Fingerstyle Arrangements

These arrangements are in two formats. The text-base TAB arrangements (.txt) are viewable and printable from your browser. The MIDI files can be played on any MIDI player (Win95 and later comes with one). As I have time, I'm adding chord chart to the TAB files for any chords that may be of questionable form.

Some songs are not available in both formats; I haven't had time to create MIDI files for all the arrangements, particularly the instructional material.

The files can be copied to your local drive with the usual right-click options.(2)

Song Comment TAB MIDI
Aint Misbehavin' The popular Fats Waller tune in G, using some walking bass lines. .txt .mid
Along The Santa Fe Trail I picked up an old piece of piano music for this tune and took a run at arranging it. It's in A. .txt .mid
Am I Blue This is a standard that dates from the early 20th century. .txt .mid
Basin Street Blues I took this straight from the sheet music. It's a good piece for beginners, done in the key of C. .txt .mid
Birth Of The Blues This was adapted from a version I learned from Mike Dowling of Wind River Guitar in Dubois, WY. Mike's a great teacher and offers one-on-one sessions at his Wyoming home. .txt .mid
Blues In The Night I did this Harold Arlen tune using a lot of walking bass lines, many .txt .mid
But Not For Me A George Gershwin piece in a slow swing tempo. .txt .mid
By The Time I Get To Phoenix The Jim Webb composition arranged for beginning-to-intermediate players. .txt .mid
Cadillac Man I heard this jump blueson a CD by Robert Shafer called "Hillbilly Fever". I do it as a vocal in C and here are the two instrumental breaks; they're both 12-bar blues that could be useful elsewhere. .txt
Cannonball Rag This is the tune made famous by Merle Travis. It's based on a couple different versions I've heard. .txt .mid
Cement Blues An original 12-bar blues in the key of C. It's something akin to what the Rev. Gary Davis might play. .txt .mid
Chains Of Love This is a 12-bar blues in A. The arrangement is the instrumental break I use with the tune.. .txt .mid
Chattanooga Choo-Choo The 40's tune made popular by Tex Beneke. I simplified the chords a bit and put in the key of C. .txt
Collector Man Blues This is a 1930's blues by Walter Roland. I created an accompaniment and two breaks in the often-neglected key of C. The style is Blind Blake. .txt .mid
Crazy I got an email requesting an arrangement of this Willie Nelson tune. It's done as a slow swing in sort of a stride style. .txt .mid
Cry Made famous by Johnnie Ray in 1951, this tune has sold over 35 million copies. A lot of chromatic bass lines. .txt .mid
Cry Me A River This is done more in a chord melody style than an alternating bass one. The song was popularized by Julie London in the 1950's. .txt .mid
Divorce Me C.O.D. Merle Travis was a songwriter as well as a guitar player. This is the instrumental break I use for this tune. It's typical of his I-VI-II-V-I songs, arranged in G. .txt .mid
Don't Get Around Much Anymore I gave a rather sparse arrangement to this Ellington tune. The bass lines are chromatic rather than alternating. .txt .mid
Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue At my wife's request, I did an arrangement of this Crystal Gayle tune. It's in G and is appropriate for novice fingerstyle players. .txt .mid
Don't Think Twice This is the Dylan tune but I did in as a swing number in 6/8 time. .txt .mid
E Blues This is a tune I have my students learn. It's an original composition that just strings together some of the tricks you can use in the key of E. .txt .mid
Embraceable You This just goes through one verse, sticking to the melody. I've got several Gershwin pieces that could be combined into a medley. .txt
Five Foot Two This is a ragtime arrangement of the flapper tune from the 20's. It's in C and derives equally from Blake and Travis, using a little bit of every cliche I could muster. .txt .mid
Flat Foot Floogie This is a novelty dance number from the 30's that lends itself to a ragtime interpretation with some chromatic bass lines. .txt .mid
Guilty A Gus Kahn standard from 1931, done in a stride style. .txt .mid
Guitar Rag This was one of Merle Travis' signature tunes. This arrangement follows one of his recordings quite closely. .txt .mid
Half Of It Dearie Blues George Gershwin was a real fan of the blues and wrote some bluesy tunes that are now forgotten. This is one of them that I thought was kind of neat. .txt
Hey, Good Lookin' I grew up with Hank Williams so I'm partial to his tunes. This is one his his best known that uses a rather tricky walking bass pattern over the verse. .txt
Hey, Good Lookin' (Break) I also do this tune as a vocal. This is the instrumental break I use. .txt .mid
How Long Has This Been Going On This is another in the Gershwin medley. .txt
I Could Write A Book I always liked this melody so I took a shot at arranging it. It's normally played slow and dreamy but I tried giving it a bit of ragtime feel to liven it up. .txt
