Top 10 Guitar Lessons of 2010

Now that the holidays are coming to a close and all of us guitar players are enjoying the swag from our Guitar Christmas Wishlists, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the countless blessings that we’ve all received in the past 12 months. It’s been a year of milestones here at AngeloDeStefano.com. Not only did I post my 50th free guitar lesson.. collectively my online guitar lessons broke three quarters of a MILLION views in 2010!

I have to say though, just the fact that I am able to continue to provide free online guitar lessons to thousands of students worldwide has been the biggest blessing of all. I couldn’t do any of it without your help and I’m extremely grateful for your support.

So without further a due.. As chosen by you guys, here are the ten most popular guitar lessons of 2010. I will be posting two lessons a day from the countdown ending with the #1 most popular lesson on New Year’s Day, so check back daily!

#10 – Drake Over – The love that you guys showed my Drake Forever Lesson blew me away, so the second I heard “Over”, I knew that I had to get this one out for you guys to learn. While filming this lesson, the melody got so stuck in my head that I decided to follow it up with the AD arrangement of Over and a Drake Over iPhone Performance.

#9 – Kings Of Leon Use Somebody – It was pretty easy to come up with the inspiration for this one. In 2010, Kings Of Leon “Use Somebody” was a smash hit. I got a ton of requests for this song so I decided to teach it in basic open chords in first position. The follow up was How To Play Kings Of Leon Use Somebody In Power Chords.

#8 – Eminem ft Rihanna Love The Way You Lie – This lesson was a big deal for me because it was the first of my new upgraded guitar lessons filmed in HD using an Apple MacBook Pro iSight camera. It was also the first lesson to feature my original music in the intro and outro. For all the Rihanna fans out there, be sure to check out How To Play Jay-Z Run This Town.

#7 – BlakRoc Ain’t Nothing Like You – Anyone who knows me knows that The Black Keys are one of my favorite bands. I’m also a sucker for a great guitar riff. Put the two together and you come up with “Ain’t Nothing Like You” from the BlakRoc CD. This was an incredible song that I thought would be much more popular than it actually ended up being. It’s raw, it’s organic, and it’s one of my favorite guitar lessons at AngeloDeStefano.com. It also inspired the ADblog post 5 Hip-Hop/Rock Collaborations That Changed The Game.

#6 – Mike Posner Cooler Than Me – I kept hearing this song on the radio but the version that I was hearing didn’t have any guitar in it. Then one day I was riding in the car and I heard a little guitar intro. The light bulb went on and I thought to myself, whatever song this is, I’m definitely doing a lesson on it. I was really surprised when the rest of the music kicked in and it ended up being “Cooler Than Me” from the album 31 Minutes To Takeoff. I was shocked!!! With the state of live music these days, what record company marketing genius decided to remove a catchy guitar part from a hit record? Anyway, I’m glad that I did it because it was the 6th most popular guitar lesson that I posted this year.

#5 – Young Money Bedrock – I have to tell you guys that this is the last song in the world that I would ever plan to do a lesson on. But one afternoon I was hanging out just playing some guitar and the video came on. I started playing along to it and just naturally began playing the melody in octaves. I wanted to know, with lyrics like “Call me Mr. Flintstone ’cause I can make your bed rock”, could this song from the We Are Young Money album really be that popular? I went straight to the billboard website, clicked on the top 100 chart and there it was sitting right at the top in the #1 spot. I filmed this lesson that very same day which ended up being a good thing. Had I let some time go by and given it some thought, I seriously doubt that this guitar lesson would have ever come into existence.

#4 – Train Hey Soul Sister – This song from Train’s Save Me, San Francisco LP is the definition of a smash hit. The very first time that I heard it, I knew that I had to do a guitar lesson on it ASAP! Not only is it catchy, it made for a great teaching opportunity to demonstrate a perfect example of a I-V-VI-IV chord progression.

#3 – Lady Gaga Bad Romance – The story behind this lesson goes like this.. I was playing guitar, (I tend to do that alot.. lol) and “Bad Romance” from Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster LP came on. I was listening to the melody and started playing along with it. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when this song was everywhere that it dawned on me.. maybe some of you guys would like to learn how to play it on guitar. The free TAB arrangement to this song was the most downloaded TAB this year at AngeloDeStefano.com.

#2 – Bon Jovi Wanted Dead or Alive – Before there was The Jersey Shore there was Jersey rock. And no rock song is better at telling the story of how hard it is to be a rockstar than “Wanted Dead or Alive” from the Bon Jovi classic Slippery When Wet. When I was barely a teenager, I taught myself how to play this on guitar. Back then, I never would have imagined that years later this song would still be so relevant. I also would have never imagined that I’d be able to teach it to thousands of students worldwide via the internet. 2010 might have been the year of an unfathomable phenomenon known as “The Situation”, but Wanted Dead or Alive has proven that it can stand the test of time. It will be here for many years to come.

#1 – Adam Lambert Whataya Want From Me – I can’t thank you guys enough for your overwhelming support of this guitar lesson. It’s from Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment LP. I posted this one in March of 2010. In the last 9 months it gained more than 57,800 views making it the #1 most popular guitar lesson at AngeloDeStefano.com in 2010. I want to personally thank you for all of your support this year. Stay tuned for alot of new things to come. I’m kicking off 2011 with the launch of my Newsletter this week! It contains exclusive guitar tips that I won’t publish anywhere else. So if you didn’t already, make sure you Sign Up For The Newsletter Here which is the only way to get it.

Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy an prosperous New Year!

Tagged as: ADblog, Drake, Forever, guitar, guitar christmas wishlist, Kings Of Leon, over, sweet child o mine, Use Somebody