Paul Simon has written some of the greatest songs of the past five decades, but his work with Simon & Garfunkel produced some of the finest acoustic guitar music ever recorded. From beautifully simple strumming to intricate fingerstyle and Travis picking, there’s something here for every guitarist—from beginner to advanced.
In this four-part series, A.J. Moore takes you through four hours of expert tuition, supported by highly detailed and accurate music notation and TAB arrangements/transcriptions, giving you the tools to learn, understand and play these timeless songs.
Originally recorded live over June and July 2026 and taught as a live Guitar Weekends online course. You’ll receive the complete lesson recording and detailed course materials, allowing you to pause, rewind and learn at your own pace. Selected courses may also include backing tracks and additional resources.
You will receive 4 x 1hr video links plus the lesson pdfs via email after payment has been confirmed.
Run by:
Andy Moore
Venue:
SHOP PURCHASE,
Strumming is a core technique for all guitar players. Simon & Garfunkel’s classics, Mrs Robinson and Cecilia bring different feel and slightly different techniques. Mrs Robinson is full of great fills, bass movement and ‘that intro’ ! Cecilia is a driving power house of fun.
They are two of the most driving rhythmic songs by Simon & Garfunkel. Instantly recogniseable, fun to play and great for anyone want to elevate their strumming techniques and feel.
Mrs Robinson will be the core focus, its famous intro, cool little licks, bass lines and interesting chord progressions. Its short intro is one of S & G’s most famous and it became the sound of the famous film with the same name.
It’s definitely a singalong strummer of a song. Great for beginner levels but enough in it to challenge intermediate level players. For those that struggle with the licks and the intro, you can focus on the chords and still gain lots from the lesson.
We’ll be looking at the complete song, strumming hand techniques (including holding a plectrum) and keeping time.
Cecilia goes down well at most open mic and jam night events. Everyone knows its melody and fun lyrical content. But to be successful we need to nail the feel of the strumming. It’s not just about playing the right chords in the right order with the right rhythm. It’s about how you pull out the feel, accenting different strings to create movement and dynamic variety in the playing. We don’t need to learn the whole song, just the verse and chorus. You only need three chords to make it work and you’re there.
In the lesson we’ll use the chord structure to give you 4 different stylistic approaches to the song as a fun take away exercise.
The Sound Of Silence is the song that started it all for Simon and Garfunkel. It’s been covered many times and its beautiful simplicity is often hard to capture. You need to play with complete control and delicacy. Homeward Bound is a stunning folk song about missing home while being away on the road.
Both songs bring Simon’s classic finger style technique to the fore and we’ll be capturing the essence of both in this lesson.
The Sound Of Silence has a simple accompanying part that is almost classical in its approach. It gradually develops from basic finger picking to strumming, but no matter what Simon plays it just feels so perfect as an accompaniment to one of the greatest songs ever written.
We take this and develop it into a solo guitar arrangement where the vocal melody is combined with an arpeggiating pattern to create a stand alone repertoire piece. We keep it relative simple so that most low intermediate players could manage it. But there is a sutlety to the delivery that is truly important. If you get it wrong the audience feels it. You need to play it just right so that the movements flow and the passages showcase the feel of the original so.
A PDF example of a section of the arrangement can be emailed on request for reference.
Homeward Bound utilises the travis technique and basic chords to create a weaving chord sequence that wraps perfectly around the vocal melodies. It has more movement than The Sound Of Silence but is no less impressive.
We’ll be looking at the main body of the song, showing you how to achieve the best tone and technique to master your performances.
Finger picking is a core technique for all guitar players and Paul Simon is a fantastic leader in this style of playing. In this lesson we’ll be learning Simon & Garfunkel’s classic The Boxer.
The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel is one of the most famous songs to come out of the American folk/pop scene in the 1960’s. Instantly recogniseable with its cool intro, travis style finger picking and single word chorus vocal line. The song takes the art of travis picking and adds some complexity with some cool syncopated hammer on’s and moving bass melody. It’s a fantastic song for those at a higher level who want to perfect their techniques and play the original, but you can also simplify it and just strum the chords for a simpler version.
It’s definitely a singalong song and still goes down great at open mics, and professional gigs alike.
We’ll be looking at the complete song, showing you just how Paul Simon played it, while also giving you a unique way to add the solo string melodies onto the guitar to really impress your friends.
In this lesson we’ll be learning a bespoke arrangement of one of the most loved songs ever, Simon & Garfunkel’s classic Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Bridge Over Troubled Water topped the charts in over ten countries and received six Grammy Awards at the 1971 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time and at the time of its release, the best-selling album ever.
You’ll be learning how to take the chords and vocal melody and combine them into one musical finger style performance piece.
This online course is aimed at Late Beginner to High Intermediate. It varies across the pieces but even if something is too hard for you at this time, do not worry, set your goal, decide when you will practice, and be dedicated. We are here to help you if you have problems.
The songs were written for acoustic guitars but you can use an electric guitar.
This online course includes: