The Songdog Blog
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With a Little Help from My Friends: Insight and Emotion in a Late Show Performance
What do you get when a classic song matures for fifty years, dozens of interpretations, and then gets programmed with care and thought by three superb modern masters on a national late night show?
Fuckin' magic.
Streets Of Minneapolis: Super Lead Sheet
Bruce Springsteen is a patriot. He has been singing stories of tragedies large and small since his first album in 1973.
Artists are leaders, always have been.
Artists strive, with both head and heart, to perceive deeper truths.
They communicate their truths as directly as possible, with the best means and skill of which they are able.
This SLS shares three different levels of guitar chords, how to strum, how to sing, and more.
Werewolves of London: Super Lead Sheet
For Anyone who listens or plays and wants to know this song better. Particularly for chordal players: guitar, ukulele, or piano.
SUPER LEAD SHEETS are a new multimedia way uniquely crafted to show you each song.
- Clear
- Concise
- In-Depth
Super Lead Sheets: Because Mine are Better
Haver you found learning songs to be frustrating?
It's not you. Come and see, I'll show you how.
SUPER LEAD SHEETS - an idea I came up with to make songs accessible to everyone at different levels of their own musical development.
- They are clear.
- They are both more concise and more deeply detailed than other teaching formats.
- They give you the information you need in order to play a song.
Rhythm Backing Tracks: Why - What - How To
Musical rhythm is one of the most easy and natural skills we possess as humans. However DOING rhythm in the context of playing music - hearing, knowing, playing it on an instrument, getting the “pocket” - these things require practice. There aren’t many tools on the web to help you do this. So I made these for you.
Big Burned Hand by Iron & Wine:
Aphrodite, Ares, and the poor slob
stuck in the middle
Aphrodite was the goddess of love, Ares was the god of war. They were lovers.
The song is entirely based on this mythological tale. Beam never mentions the gods by name, only by deliberate reference. And he inserts himself into the tale - bringing the autobiographical touch so often used in singer-songwriter material.
Auld Lang Syne by Scottish Singer-Songwriter Dougie MacLean: Insights and Leadsheet
This nostalgic old song has always been a favorite of mine. I come to realize that my affinity for it began as a child, when I wasn’t quite sure what it was all about but I got the gist very clearly. And in this still-less-than-a-month-old 2025 I finally got around to illuminating myself about the song’s origin, structure, and coolness.