The songs in this collection are intended to be musically engaging, many with a fresh sound, but easy enough to play that the singer can focus on vocalization and connecting with the audience. If the music goes up the guitar neck, it mostly does it at the dots on the fretboard. It does not go past the twelfth fret so that even a nylon string guitar can be used. If there is individual fingering instead of chords, the music can be played more slowly. In places where a finger picking pattern is indicated, strumming may often be substituted. The tuning is standard to avoid the distraction of retuning in a short set. But these are mostly not three chord songs. The pseudo key change in 'Dreamsieve' the second E minor chord in 'Washed Away,' or the open strings in 'Gold Star Eyes,' may allow the performer a chance to engage the audience through musical novelty. The songs are also meant to be short enough that the audience may want more rather than feel worn. 'Washed Away' and 'Unspoken' may be the most involved but both have choruses that can be used for a sing along to bring the audience further in. The songs also have a range of moods and subjects to be useful in balancing an open mic short set.

Here is a very straightforward version of this song which has only 2 very easy chords. The strumming pattern is one of those that you need to master and can play it all with many songs. There are 3 verses and a solo, the last chorus is repeated and theres a few stabs at the ends. If you use a capo on fret one then this plays really well along with the song.

An arrangement of People Get Ready, written by Curtis Mayfield, for solo acoustic fingerstyle guitar in DADGAD tuning. This song also had a resurgence in the 1980's when recorded by Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart.