Guitar Woodshed with Derek Roland

08/13/2026

The Cure “Pictures of You” — Robert Smith’s higher guitar melody in standard tuning 🌙
The higher of the two guitar parts — the harmony line that floats above the sustained baseline and gives the song that aching, wide-open emotional quality.
Standard tuning throughout. No alternate tuning needed. This is style-based counterpoint playing — two guitars trading motion so neither is ever static at the same moment.
Full Robert Smith Guitar Style breakdown + free Tone Guide linked in bio 👆
guitar-woodshed.com

08/11/2026

Robert Smith’s shimmery Cure chords in standard tuning — no capo, no alternate tuning required 🌑
Just Like Heaven’s four-chord rhythm part, done entirely in standard tuning. If you already know basic open chords you can play this today.
The real magic is the effects chain — chorus stacked before delay creates that atmospheric, wide-open shimmer The Cure built their entire sound on. Standard tuning. Everyday pedals. The guitar you already own.
Free Robert Smith Tone Guide — exact pedal settings linked in bio 👆
guitar-woodshed.com

08/10/2026

🌑 You've been trying to get that Cure guitar sound and every lesson you find sends you straight to a capo or alternate tuning before you've played a single note that sounds right. Here's the real approach.
Robert Smith built one of the most emotionally devastating guitar sounds in music history without being a virtuoso — and without any exotic technique.

The sound lives in three things: a specific signal chain (chorus before delay, always), an arpeggiated approach that lets notes ring into each other rather than strumming through them, and a counterpoint technique where two guitars trade movement so neither part ever feels static.

Standard tuning throughout. No capo. No retuning. The guitar you already own is enough.

Full breakdown covers the technique, the complete signal chain, a Just Like Heaven style progression with high melody, and a Pictures of You style counterpoint lesson. Free Robert Smith Tone Guide inside — exact chorus rate, delay time, and reverb settings for both songs.

👇 Full lesson here:

Robert Smith guitar style explained — the technique, tone, and approach behind The Cure sound. Standard tuning. No capo required.

08/04/2026

Deafheaven “Irresistible” guitar lesson — the blackgaze melody that won’t leave you 🌑
Four notes. One barre shape. That’s the highest melody line — the part most apparent to the ear — that sits above the two harmony guitars and creates the emotional pull of the entire song.
Blackgaze guitar isn’t as far away as it sounds. This is the entry point.
Full Shoegaze + Blackgaze Guitar Course linked in bio 👆
guitar-woodshed.com

07/31/2026

🌑 Shoegaze meets black metal — and the result sounds like nothing else in modern guitar. Here's how it's built.
Blackgaze guitar is what happens when the atmospheric, reverb-soaked chord vocabulary of shoegaze collides with the intensity of black metal. Deafheaven. Alcest. Harakiri for the Sky.

The guitar vocabulary behind this sound is more accessible than most players expect — especially if you already play shoegaze or atmospheric indie. You're closer to this sound than you think.

The complete guide covers everything — what blackgaze is, the two-layer technique approach, tone setup, the three-guitar architecture behind Deafheaven's "Irresistible," and the bands worth studying.

Free Atmospheric Guitar Tone Guide inside — signal chain and settings for any rig.

👇 Full lesson here:

Blackgaze guitar explained — sound, technique, and the bands behind it. Where shoegaze meets black metal on your guitar.

07/28/2026

Shoegaze jangle chords — the open string shimmer that creates real atmospheric wash 🌌
Em, G, and open-string voicings that ring and blur together naturally. No boutique pedals. No alternate tuning. Just the right shapes and every open string allowed to breathe.
This is where the shoegaze jangle sound actually lives — in the voicings, not the gear.
Full Shoegaze Guitar Course linked in bio 🎸
guitar-woodshed.com

07/21/2026

Shoegaze power chords — add open strings and everything changes 🌌
One power chord shape. Open G and B strings ringing freely underneath. Instant wall of sound — no boutique pedalboard required.
This is the fastest way to build real shoegaze texture from shapes you already know.
Full Shoegaze Guitar Course linked in bio 🎸
guitar-woodshed.com

07/14/2026

Midwest emo guitar in 3/4 time — the shuffling groove that makes chord shapes feel completely different 🎸
Most players never try this time signature. The ones who do can’t go back.
Same open-string shapes. Different emotional weight. That waltz-feel groove changes everything about how the chords land.
TAB + free PDF at guitar-woodshed.com (link in bio) 👇

07/07/2026

🎸 That shimmery, twinkly Midwest Emo guitar sound — the one that makes American Football and Cap'n Jazz records feel like a memory you haven't had yet?
It's built on two moveable chord shapes. Not ten. Not twenty. Two.
Open strings ringing freely underneath. An offbeat picking pattern. That's the whole system.
I broke it down into a full lesson with TAB, chord diagrams, notation, and a free PDF — so you can follow along at your own pace without hunting through fragmented YouTube tutorials.
Watch the video and grab everything here 👇
https://guitar-woodshed.com/midwest-emo-riffs-unlock-twinkly-guitar-with-just-2-chords/

07/07/2026

Shoegaze guitar — the Slowdive counter melody that makes “When the Sun Hits” feel like it’s breathing 🌌
One anchored finger. Everything else moves around it. Restraint over speed. Intention over complexity.
This is Part 2 of the breakdown. The melody that creates all the emotional release.
Full Shoegaze Guitar Course linked in bio 🎸
guitar-woodshed.com