Happy Atmospheric River Week for those who celebrate. Here I am, green capped and sweatered, showing you how to play my song “Severed” in its various states of being + talking about its evolution. And thanks for being a paid subscriber, you! And if you’re not, consider becoming one!

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As requested, here is a guitar tutorial for Eli the Barrow Boy from The World’s Worst Guitar Teacher™. It’s only four chords, how could I possibly mess it up? So grab your twelve string guitar and your capo and spend twenty minutes tuning before you actually dive into learning the song! Good luck and thanks for being a paid subscriber to the Machine Sho…

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As requested, here is a song tutorial for “The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing” from The Hazards of Love. I’ve played here on a fuzzed out Les Paul; I’m not sure if that will either help or hinder your learning. I wrote the song under the influence of Sleep’s timeless LP Dopesmoker. I say in the video that I recorded it with this Les Paul but it very well…

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In 1998, I was watching a Wim Wenders movie that had a character in it that was a gymnast. I can’t remember the movie — was it Wings of Desire? — but I do recall noting to myself that I ought to write a song that features a gymnast. I don’t think I began working on the song itself till 2001 or so and didn’t record it till 2003. The Gymnast, High Above t…

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As promised, here’s the third and final episode in an epic trilogy of tutorials: “You’ll Not Feel the Drowning.” Bust out your nylon string guitars for this one. It’s pretty simple, just a three-note arpeggio over three chords with one kind of weird frilly moment that I had neither the ability nor the inclination to explain in full. Good luck!

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As promised, here’s the second part of this suite of song tutorials, coming to you straight from The World’s Worst Guitar Teacher™. Fair warning: this will get you most of the way, depending on how well you can quickly pick a triplet rhythm on a 12 string guitar, something that I am only almost proficient at. That instrumental section is a doozy and is …

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By request, here’s part 1 of the tutorial for the Island. I started recording a version where I taught all three (four?) parts of the song, but it just went on too long. Let’s take this one in stages, shall we? Get out your twelve string and rough up your calluses, it’s time to head to the Island.

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Hey there Machinists, and a very happy last day of January to you all. Here’s a guitar tutorial for a song from The King Is Dead, called “January Hymn.” It’s got a little picking and strumming in it, but the chords are simple enough and if you practice it, I imagine you’ll get it down pretty quickly. The nice thing about it being pre-capoed (at the 2nd …

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Hello from wild and windy Oregon, where we all, having just removed ourselves from a layer of ice, are now getting buffeted about by high winds and lashed by rain. Trees are falling, power grids are failing, it’s a wonderful Christmastime. Here’s a quick and breezy song tutorial for the first song in the Hazards of Love cycle — it’s got some picking and…

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By popular request, here’s a guitar tutorial for “Won’t Want For Love (Margaret in the Taiga” from me, The World’s Worst Guitar Teacher™. I wish you the best of luck.

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Here’s a sweet project for you on this third day of June, if you’re so inclined: the chords and picking/strumming for “June Hymn.” The song moves around a lot, but it uses mostly pretty basic chords and should be a good one for all skill levels. Happy summer!