I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size This is another Merle Travis composition. This is the instrumental break I developed, done in the key of F. .txt .mid
I Wanna Be Around Marie asked me to learn this tune following a Tony Bennett concert. It's a Johnny Mercer song with a real bluesy feel. I've only done one verse as the chords are tricky and it's hard to develop improvs over it. .txt .mid
I'll Sail My Ship Alone This is loosely based on the Moon Mullican version. I fancied up the chords a little and perform it as a vocal. Here the two instrumental breaks. .txt .mid
I'll See You In My Dreams Merle Travis always used this tune to close his shows. I never caught the precise arrangement he used, so this is my own intepretation and it is in the same key (C) that Merle used. .txt
I'm A Fool To Care Written by the composer of "Born To Lose", this was a hit in 1954 for Les Paul and Mary Ford. .txt .mid
It's A Sin To Tell A Lie This classic Fats Waller tune is done in G with one pass at the melody, then one variation. A good piece for new fingerstyle players. .txt .mid
It's All Right With Me Cole Porter wrote this in 1953. It's a straight reading of the melody; I use it as the instrumental break to a vocal. .txt .mid
It Don't Mean A Thing This is the Duke Ellington piece, often called the first swing tune. I included the seldom-heard introduction. .txt .mid
I've Got A Crush On You This is a slow Gershwin tune that's for intermediate players. It uses some chromatic bass and some straight alternating bass figures. It's in the key of E. .txt
I've Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) A Duke Ellington tune done in s stride piano style. .txt
Jersey Bounce This swing standard is a very simple tune so I put in a couple key changes to complete the arrangement. .txt .mid
Juke Box Saturday Night This isn't a full arrangement, just a couple choruses. It was originally deigned as an instrumental break in a vocal. .txt
Lady From St Paul I heard this on a re-issue of the Casa Loma Orchestra. It's a jump tune from 1932 that had this infectious melody. .txt .mid
Lazy Bones This is a nice semi-blues tune by Hoagy Carmichael. I handled the occasional wierd diminished chords with chromatic bass lines. .txt .mid
Let's Face The Music And Dance This is a nice bouncy swing tune with some nice chord changes. Irving Berlin wrote some nice pieces and some real clunkers. This is a nice bouncy swing number with a couple interesting chord changes. It's in C. .txt
Lookin' At The World Through A Windshield I do this old Del Reeves tune as a vocal. This is the instrumental break. I also added a third verse which is in the text version. .txt .mid
Lost Highway This is a Hank Williams tune but I first learned it from a Hank Thompson record which featured Merle Travis on lead (or "take-off" as it was then called) guitar. .txt .mid
Lost In A Fog I got this from a piece of sheet music in a rummage sale. It's typical of the Tin Pan Alley stuff from the 30's but it's a fun piece to play. .txt .mid
Love Is Here To Stay This is another Gershwin piece. Note how nicely he uses chords under the first four notes. .txt
Lover Come Back To Me This is based on the Chet Atkins version but, not being able to handle the complexity that Chet can, I simplified it a little. .txt
Lullabye Of The Leaves Exercise your minor chords with this haunting melody. .txt
Mad About Him, Sad Without Him Blues This 1942 tune is a standard 12-bar blues with some nice melodic ideas. You might want to add them to your A-blues licks. .txt .mid
Makin' Whoopie A standard by Gus Kahn. It's a simple song so I tried to make it interesting by using a lot of chromatic bass lines. .txt .mid
Maybellene Yes, this is the Chuck Berry tune. There are two instrumental breaks here that are nothing more than a very fast blues in E. .txt .mid
Merle's Rag This is a piece I put together based on some Travis licks. .txt .mid
Milkcow Blues This isn't really the Kokomo Arnold tune; it's an instrumental break I use with it. It's 24 bars of blues in E with some funky tritone substitution. .txt .mid
Miss Otis Regrets This was written as a joke by Cole Porter. I heard a Josh White recording and added it to my repertoire. This is the instrumental break. .txt .mid
Mister Sandman Someone sent a e-mail asking for this so here it is! It's and interesting piece as it goes up by fourths with oddly-placed melody notes. .txt .mid
Moonglow This is an old standard slow swing tune. I even included the rarely-heard introduction. .txt .mid
My Sin This is from a piece of sheet music I picked up. It's from 1929 and is typical of the ballads of the era in that it puts the melody in odd places like the 9th and flatted 9th. .txt .mid
New Kind Of Love I believe this tune came from a Marx Brothers movie. .txt
Nine Pound Hammer Here are a couple instrumental breaks to use in this Merle Travis song. .txt .mid
Oh, Lady Be Good This is the first Gershwin piece I tackled. I works very well as a ragtime tune, a la Blind Blake. .txt .mid
Old Rugged Cross This is a combination of two traditional gospel songs. Old Rugged Cross is in E followed by Just A Closer Walk With Thee in F. .txt .mid
Once In A While This is a standard from the early 50's. .txt
One For My Baby This was a tough one to do because like my Harold Arlen songs, the chords are quirky. I tried to honor them as best I could. .txt .mid
Our Day Will Come Having heard this song done at hundreds of weddings, I wondered if it could benefit from a livelier ragtime feel. This arrangement is in G with some cool banjo rolls. .txt .mid
Puttin' On The Ritz This song always seemed hokey to me but when you play it, you realize it has a lot of possibilities, with a nice minor-major change. This is in E and uses a lot of open strings. .txt .mid
St Louis Blues This is one of the earliest composed blues. This moderately difficult arrangement stays fairly close to the original sheet music. .txt .mid
Sales Tax Boogie These are two 12-bar blues breaks to accompany my version of this Piano Red tune. .txt .mid
Saturday Night Shuffle This is derived from the Merle Travis version. .txt .mid
Seventeen I don't know who did this originally, but I have the Boyd Bennett version. It's a typical jump tune in the Travis style. .txt .mid
Six Days On The Road The venerable truck-driving song. I do this as a vocal; this is the instrumental break. .txt .mid
Six-Pack To Go, A I got this tune from a Hank Thompson LP with Merle Travis on lead. This is the instrumental break I use. .txt .mid
Smoke Rings Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the first big bands. This was his theme song. .txt .mid
Somebody Loves Me This standard has just one verse and the chorus arranged. I never got around to figuring out variations so I use it as a medley item. .txt
Someone To Watch Over Me This George Gershwin tune was originally written as a fast dance number. Ira suggested slowing it down and it became the familiar ballad we know today. This arrangement in E can be played either way. .txt .mid
Sonny and Cher Medley Two of their tunes Baby, Dont Go and I Got You Babe seem to fit well together. .txt
Steel Guitar Rag I got an E-mail asking for this so here it is. This stays pretty close to the Leon McAuliffe version. .txt .mid
Stormy Weather One of the magical moments in film is when Lena Horne sings this song. I love the tune so I arranged it as best I could. .txt .mid
Stormy Weather (stride version) Upon seeing the original 1933 sheet music, I found that my earlier arrangement used the wrong chords. This uses the correct ones, and is done in a stride piano style. .txt .mid
Summertime Another great Gershwin tune, this from Porgy and Bess. I changed the chords a bit to give it a bit more of a ragtime feel. .txt .mid
Swanee It was reported by lyricist Irving Ceasar that they wrote this song in ten minutes!. Like most Gershwin tunes, this one can be played in many different tempos and styles. This is an up-tempo arrangement in E. .txt .mid
Sweet Bye And Bye This is a gospel tune that's arranged for beginning fingerstyle players. .txt
There Stands The Glass This is one of the fine country weepers; Webb Pierce had the hit on it. It's a straighforward arrangement in A that uses some double-stops for harmony. .txt .mid
There'll Be Some Changes Made An old standard done according to Travis style. .txt .mid
They Can't Take That Away From Me This is a nice standard with a couple neat chord moves. .txt
This Can't Be Love I finally came up with an arrangement I liked by half-timing this song. .txt .mid
This Land Is Your Land This Woody Guthrie tune is for the novice player. .txt .mid
Truck Driver Swing This piece originated as an instrumental break for Truck Drivin' Man but it didn't quite fit so I changed it a bit and now it stands on its own. A lot of chromatic bass lines here. .txt .mid
Tuxedo Junction This follows the Chet Atkins version. .txt .mid
Two Sleepy People Requested via email, this 40's tune relies heavily on chromatic bass and chord fragments. .txt .mid
Walk On The Wild Side Elmer Bernstein wrote this theme for the movie. It's played mostly in triplets with some syncopated bass. .txt .mid
When Sunny Gets Blue More of a fingerstyle jazz than thumb-pick style but a nice tune nonetheless. .txt .mid
When You And I Were Young This is a traditional song that uses just the basic C chords. .txt .mid
Who Walks In This is a western swing in E minor, taken from a 1935 Bob Wills recording. It has 2 variations on the verse and chorus. .txt .mid
Who's Sorry Now This is taken from the Chet Atkins arrangement. .txt
You Belong To Me The standard from the early 50's. The great Jo Stafford had the hit on it. .txt .mid
You Brought A New Kind Of Love I arranged this on a dare but it actually turned out to be a nice ragtime selection. I got the idea from a Marx Brothers movie which featured the song. .txt
You Made Me Love You This standard goes back to the teens but it's still being performed today. There's only one variation here because I do this as a vocal. .txt .mid
A special medley based on the names of fruits.
Blueberry Hill An old standard made famous by Fats Domino in the 1950's .txt .mid

