Livestream
https://youtu.be/B60tm3aq3Ps

Here is the lesson for Southern Cross.
Hal
https://youtu.be/rr2K_mhGbHI

Southern Cross Crosby Stills Nash Cover
This song is fun to play, fun to sing, and just plain fun! Especially if you love boats. 

"Southern Cross" is based on the song "Seven League Boots" by Rick and Michael Curtis. Stills explains, "The Curtis Brothers brought a wonderful song called 'Seven League Boots,' but it drifted around too much. I rewrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce. It's about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again, I was given somebody's gem and cut and polished it."

I love the lines

   Got out of town on a boat goin' to Southern islands
   Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
   She was makin' for the trades on the outside
   And the downhill run to Papeete

   Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
   We got eighty feet of the waterline nicely making way

If you've been around sailing very much you will understand that these lines sit well with sailors. "Sailing a reach before a following sea" makes perfect sense. And also, "nicely making way" is comfortable sailing. Whoever crafted these lines knows that this is perfect weather sailing. It sounds like a great day on the water!

The line, "But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away" let's us know that the writer was alone on watch, at night, with lots of time to think. This revelation came during that quite time. It was probably a beautiful evening with maybe even a moon silvering the water as the boat moved along quietly with only the sound of the water on the sides of the hull.

Those are times never to be forgotten. 

I'm thinking about adding the harmonies but they take time. So here you are with just my voice on the melody for the time being. The lesson is coming.

Hal Steads
https://youtu.be/TCduhMNzuLg

See you then!

Hang out on Rock Out Loud Right after.

Hal

https://youtu.be/d09BrqCIY88

This example is one that I've used for years to explain chord inversions and open and closed position chords.

It's important that you have the right ingredients!

Hal Stead
https://youtu.be/4Ui8sZPzbF0

The 5 to 1, V to I, Cadence Exposed
The cadence is something I don't hear guitar teachers talking about. This 5 to 1 relationship is so important and meaningful in music. It permeates the music that surrounds us and most of us don't even know it.

Another thing that I did this morning was to look carefully at every name, every supporter that has a stake in my teaching online. I want to thank you all for being a part of my life. Words are inadequate to express the deep gratitude that I feel for all of you.

Thank you.

Hal

https://youtu.be/ql1ZM51mJh4

American Pie Guitar Lesson
Hello everyone,
Here is the guitar lesson. Hope you like it.
Take care,
Hal

https://youtu.be/lb3a8EnOPVw

The 3rd video in 4
Here again I'm going through one of my song books to see what there is to see and hear what there is to hear! (I'm still going through the book actually.)

Check it out. Make comments below on the songs that ring a bell with you. Also, you may even want to look up some of these songs that I mention if you haven't heard of them before.

Hal Stead

https://youtu.be/uo6QLYLGCpI

Piano Songs 
Here are the last songs in the 3 ring binder that I was looking through. I broke this session into 4 different videos so that the video would not be over an hour long. These are the songs that I enjoy playing on the piano or keyboard instead of the guitar. 

We can play any song on the guitar, even Canon In D. I play it here on piano. Canon in D would work really well as a guitar duet. Simple chords on one guitar and then a melody for the other guitar. You can also improvise over that chord progression.

Wait! A light just went on! Maybe I'll do a video over that famous chord progression... hmm.

Hal
https://youtu.be/ztq10a1-kZA

Here is the Under The Bridge guitar lesson.

Thank you for the support everyone!

Hal Stead

https://youtu.be/Dunuo_G5ObQ

Under The Bridge cover song
Under The Bridge hasn't been posted here yet so here it is!

I'll post the guitar lesson next.  Hope you like it.

Thank you for your support!
Hal Stead
https://youtu.be/b6WVhMXOsB4

Here's another songbook video.
Hal Stead
https://youtu.be/EoPKFOYApfs

Hey everyone,

This is a fun video where I play through one of my songbooks. Some of these songs I have taught on video and half of them I haven't. See which ones you like best.

Thank you all for your support!
Hal Stead

https://youtu.be/YxEgUzu4-Jo

Check out this video about looping over a chord progression in G major with the pentatonic scale. 

Hal Stead

https://youtu.be/YNmbR3eLVL4

Hangout yesterday and Don McLean
Hello everyone,

Yesterday I attempted to have a hangout on YouTube but technical difficulties made it difficult. 

For those of you that were waiting and nothing happened... sorry about that. This week I'll be working with my support team to see if we can get everything up and running for next week. I abandoned YouTube and met with a few supporters on Rock Out Loud for the rest of the session.

We talked about 

It was fun! 

American Pie. this song came out in 1971 on Don McLean's American Pie album. You can read about it here on Wikipedia. It was a big success. Why am I talking about it? Because students are asking about it.

Here is an interesting article that came out in October 2020 interviewing Don McLean. You might be interested.

I've liked the song for years. The lyrics are cryptic to everyone and there are websites dedicated to unraveling the messages contained therein. Don gives us no help in understanding what they mean. You'll have to read that article to find out why.

My interest in American Pie is purely musical. Personally I like cryptic lyrics because they can mean to many things to many people on many levels. It's fun.

I'll record American Pie soon, as a cover, and then come out with a video guitar lesson. Not sure when that will be done exactly but it may be this next week. There are about 10 songs that I'm learning, and several videos in process, and I'll publish a couple this week... hopefully.

In the meantime I'll continue to make videos of songs that I've been playing, and performing for years, and one of those is American Pie. It looks like there is a book, a documentary, a Broadway show, and movie coming out based on American Pie. We'll see how that all pans out. 

Meanwhile we'll analyze the song a bit, play it, and enjoy it for whatever it means to us individually.

One more thing. I'm updating my book and will have a new version out in a day or so. American Pie will be in it along with an ever expanding theory section, and a few other updates. 

Have a great week.

Thank you for your support.
Hal Stead