything, but it’s always helpful for me to understand what my audience is looking for as possible alternatives to supporting me monthly via Patreon. Thanks!