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On September 1, 1953, two young Texans named Charles Holley and Bob Montgomery auditioned for a local radio show later called “The Bob and Buddy Show.” The “Buddy” was Buddy Holly, who became quite a trend-setter and hit-maker before his tragic death in 1959. In honor of Holly’s short but influential career, we’re posting a video of him and the Crickets performing “Peggy Sue.”

This early classic uses a “straight-8″ rhythm and lots of downstrokes to impart that driving beat. It’s even called a “proto-punk” song in our video lesson, which will guide you through the chord changes and song sections, including the unusual solo.

Have fun with this one!

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August 27 marks the anniversary of the death of Brian Epstein, who “discovered” the Beatles, made them wear suits and tighten up their act, and managed all their business affairs from 1962 until his untimely death in 1967. Paul McCartney once said, “If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian.” Rumor has it that the song “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” was inspired by Epstein, who was gay.





Whatever its origins, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” is a beautiful Beatles ballad that’s easy to play and great for sing-alongs. It’s got a waltzy 6/8 rhythm that will come in handy on lots of other songs, and a nice walkdown into the chorus that’s used frequently in folk tunes.


So don’t hide your love away, play! That’s the lesson for today.

On this day in 1956, Elvis recorded “Love Me Tender” for his upcoming movie of the same name. By early November, the song had reached #1 on the Billboard charts, replacing “Don’t Be Cruel,” which had replaced “Hound Dog.” All in all, Elvis spent 16 weeks at the top of the charts that summer, setting a record that remained unbroken until 2004. To honor this achievement, we’re posting a video of The King performing “Don’t Be Cruel.”





This all-time classic has an infectious groove and easy chords that make it a great song for beginners. Our video lesson will teach you the backbeat strum pattern and a few rhythmic tricks that will have you sounding Kingly in no time (make that 4/4 time, actually)!

On August 19, 1964, The Beatles kicked off their first US tour in San Francisco, thus initiating the British Invasion. Today we’re posting a video of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” one of twelve songs performed on that infamous, 25-city tour. The song was the Fab Four’s first #1 hit in America, and would become their best-selling single worldwide.





“I Want to Hold Your Hand” is a great party song, with easy chords and a few unusual strumming patterns that our video lesson will help you master within minutes. It’s a fun song that’s “got that something.” We think you’ll understand…


Enjoy!

Over the past few days, the rock world celebrated two wildly different anniversaries. Woodstock, a defining event of the hippy era, began on August 15, 1969, and almost exactly 5 years later, punk rock was born when The Ramones had their first public show (on August 16, 1974, at CBGB in New York). In honor of this seminal moment, we’ve posted a video of The Ramones playing their first single, “Blitzkrieg Bop,” which in 2008 was ranked by Rolling Stone as #18 in their list of 100 best guitar songs of all time.





This and many other punk songs rely heavily on power chords, played with rapid downstrokes. Learning this chord structure and strumming pattern from our Technique Library will enable you to play hundreds of punk, power pop, and hard rock songs, so you’ll definitely want these techniques under your (studded) belt!


Hey ho, let’s go!

On this day in 1952, the first recording of “Hound Dog” was made by R&B singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. The song was written just for her by Leiber and Stoller, who composed many other early rock ‘n’ roll hits. As you’ll see from the video below, Big Mama’s version is quite different from Elvis Presley’s version, which was recorded in 1956. As an added bonus, this 1965 video features Buddy Guy on guitar.





Interestingly, Elvis’ inspiration wasn’t Big Mama Thornton but early rocker Freddie Bell, who added the lyrics “cryin’ all the time” and “you ain’t never caught a rabbit.” The RhythmStrummer lesson for “Hound Dog” is based on Elvis’ version, with those now-famous lyrics sung over a 12-Bar Blues structure. Our lesson will show you how to get that backbeat “swing” rhythm that makes the song so fun to learn and play!


As Big Mama Thornton says: “And bow-wow to you too.”

Yesterday was a remarkable day — not only because it was 8-9-10, but because it was the 15 year anniversary of the death of guitar legend Jerry Garcia. On August 9, 1995, the 53-yr-old co-founder of the Grateful Dead left this earthly plane, marking the end of a jam-packed 30-year career. To commemorate the passing of this cultural icon, we’re sending you a link to one of his best-loved songs, “Ripple,” plus a link to our video lesson for another Grateful Dead classic, “Friend of the Devil.”

“Friend of the Devil” is an easy song with a beautiful descending chord progression. It’s been widely covered by other rock legends like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.


Just click the link above to watch the video performance of “Ripple,” or go straight to the video lesson for “Friend of the Devil.”


Thanks for helping to keep the Dead alive,
Jennifer


PS: Today is also a remarkable day in rock history: the first electric guitar patent was issued to the Electro String Corporation, back in 1937!

Since our latest lesson featured “Ring of Fire” by the inimitable Johnny Cash, we thought we’d send out a link to another one of his classic tunes, “Get Rhythm.” This song was recorded in Los Angeles in 1958, back when Johnny was only 26, and only about three years into his career of almost 50 years! As you’ll see, this was also before he had developed his fashion style as “The Man in Black.”





One thing that *IS* present in this early video, besides Cash’s distinctive baritone voice, is the unmistakable rhythm that would come to define him. Although he did blues, folk, gospel, country, and rock, Cash is most famous for that rockabilly-type “boom-chicka-boom” train rhythm that you can hear in “Get Rhythm” and many other of his big hits. It’s a sped-up variation on the “Boom Chuck-a” strumming pattern that you can learn in the “Boom Chuck-a” lesson from our technique library. Check it out!

Here’s one of my favorite Beatles videos. http://rslearn.com We don’t have the lesson yet on the site, but we have lots of others you can see on our Entire Lesson Listing Page. Please help us celebrate our 1 millionth YouTube (click here to see our YouTube channel) view by checking out some of our excellent strumming lessons. They come with great charts and diagrams, and we’ll be here for you if you need any educational support. Just shoot us an email! Cheers, Jennifer

This is a 1956 classic Elvis moment! http://rstrum.com And I’m sending this out because we just released a new lesson on this song taught by our esteemed colleague, David Keenan. Get it quick for $4.99 because song lesson prices are going up to $6.99 as soon as I can get my tech team to make it happen. (Sorry if anyone’s upset by that. We still think it’s a really good deal and won’t raise prices again for a long time). Jennifer