Rock
Sus4 Chords​

Classical Guitar
​p-i-m Pattern

Guitar Ensemble
Ode to Joy - Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Rock
Sus2 Chords​

Classical Guitar
​p-i-m-i Pattern

Teachers: It is not necessary for students to learn all three of the pieces below. Depending on your time, one or two is adequate.

Guitar Ensemble
Finale - Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)
arranged by Lou Warde

Rock
Add9 Chords​

Stairway to Heaven

       Stairway to Heaven is the final for the rock portion of the class. Each lesson will tackle one section of the song as it correlates with the objectives of that lesson as well as the technical abilities of the student at that point in their skill development. For instance, we cannot begin learning the intro of Stairway yet since students have not learned bar chords, nor do they have sufficient finger style skill yet. At this point in the curriculum, students have learned the sus2, sus4, and in this lesson, add9 chords, and they should have adequate proficiency in their strumming technique. Therefore, they are prepared to begin learning rehearsal letter E of Stairway, the section just before the guitar solo.
 

     Admittedly, Letter E is a rhythmically-demanding section. There are time signature changes in every measure and there are a couple of spots that will be particularly challenging. It will take awhile for most students to get this section down. I've intentionally left out rock and ensemble material in the next lesson so that time could be spent on this section of Stairway to Heaven.

      To the guitar teacher, I've found that by breaking this section down into smaller segments, isolating those trouble spots, and going over these sections daily will be most effective in getting students proficient as quickly as possible.  Also, to assist you in helping prepare your students, I've provided three recordings of this section. The first is with acoustic guitar and click track only, and is at a slightly slower tempo than the actual recording. The second is the same version as the first, but with the recording added, just so they can begin hearing and playing this song in the context of the band. The third is the actual recording of this section of the song at normal tempo.
 

    Lastly, it is completely fine not to learn the whole song, including Letter E (which is the most difficult section). Most guitar players are satisfied learning only the Intro (Letters A & B). If you find yourself in a time crunch, or if this song is a bit too much for your students, I recommend learning A & B only.

Classical Guitar
​p-i-m-a Pattern

Note: I recommend using Prelude in A as the primary piece to learn in this lesson. Prelude in C is a good "extra credit" piece.

Guitar Ensemble
Finlandia - Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
arranged by Lou Warde

Rock
Bar Chords​

Stairway to Heaven
The F Bar Chord

Classical Guitar
​p-i-m-a-m-i Pattern

Rock
The Am Formation Bar Chord​

Classical Guitar
Combining Patterns

Stairway to Heaven
D

Guitar Ensemble
Be Thou My Vision - Traditional Irish Melody
arranged by Lou Warde

Rock
The A Formation Bar Chord​

Stairway to Heaven
 B

Classical Guitar
Two Notes Played Together, Pedal Notes

Rock
Syncopation

Stairway to Heaven (C & G)

Guitar Ensemble
Here is Love - Traditional Welsh Melody
arranged by Lou Warde

Classical
Patterns Emphasizing the Ring Finger
Classical Guitar Final

Estudio and/or Prelude are the last classical guitar pieces to be learned in the beginning curriculum, and thus, I treat these pieces as the classical guitar final, with Estudio being the recommended choice.

Rock
Stairway to Heaven (A)

Fingerstyle Patterns in Popular Music
(This lesson is optional)

Travis Picking

Below are a couple of songs utilizing the Travis picking pattern. (The pattern in Freight Train is a slight variation to the patter in Dust in the Wind.) Besides a recording of the songs at normal tempo, I've created a Travis picking exercise as well  slower versions of the songs to help prepare students.

Dust in the Wind

Freight Train

Hallelujah

Guitar Ensemble
Yosemite – Lou Warde

Stairway to Heaven
Rock Final

       Led Zeppelin's recording of Stairway to Heaven is over eight minutes long! In the context of testing students individually, it's not practical or necessary to have them perform the entire song. Since the ​length of the song is due largely to the multiple repeats of most sections, reducing the number of repeats will shorten the length of the song without altering its basic form or material. Note the places where the repeats have been reduced: i.e. "(Final: 4x only)"
 

     In the recording of the Final Version below, the repeats at letter F & G are not reduced, as it shows in the music. (I had a hard time justifying cutting short Jimmy Page's guitar solo.)  So, with the solo at full length, it made structural sense to also keep G full length too. Therefore, if the student will be testing with the recording, they will play letter F (10X) and letter G (7X), as the full length recording.
 

    Lastly, as time moves on and styles in music changes, the popularity and relevance of rock music has unfortunately diminished, as have the staples of the "classic rock" era. I've found this to be true with Stairway to Heaven. This is a tough song to learn for a beginner. Without an awareness of this song and  it's massive popularity since 1971, the incentive to learn this song is not the same as it was a few years ago, when literally no one had to be persuaded to learn it. Without motivation and tenacity to learn this song, it can be an up-hill battle. If you find that the case in your classes, I would recommend not teaching the whole song. Instead, teach only the first page (Letters A & B), which most people only play anyway,