Dan Zanes

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Coney Island Avenue


Chords, Riffs and Rhythm

Dan Zanes Lesson >

Coney Island Avenue > Chords, Riffs and Rhythm

Greetings Guitar Wizards!!

Coney Island Avenue! Here we go in the key of A with a song that I wrote a few years ago to celebrate my favorite street in Brooklyn. In this lesson we'll examine the bass run that makes the body of the verse and look at the use of the D9 chord and melody I use to finish it off. The tune itself is simple but I've put it here as a lesson to illustrate, for those of you who may need the encouragement, just how simple songwriting can be when you have a few guitar chops and a slogan. For the most part I wrote this in my head and added the guitar later. It seemed too simple to actually be a song but lo and behold....it is one!! I hope you have fun with it and please let me know if this lesson is helpful, I love getting comments from you all!

Dan Zanes

 

 

 

Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Guitar

Print Print Chords & Tab

Loop 0:00 Run-Through of Coney Island Avenue

 

Download the Sheet Music PDF

 

Loop 2:24 What You Will Learn Today

Loop 3:41 Breakdown of Chords and Rhythm

Loop 14:02 How To Write A Song

Loop 18:48 Closing Thoughts

Loop 19:30 Outro

 

 

 

Comments

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Jay
Jay Mar 23, 2018

Hey Dan, thanks for this song. After several takes, it's still not right there, but I've got to get it on tape anyhow.... so here it is

Dan Zanes
Dan Zanes Mar 23, 2018

greetings jay!

yeah man...you've got it! all of the ingredients are in the pot. a little more stirring and a little more heat and this will be complete.

i had to play some of the riffs over and over like meditations in order to find a level of ease and swing. you're really close, i think all it's going to take for you is time. and keep that right hand as loose and precise as possible. i think we all have a tendancy to tighten up a bit with new stuff so the more you can move past that the better it'll sound.....

it's really great to watch these videos man...i love the way you make the tunes your own. that's the name of the game!

yr pal,

dan

tim james
tim james Oct 23, 2017

COOOOL

 

Dan Zanes
Dan Zanes Oct 24, 2017

Thank you Tim!

I'm glad you like it. I hope it shows that songs can be built with the smallest of ideas. Not everything needs to be stairway to heaven!

It was fun to throw this one out there...

Yr pal,

Dan

 
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