Spotify link:

Michael Jackson – Man In The Mirror

Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5vz6iwV38U

In this song are a couple of tricky things – first of all the 'modulation' after the 2nd chorus, where everything shifts up a semitone, or 1 fret on the guitar.  Rather than playing all bar chords, you might want to quickly reach for a capo and put it on fret 1!

Also, the Csus4/D chord.  For this chord you play 

When strumming the verses, remember to change from one chord to another on the 2+, it will sound much more like the song.

Strumming Pattern:

Chord sequence:

Lyrics

Introduction:

Ooh ooh ooh aah
Gotta make a change
For once in my life
It's gonna feel real good
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right

Verse 
As I turned up the collar on
A favorite winter coat
This wind is blowin' my mind
I see the kids in the street
With not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind
Pretending not to see their needs

Bridge
A summer's disregard
A broken bottle top
And a one man's soul
They follow each other
On the wind ya' know
'Cause they got nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know

Chorus
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change, yey
Na na na, na na na, na na na na oh ho

Verse
I've been a victim of
A selfish kinda love
It's time that I realize
There are some with no home
Not a nickel to loan
Could it be really pretending that they're not alone

Bridge
A willow deeply scarred
Somebody's broken heart
And a washed out dream
(Washed out dream)
They follow the pattern of the wind ya' see
'Cause they got no place to be
That's why I'm starting with me

Chorus
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

Chorus
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that change

Chorus (with Capo 1st fret)

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
(Man in the mirror, oh yeah)
I'm asking him to change his ways, yeah
(Change)
No message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right, while you got the time
'Cause when you close your heart
(You can't close your, your mind)
Then you close your mind

(That man, that man, that man)
(That man, that man, that man)
(With the man in the mirror, oh yeah)
(That man you know, that man you know)
(That man you know, that man you know)
I'm asking him to change his ways
(Change)
No message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself then make that change

Outro

(Na na na, na na na, na na na na)
Ooh
Oh yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
(Na na na, na na na, na na na na)

Oh no
Oh no, I'm gonna make a change
It's gonna feel real good
Sure mon
(Change)
Just lift yourself
You know, you got to stop it yourself
(Yeah)
Oh
Make that change
(I gotta make that change today, oh)
(Man in the mirror)
You got to, you got to not let yourself, brother oh
Yeah
You know that
(Make that change)
(I gotta make that make me then make)
You got, you got to move
Sure mon, sure mon
You got to
(Stand up, stand up, stand up)
Make that change
Stand up and lift yourself, now
(Man in the mirror)
Make that change
(Gonna make that change, sure mon)
(Man in the mirror)
You know it, you know it, you know it, you know
(Change)
Make that change

Spotify link:

Jace Everett – Bad Things – Soundtrack Version

Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9osYNb5jmGQ

Strumming pattern:

Main Strum   

(w/swing feel):      

B U D U   U D U

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Chord sequence:

Lyrics – Bad Things by Jace Everett

When you came in the air went out.
And every shadow filled up with doubt.
I don't know who you think you are,
But before the night is through,
I wanna do bad things with you.

I'm the kind to sit up in his room.
Heart sick an' eyes filled up with blue.
I don't know what you've done to me,
But I know this much is true:
I wanna do bad things with you.

When you came in the air went out.
And all those shadows there filled up with doubt.
I don't know who you think you are,
But before the night is through,
I wanna do bad things with you.
I wanna do real bad things with you.
Ow, ooh.

I don't know what you've done to me,
But I know this much is true:
I wanna do bad things with you.
I wanna do real bad things with you.

Spotify link:

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising

Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE

Strumming Pattern:

Main Strum   

(w/swing feel):      

D   D   D U D 

1   2   3 + 4 

Chord sequence:

Bad Moon Rising – Lyrics

I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightning.
I see bad times today.
CHORUS:

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

I hear hurricanes ablowing.
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear rivers over flowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

CHORUS

All right!

Hope you got your things together.
Hope you are quite prepared to die.
Looks like we're in for nasty weather.
One eye is taken for an eye.

CHORUS

CHORUS

Once you have learned to finger a few of the open chords, the first thing you will want to do is to learn a strumming pattern or two, and then get started playing some tunes.

When you play a tune, it requires that you strum to the beat, and change chords in time at the beginning of the bar.  For beginners this is quite tricky, because they may know the chords, but changing to them quickly is difficult.

One reason why beginners struggle is that when they learn the chords they learn them one finger at a time, so when they change to the chord, they put down one finger at a time.

Moving one finger at a time for a three finger chord will take three times as long.  So the reality is that to change on time (within a beat or so), they need to move all fingers simultaneously!

But how do you go about this?  It is difficult to coordinate one finger at a time, let alone all fingers moving seamlessly from one chord to another at the same time.

The answer lies in a special technique that can be used by guitarists of all ability levels, called the ‘squeeze’ technique.

The Squeeze Technique

The squeeze technique is deceptively simple and extremely effective.  To do it correctly, you place your left hand fingers lightly in place to make a chord, simply resting them on the strings.  Then for about 2 seconds, you push down hard on the fretboard, squeezing each finger at the same time.  This is one repetition.

If you do 40 or so of these repetitions every day for a given chord, then you are effectively building up a ‘muscle memory’ in the left hand.  After a short while practicing this way, when you go to make the chord, you will find yourself instinctively moving all fingers at the same time.

This technique is very simple but it really does work.  It is especially good for beginners who usually just want to be able to play a tune as soon as possible to get some confidence.  Try it for yourself!

When you start playing guitar, the first thing to learn is the 5 ‘open’ major chords.  These five chords are shapes you can make quite easily with your left hand, and knowing them will enable you to play a lot of different songs.

They are called ‘open’ chords, because when you fret them they contain open strings.  An open string is one which is not fretted.  So these chords contain some fretted strings, and some open strings.

Chords are the basis of everything – the changing chords of a song is referred to as ‘harmony’ and the harmony of a song will dictate what notes you can sing or play over the top.  So the chords are the foundation of the music.  It is worth learning these basic open chords first, principally because it is then easier to play with other people or accompany yourself or others singing right from the start.

Chords can be very complex, but at the most basic level, we can identify a chord as either ‘major’, or ‘minor’.  Major chords are typically described as having a happy sound, and minors as sounding sad.  Major chords are considered to be the most harmonious, and therefore we treat them as the standard, and other chords are seen as modifications or variations from the Major chord.

When we notate (or write down) a major chord, it’s quite simple.  We simple put the capital letter of the naming note of the chord.  C major, for example, would be written as ‘C’.  So if someone asks you to play a C, they mean C major.

There are five major chord shapes, they are C, A, G, E and D.

How to use the diagrams above

To learn these five major chords is quite simple.  If you hold up your guitar fretboard to the diagram with the strings facing towards you, then the diagrams show you where to put your fingers from the left hand.  (Left-handed students will need to reverse the diagrams..)

The vertical lines represent the strings, with the thick (low pitch) strings on the left, and the thin (high pitch) strings on the right.  The horizontal lines represent the frets, with the topmost line representing the ‘nut’ of the guitar (fret ‘zero’).

The black dots on the diagram represent the position you should place your left hand fingers.  The dots are numbered, depending on which finger of the left hand should be placed on that particular dot.  This is known as the ‘fingering’ of a chord.  Fingering is very important, so look at these diagrams carefully and make sure that when you practice the chord you keep the fingering correct and consistent.

The numbering of the fingers is as follows – 1. Index finger  2.  Middle finger  3.  Ring finger  4.  Little finger.

You will also notice that above the diagrams are either Os or Xs.  These appear on unfretted strings.  Simply put an X means ‘do not play this string’ and an O means ‘do play this string’.  So in the chords A and C, you should avoid playing the bottom string (low E) and in the chord D, you should avoid playing the bottom two strings (low E and A).

Acoustic Guitar for Beginners

An acoustic guitar is one which generates all of it’s sound independent of any electrical speakers, using it’s own acoustics.  There are a few different types of acoustic guitar, they have their own sounds and are good for playing different styles of music.  We will have a look at the different types.

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