Guitar Week 5 “Say You Won’t Let Go”

This is just going to be a short blog post for the week because I have not yet figured out how to play this song, it is taking a lot of work!  “Say You Won’t Let Go” by James Arthur is a beautiful song that has both a strumming pattern and a picking pattern.  I thought it would be good to challenge myself to learn the picking along with the strumming.  However I am struggling a lot because my go to tutorial girl Ellen over at for3v3rfaithful uses really complicated chords to pick along with.  Whereas the chords listed on Ultimate Guitar Tabs are much easier, but I’m not sure how to pick it.  Right now I am working on following the video to learn how to pick, then switching to the easy chords for the rest of the song.  I’m not sure if that will sound okay, but I’m giving it a shot!

Ultimate Guitar Tabs lists the chords G, D, Em, C.  For3v3rfaithful on the other hand uses, G, Gsus2/F#, Em7, C and Dsus4.

I am working hard on this song and will hopefully have a video next week playing it, but we shall see!

Stay Tuned! 🙂

Guitar Week 4 “Let it Go”

This week I strayed away from my favourite tutorial girl Ellen, and instead tried learning a song by ear..sort of.  I used Ultimate Guitar Tabs to figure out the chords for the song “Let it Go” by James Bay (G, C, Em7, D, Em/C#, Cmaj7).  But, I did my best to figure out a strumming pattern that works just by listening.  To start, I needed to learn the chords Em/C# and Cmaj7 because they come up a few times throughout the song.  The names were very intimidating, but they actually have really easy fingerings.  The two chords are only one finger and fret different from each other so I was able to learn the transition easily.  I will mention though, the sound difference is so subtle I am not sure if I am doing it right.

From there I tried to pick up on the strumming pattern just by listening.  This was a struggle because most of the song is a picking pattern.  I am saving picking patterns for the second half of my learning project, so for right now I am just focusing on strumming.  This did make it difficult however because the strumming is not always present.  I have realized I did the whole process in the wrong order.  I just played along with the song in what felt like a consistent strumming pattern, but I never actually wrote it down.  So I have been trying to go back and figure out what I did, but it is difficult.  I think I am playing a DUUD UU DUD, or at least something similar to that.

I believe my version sounds somewhat okay, it would work if I needed it too.  I have learned that I still need to watch tutorials and really work on breaking my strumming pattern muscle memory, because even in this song I start reverting back to the pattern I always play. This was a fun challenge and I think it turned out okay!

Guitar Week 3 “7 Years”

For this week I continued to work on new strumming patterns.  I went back to my favorite lady Ellen at for3v3rfaithful to help me learn “7 Years” by Lukas Graham.

The song is played in standard tuning with a capo on 3.  The chords used throughout the song are Em, G, C and D, which I find are all easy to play.  There are two strumming patterns present in this song and they are both actually the same.  However, the second pattern involves an extra D chord during the chorus that makes it a little trickier.  The pattern is, DDUUDU (3x), then DDUDDU (1x).  This pattern is consistent through the entire song.

I struggled with adding the extra D chord in on the chorus because it only comes up for the DU strums of the strumming pattern.  This song is very repetitive, so my hand got used to the pattern and throwing in a new chord really shook things up.  You will notice in my video there are times when I change the strumming for that chord, or I play it for an extra strum, however I think it all sounds ok.

In for3v3rfaithful’s tutorial she mentions the addition of a B chord and B7 chord would make the song sound more like the original.  Unfortunately I found both of these really difficult to play.  I am very bad at barre chords.  I decided for the purpose of learning the strumming patterns, I would leave out the extra chords.

Here is my version of “7 Years” by Lukas Graham

Guitar Week 2 “You & I”

For this week I learned how to play the song “You & I” by One Direction.  I used a guitar tutorial by for3v3rfaithful on YouTube.  I find she is the best at really slowing things down and making the tutorial accessible for beginners.

This song uses the chords, F, G, Am, D, C, Em.  I really struggle with the F chord, so for this song I used the chord Fmaj7 instead because the fingering is easier.  I am aware that this changes the sound, but I still think it works for what I needed.  The strumming pattern in the verses is DDD DU for each chord.  At the end of each phrase however it goes DDU on G, the DDU on D.  The intro into the chorus is where things get tricky.  Every time the lyrics “you and I” take place there is a quick change between F, G and Am.  The pattern goes DUD on F, UDU on G, then D on Am.  The chords switch really quick which was challenging.  It took me a few tries to get my fingers set up for the F chord when this part comes up.  You will see in the video I post, I never get it 100% correct.

The basic strumming pattern was easy to learn when I was playing along with the tutorial.  However, when I tried playing on my own I would keep losing the rhythm and pattern.  It is really easy to fall back into the pattern that my hand naturally plays.  I am still figuring out how to stay consistent with the pattern, while also singing along.  It is a skill that I thought would come easily, but it takes a lot of concentration.

Here is my version of “You & I” by One Direction.