I’ve been trying to find accurate Bruce Cockburn tabs for you play. Unlike my Tommy Emmanuel Tabs post, it wasn’t as easy to find good tabs to find and I found many sites that were nothing but pop-ups and deceptive links, so beware because those types of sites are the kind you get spyware from. Here are a few for you to try and if you have any other recommendations, please leave a comment and share with us. List of Cockburn Tabs: (updated Sept 2025) Sunwheel Dance: I’m not a fan of ASCII tab but it’s fairly accurate/close to the version I have in my “All the Diamonds” songbook. This version has you tune to open E(EBEG#BE) but I believe it’s tuned to open D (DADF#AD). Both with the capo on the second fret. The song is surprisingly easy to learn but incredibly hard to master, especially at the correct tempo. Playlist of Cockburn covers on my YouTube Channel.
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I’m at 11,000 ft in the Colorado mountains, just got my tent setup and the sleet/snow begins to fall, driving me in for cover. Like chard’s of plastic falling on my rain fly, a rhythm began to emerge. Embracing the moment, I unpacked the guitar and being to jam with nature. For a good forty minutes it was just me, my guitar and the rain. An inspired forty minutes that washed away the ass kicking that work gave me the past month. I used to be extremely uncomfortable being alone up there or any place away from the distractions of technology because I was forced to face the many thoughts/ideas/rants rattling around in my head. It could be quite nerve racking and I preferred to drown it out with iPods, computers or conversations with friends. Over the past couple trips, I have found that this “alone time” was an opportunity to face the cacophony of thoughts in my head and I was forced to organize and purge; getting comfortable with myself and in turn, more comfortable, with my playing. So here’s to getting more comfortable and getting better!
Earlier, I wrote a review for the Guitar Toolkit for iPhone and I mentioned that it’s a decent little app but still needed some work. I love it when developers do this but the listened to their customers and released a new and much improved Guitar Tools. New Features Include: More time signatures for the metronome, including subdivision. Support for left handed players Support for 12 string guitar Support for Scales and there are a ton of them (Currently my favorite) Fretboard can be resized using the pinch feature The chords are now strummed (great for ear training) Improved slider bar for the metronome Much More! Like I said before, I love it when developers listen to their customers and Guitar Tools for iPhone is now a must have for any guitar playing iPhone or iTouch owner. I look forward to the next updates. Links: http://guitartoolkit.com/
Sometimes when I’m writing or jamming, I get stuck in the same old I, IV, V progression. Not that it’s a bad thing but sometimes I want to mix it up a bit. I found a nice little reference guide at The Guitar Suite that gives you the chords for each degree in scale of the key. The nice thing is that the chart addresses major, natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales which are useful when you want to mess with the feel or color of a song. I recommend using the progressions to warm-up with by playing the scales using the chords. I will turn to the charts from time to time, especially when I’m spinning my wheels and I find it useful. I hope it helps you as well. Links: Guitar Suite Chord Progression Primer Chord Progression Books
Have you ever told a good fish story? You know, the kind of one where the one that got away, gets bigger and bigger each time you tell it. In my conversations with fellow guitar players and musicians, I’ve noticed that there can be a guitar equivalent of the “fish story.” You know what I mean; bragging that you’ve mastered a song that isn’t so mastered or claiming you can play all the scales using 32nd notes at 250 bpm. All of us have told one of these stories at one point or might let occasional tale slip. If you say that you don’t or never have, I’m willing to bet that you are telling one right now. I’ll admit that I’ve let a few stories pass my lips. Just recently, I caught myself telling a guitar version of the “fish story”. I was in a conversation with another musician who plays fiddle/guitar and I exaggerated my daily practice routine. I let it slip that I practice at least four hours a day or more. Over the next couple days, I replayed that conversation over and over in my head and wished I hadn’t said that but no one’s perfect. …
