Category Archives: Rob’s Guitar School

FUNERAL MARCH (Main Theme) – Chopin – Easy Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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Funeral March (Main Theme) performed by Robert Lunn

In this guitar lesson I teach you the opening theme of Frederic Chopin’s famous Funeral March (Marche Funebre). This melody comes from the third movement of Piano Sonata No.2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35.

I’ve always loved the music of Chopin. I love his Nocturnes, Etudes, and especially his Ballad’s. As guitarists, about the closest we have to Chopin is Tarrega, who I have always thought, but don’t have any proof, was influenced by Chopin.

A few years ago I made a group of easy arrangements for my students. This is one of those. I just arranged the opening theme from this movement. I hope you enjoy it. You can see more videos like this at my guitar school found at my website.

TANGO – Francisco Tarrega – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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Tango performed by Robert Lunn

In this guitar lesson I am teaching the Tango by Francisco Tárrega. Tárrega is one of my favorite guitar composers (along with Villa-Lobos) and I have learned many of his songs over the years but for some reason just learned it a few months ago for the first time. Here is the reason, and it is super lazy of me, I hate having to tune two strings down a step! Haha. I finally got over that and learned the song. It’s a great song.

Tarrega was a versatile composer who would often compose in different styles of music. For example some of his music had a very strong Spanish influence, which of course makes sense because he was from Spain. He also composed Mazurka’s (Polish Dance) as well as this Tango. The Tango is a dance that originated in Argentina and Uruguay. I have always felt that Tarrega was as close as us guitarists get to having our own Chopin. A very Romantic minded composer who wrote great music.

I hope you enjoy this teaching video. You can find other videos like this at my guitar school found at my website.

STUDY IN E MINOR – Op. 48, No. 5 – Mauro Giuliani – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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Study in E Minor by Giuliani performed by Robert Lunn

This study in E minor by Giuliani has always been on of my favorite etudes. It has a great right hand pattern with a somewhat, easyish, left hand pattern. For the most part, the right hand pattern stays the same throughout the piece. The nice thing about it is that it’s a great study for the intermediate level student as well as for the more advanced student. The intermediate player can take a more moderate tempo while the more advanced player can just let it fly!

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) was one of the leading guitar virtuosos of his time. The time period puts him in late Classical/early Romantic period which means that Mozart was near the end of his life while Beethoven would have been a contemporary of Giuliani’s.

I hope you enjoy this lesson. You can see more videos like this by visiting my guitar school found at my website.

RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES – Richard Wagner – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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Ride of the Valkyries performed by Robert Lunn

This fingerstyle guitar lesson of Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner is based on an arrangement I made for a guitar student of mine several years ago. I tried to make the arrangement as easy as possible while still keeping the integrity of the original.

This is a great piece of music that comes from the third act of his monumental opera, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The third act is called, Die Walkure.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial. You can find more teaching videos like this at my guitar school found on my website.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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What a Wonderful World performed by Robert Lunn

What a Wonderful World is a beautiful song composed by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss and sung by the great jazz trumpeter/singer, Louis Armstrong. I first heard this song from the movie, Good Morning, Vietnam. This is one of those perfect songs. Perfect melody, perfect words and perfect singer for this song.

I see trees so green,

red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies so blue and clouds so white.

The bright blessed day,

the dark sacred night.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world…

You can see more videos like this at my guitar school found at my website.

NOTHING ELSE MATTERS – Metallica – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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Nothing Else Matters performed by Robert Lunn

Nothing Else Matters is one of my favorite all-time songs. I remember when it first came out that I tried to play it but at that time, I was only playing electric and not fingerpicking. The song comes from their Black album which was released in 1991. Songwriting credits for this song are by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.

This is a great song for the fingerstyle/classical guitar player. For this arrangement, I used variation for the verse sections. Guitar solos in guitar versions of songs I always find difficult to arrange for solo guitar. I could play the solo but then I would lack the extra fingers to play the bass and rhythm guitar parts or I could play the backing part but then wouldn’t have the solo. For the last solo I decided to play the backing part, put try and add rasgueados to make things louder.

I hope you enjoy the arrangement. I have a ton of these types of teaching videos at my guitar school found at my website.

IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING – Edvard Grieg – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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In the Hall of the Mountain King performed by Robert Lunn

In the Hall of the Mountain King comes from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1. I have always loved how this builds in the orchestral version.

I tried to make this arrangement as easy as possible while still keeping the integrity of the original. For this guitar lesson I am teaching the arrangement that comes from my second volume of easy arrangements.

You can see more teaching videos like this at my guitar school found at my website.

GYMNOPEDIE NO. 1 – Erik Satie – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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Gymnopedie No. 1 performed by Robert Lunn

This guitar lesson is on the beautiful piece, Gymnopedie No.1 by Erik Satie. A long, long, long time ago I used to play this on piano.

He originally composed three of these pieces and they are all very similar in sound and style. I hope you enjoy this video lesson.

More videos like this can be found at my guitar school found on my website.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (Theme) – Full Tutorial with TAB – Fingerstyle Guitar

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Pirates of the Caribbean performed by Robert Lunn

This theme comes from the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean and is the track called, He’s A Pirate. The soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer along with Klaus Badelt.

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my favorite movies and I have always loved the music from this film. Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow was fantastic.

I hope you enjoy the lesson. There are more videos like this at my guitar school found on my website.

PRELUDE NO. 1 – Villa-Lobos – Full Tutorial with TAB -Fingerstyle Guitar

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Prelude No. 1 by Villa-Lobos performed by Robert Lunn

I have always loved this piece bu Heitor Villa-Lobos. It might be my favorite guitar piece originally composed for the guitar. Leyenda is my favorite piece but it wasn’t originally composed for the guitar. I remember when I first heard this song.

I had just started studying classical guitar and I heard a recording of Christopher Parkening playing it and I thought…I have to learn this!! The next time I saw my guitar teacher I asked him if I could learn it and we had a lesson on it. I was so excited to learn it that I went back to my dorm and started learning it. Actually, I started working on it in the lobby of my dorm room because my roommate was still asleep.

I love the 5 preludes by Villa-Lobos. I have played all of them at one time or another. In fact, I used to perform the 5 preludes together in concerts. The first, second, and fourth are my personal favorites.

A long time ago I participated in a masterclass with Christopher Parkening and I played the fourth prelude for him. My personal favorite version of the piece would be Christopher Parkening’s version. It might be because that was the version I heard first. I also really enjoy the versions by Julian Bream and Andres Segovia.

You can see more teaching videos like this at my guitar school found on my website.