Don McLean Package
What's included
- All tab
- Chords
- Chart
- Guitar pro files
$14.98
Full Lifetime Access to this package
Don McLean burst on the scene in 1971 with the release of his second album, American Pie. This historical, cultural take on music of the previous decade is now an all time classic. He also composed many beautiful and moving songs both before and after his hit period. In this pack we cover four of his best known pieces, as well as his arrangement of Roy Orbison's classic Crying, where Don added some nice arpeggios to the guitar part and a slightly different ending.
Lessons
Lesson 1: Vincent - Guitar Lesson
*Vincent*is Don McLean’s biographic and philosophic commentary on the life and emotions of Vincent van Gogh, as well as one of his masterpieces in the world of guitar ballads. It is a great example of his free-form picking style that is mostly arpeggio-based, and shows great use of letting a song breathe by stretching out some beats. This lesson looks at a simple way of picking through the chord progression as well as going into the subtleties and nuances that make it the gorgeous song that it is
Lesson 2: Crying - Guitar Lesson
Roy Orbison is best known for his voice, and *Crying*is a song that shows why. It is a simple strumming tune with a slightly unusual progression, all of which create a great backdrop for this vocal masterpiece. This lesson looks at Roy’s arrangement, as well as Don McLeans rearrangement, about 20 years later.
Lesson 3: American Pie - Guitar Lesson
*American Pie*was the song that put Don McLean on the map of great songwriters forever. Released in 1971, on his second album, the song tells the story of "The Day The Music Died", along with dozens of pieces of 1960s Americana. The song is a basic strumming one with fairly easy chords. It is just a matter of learning the progression and tying in the lyrics,
Lesson 4: And I Love You So - Guitar Lesson
*And I Love You So* is a song that came to light after Don McLean's success with Vincent and American Pie, and all of a sudden singers were looking through his back catalog for material. It wasn't long before there were dozens of covers of this classic, most notably one by Perry Como in the early 1970s. The song features a delicate, arpeggio picking accompaniment where the melody is somewhat incorporated into the picking.
Lesson 5: Castles In The Air - Guitar lesson
*Castles In The Air*is an early Don McLean tune, from his first album, Tapestry, which became a hit after he hit it big with his second album, American Pie. It is played in Dropped D Tuning and features some quick fingerpicking.