This lesson will bring together my arrangements of three piano pieces from the ragtime and early Jazz era. I will discuss compositional features that are shared across each piece, as well as my technical solutions to musical problems that arise when arranging piano melodies for the guitar.

Mr. Jelly Lord - a braggadocious composition from New Orleans' Jelly Roll Morton that will have you all over the fretboard.

Blame It On The Blues - Charles Cooke's awesome, albeit not-very-bluesy, 1914 ragtime piano composition makes for great grooves and riffs on the guitar.

Sunflower Slow Drag - Scott Joplin's underrated, sublimely beautiful composition is worth the considerable challenge for your fretting and picking hands.

Each tune is taught phrase by phrase and played slowly on a split-screen. A PDF booklet has all the arrangements written out in tab, music and chord grids and can be found on the DVD.

98 minutes • Level 3 • Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD