Down Under - Australian Artists

Lessons

• Lesson 1: All Out Of Love - Air Supply - Guitar Lesson

  Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo, consisting of singer-songwriter Graham Russell and vocalist Russell Hitchcock.
  
  They’ve released seventeen studio albums since 1975 and had a succession of hits worldwide in the early 1980s.
  
  All Out Of Love appears on their 1980 ‘Lost In Love’-album and has been covered by numerous artists.
  
  This lesson is primarily based on an acoustic version performed by just the two of them.
  
  It takes a thorough look at the flat picking, combined with occasional strumming and the progression.
  
  The arrangement is done in the key of C, using all six major and minor chords. Several chords are played with a bass note other than the root of the chord.

• Lesson 2: Under The Milky Way - The Church

  Under The Milky Way, by The Church was released in 1988 on their album Starfish. The guitar part is simple strumming on one hand, but there are some nice nuances that can be brought out that add a little to the challenge.

• Lesson 3: Don’t Dream It’s Over - Guitar Lesson

  This was the first big hit for Neil Finn’s band Crowded House and was released on their debut album in 1986. It uses a few unusual chords, which help create a very distinctive opening progression. The lesson covers the original studio version, which is in the key of Eb and uses barre chords exclusively, as well as the way Neil plays it acoustically with a capo in the user-friendly key of C.

• Lesson 4: Fall At Your Feet

  Fall At Your Feet is a song by Crowded House, from their 3rd studio album ‘Woodface’ (1991).

  This lesson is mostly based on acoustic performances by Neil Finn, who also wrote the song.

  We break down the progression and arrangement in the key of Am and C, where the guitar is capoed on the 3rd fret.

  The strumming is quite straightforward and should be done in double time. There is also a bit of flatpicking in the beginning of the 2nd verse, which might be a little bit more challenging to some guitar players.

• Lesson 5: Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet - Guitar Lesson

  This high energy and rocking song is filled with awesome riffs and a blues lick that fits perfectly in the pentatonic scale.
  
  In this lesson you’ll get not only the inside scoop on how to play the riffs, but also the important techniques involved in making the riffs sound like the original. Techniques like dampening, muting and quick shifting will be a breeze for you once this lesson is done!

• Lesson 6: Sunshine Road - Owen Campbell - Guitar Lesson

  Owen Campbell is one of Australia's most talented slide guitar players and songwriter; playing guitar since he was 9 years old, his gravelly blend of blues, roots, soul and country makes him "Possibly one of the best performers to come out of Australia for quite some time, amazing lap steel slide guitar and a song writing ability that belies his years” (Argus News Ireland). His unflinching ability to sing it sweet with a voice that belies his young age, while playing a “dirty” blend of simple melodies to create a perfect blend of blues style music.
  
  Campbell’s combination of a gutsy old time sound married with pure authenticity and incredible energy creates honest music that tells a rich story. With noted influences from The Band, Van Morrison, Townes Van Zandt, a little Johnny Cash, and the raspy emotion of Ray Lamontagne; Campbell’s bluesy drawl mixed with his soulful slide guitar beckons his audience to join him in his steamy, swampy, growling world. Both albums by Owen have peaked at #1 on the Australian Blues iTunes charts and many other countries around the world.

• Lesson 7: Opportunity - Pete Murray - Guitar Lesson

  Pete Murray is a very popular singer-songwriter in his homeland, Austrailia. Most of his songs are simple progressions and strumming patterns, combined with catchy lyrics.
  
  Opportunity is from his 2005 album See The Sun and features just a few chords with passing bass notes connecting them, using F# between the G and Em chords, B between the C and A chords, and an occasional D between Em and C, which I seemed to have forgotten to mention in the lesson.
  
  In any case, this short lesson should really get you started on a cool song by an artist you may not have been too familiar with.

• Lesson 8: Stuff And Nonsense Guitar Lesson - Split Enz

  Stuff And Nonsense was written by Tim Finn and recorded in 1979 by his band, Split Enz on their album Frenzy. The song is generally played on the piano and this lesson shows a bit about how to play a piano style accompaniment on the guitar. It also includes a 'Fly On The Wall' video where Neil and Matt are working on the song.

• Lesson 9: Follow The Sun - Xavier Rudd - Guitar Lesson

  Xavier Rudd is a very talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Australia. He is an accomplished fingerstyle guitars as well, as heard in this tune, Follow The Sun. It was released in 2012 on his album Spirit Bird.
  
  The song is played in Double Dropped D Tuning and capoed at the fifth fret.The chord shapes and left hand changes are very easy but the speed of the picking is the big challenge in playing this, along with singing and playing the harmonica, of course. The picking pattern is pretty basic though, and the song could be strummed as well.