Old-Time Blues and Ragtime Comment TAB MIDI
After You've Gone Simply a great tune! I challenge anyone to learn this one and not hum it all day. .txt .mid
Alcoholic Blues A novelty blues from 1919 lamenting the arrival of prohibition. .txt .mid
Black Bottom Blues Also known as "Deep Elem Blues", I got this from a bluegrass recording. .txt .mid
Bonus Blues This is a rather intermediate blues/ragtime piece in A that was written about the WWI veterans' bonus. .txt .mid
Broadway Blues This blues was introduced by Sophie Tucker in 1915. It's a 12-bar blues with a cool bridge. .txt .mid
Dynamite Rag An typical ragtime piece from 1910. .txt
Eagle Ridin' Papa This is the instrumental break for my version of this Bill Broonzy tune. It's a standard rag progression in G. .txt .mid
Frankie And Albert Although later known as Frankie and Johnny, this is the original title. I do it as a vocal following the Steve James version but I do it in C. This is the instrumental break. .txt .mid
Grizzly Bear Rag A rag written to accompany the dance of the same name, popular in 1910. .txt .mid
Hard-Hearted Hannah This great old tune from 1927 uses some surprisingly sophisticated chords. There's one verse and a chorus arranged. .txt .mid
Johnson Rag This isn't a typical rag; by 1917 they had become more jazz than rag. This was later recorded as a swing tune by several big bands. .txt .mid
Livery Stable Blues Like many blues written by pop-song writers, this goes a bit beyond the 12-bar form. It was the big hit song from 1917. .txt .mid
Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out Here's the instrumental break I use for this oft-recorded standard. It's in C and follows the melody closely .txt .mid
Remus Takes The Cake This is a typical cakewalk from 1896. Cakewalks were popular two-step dance numbers and were the precursors of rags. .txt .mid
Some Of These Days Sophie Tucker's signature song, written by a black writer. Yep, they sure don't write 'em like this anymore. .txt .mid
Statesboro Blues This is taken from Willie McTell's version with some of Blind Blake's "Chump Man Blues" added. .txt
Wild About My Loving This is a 24-bar blues, 12 bars played at double time. These are the instrumental breaks I use. .txt .mid
Yellow Dog Blues Although W.C. Handy is known mostly for "St Louis Blues", this is another of his fine compositions. .txt
Yellow Dog Rag The original publication name of Yellow Dog Blues. This is very close to the original piano score. .txt .mid

Licks and Instruction
Title Comment TAB MIDI
Chords Turnarounds Some sample blues turnarounds. .txt
Chromatic Bass Some licks using a chromatic bass line. .txt
Fingerstyle Exercises A series of progressively more complex picking patterns for those just learning fingerstyle. .txt
Walking Bass Some walking bass lines that can be used in an E blues. .txt .mid

Christmas Songs
Song TAB MIDI
Good King Wenceslaus .txt
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing .txt
Here Comes Santa Claus .txt
Jingle Bells .txt .mid
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer .txt .mid
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town .txt
White Christmas .txt .mid


Email me if you have comments or a request for a particular tune.