Songs and arrangements
83 posts
Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure — Movin' Cruisin'
Tamás GállIn the second half of the 1980s, one of my first big cinema experiences was a Bud Spencer–Terence Hill film that I watched with my parents. I remember walking down the street afterwards, bouncing around in front of them and insisting on having a fight, while they laughed and dodged my right jabs and…
Read more
When the Saints Go Marching In
Tamás GállI would like to teach you another popular song that practically everyone knows. The origins of When the Saints Go Marching In are lost in the distant mists of time and will probably remain an eternal mystery, which is why official sources also describe it simply as "traditional". The earliest known…
Read more
What's Up Chords
Tamás GállThank you for all the feedback on 3 Non Blondes; I am glad so many people liked it. Several people asked me to show the chords and the guitar part close up as well. The song consists of three chords, so it is not terribly difficult to learn. For completeness, I should mention that the studio recordi…
Read more
Watch Out, We're Mad! – Dune Buggy
Tamás GállOver the past two or three years I have arranged several songs – not all of which have yet become blog posts – from the films of the outstanding Italian duo, films whose atmosphere is fundamentally shaped by their music. Whether they are handing out punches in the Wild West or in modern times, the a…
Read more
Valami Amerika
Tamás GállLearning this song requires a little more practice and patience, especially for the introduction. Because the tempo is fairly fast, you also need to pay attention to rapid chord changes in the verses and choruses. None of that should discourage anyone, though: the result more than repays the sweaty…
Read more
Twist and Shout
Tamás GállAlmost everyone identifies this song with the Beatles: aaaaah, aaaaaah, aaaaaaaaaah, head shaaaaking, shake it up, baby!!! It is a fantastic song bursting with endless energy. It drove girls wild in the 1960s, and I do not think there is anyone today who cannot enjoy the song written by Phil Medley…
Read more
The Champs – Tequila
Tamás GállI think everyone knows this oldie. Thanks to its easy-to-remember lyrics, we do not have to spend much time memorising lines: one emphatic shout of “Tequila!” takes care of the “singing”. The song – recorded by The Champs in 1958 and rewarded with a Grammy in 1959 – is simplicity itself, yet that pr…
Read more
The Beatles — Nowhere Man
Tamás GállI make no secret of the fact that the Beatles are my favourite band. They composed such colourful, imaginative music that I never tire of their songs. In this post we are working on a song from 1965. It is often mentioned among the first Beatles songs to contain, under Lennon's influence, a certain…
Read more
The Beatles – Michelle
Tamás GállMichelle appeared on The Beatles' 1965 album Rubber Soul. I conducted a very unscientific little opinion poll among people I know and got an interesting result: relatively few recognised the song from its title. Several thought first of Pfeiffer, while others had even wilder ideas. But when I played…
Read more
The Beatles – Let It Be, reloaded
Tamás GállI do not think there is a person on Earth who has never heard this song at least once. Perhaps the indigenous people who shot arrows at a helicopter have not, but anyone who has ever had anything to do with twentieth-century Western popular music certainly knows The Beatles' Let It Be. It was no acc…
Read more
The Beatles – In My Life
Tamás GállLong-time readers of the blog may know that I am a Beatles fan, and quite a few posts have dealt with their songs – more precisely, ukulele “arrangements” that were often really chord accompaniments. Those are excellent exercises for anyone getting acquainted with chords. My Beatles posts are fairly…
Read more
The Beatles — Here Comes the Sun
Tamás GállI would like to teach you the intro to a wonderful Beatles song. Here Comes the Sun was released on the Abbey Road album in 1969, so it belongs to the Beatles' later period. And, for anyone who may not know, this one is unusually not a Lennon–McCartney composition: it was written by George Harrison,…
Read more