songs Archives - Page 2 of 3 - GUITAR COUCH LESSONS

How to play House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals

June 28, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

House of the rising sun is one of those classic guitar songs that everybody should know how to play. The song features an instantly recognisable arpeggio.

The chords are fairly easy, except for the chord F that might be a little bit tricky. I have included 2 versions – one with an easy F and a regular one. Pay attention to the last note in the arpeggio as this is the one that will help us to change chords smoothly.

Song structure:
Section 1: Am / C / D / F / Am / C / E / E
Section 2: Am / C / D / F / Am / E / Am / E

How to play All Of Me – John Legend

June 16, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

In this lesson, we will learn how to play John Legends song “All Of Me”. Although originally, the song was played on the piano, we will try to arrange this song for the guitar.

The major strumming pattern is very easy and consists of only downstrokes. I have included more an advanced strumming version in the second part of the video too. A capo will be necessary if you want to play this song with the original recording and use open chords. In this arrangement we will use very common and popular open chord shapes.

Song structure:
Verse: Em / C / G / D
Bridge: Am / Am / G / D
Chorus: G / G / Em / Em / Am / Am / C / D

How to play Cocaine – Eric Clapton

May 17, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

Cocaine by Eric Clapton (originally by JJ Cale) is a great song to practice power chords. Power chords are a different shape to the common open and barre chords.

If you are new to power chords, this song will be a perfect starter.

Song structure:
Verse: E5 / E5 / D5 / E5 / D5
Chorus: E5 / D5 / C5 / B5

How to play Hello – Adele

April 20, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

Hello by Adele is a great song to practice fingerpicking. It is a great addition to my fingerpicking course that you can do on my website.

The song has a very repetitive guitar chord pattern. I will explain a few different versions so that even a beginner could play this song by watching my video. What makes this song special is the timing of the chords. Every second chord is off beat. This is an example of how you can take a relatively simple chord progression and by changing the timing, achieve really good results.

Song structure:
Verse: Em / G / D / C
Bridge: Em D / G/B / C / Em / D / C
or Em / D / Bm / C / Em / D / C
Chorus: Em / C / G / D

How to play Hey Joe – Jimi Hendrix

April 4, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

A very cool intro lick and a nice chord progression make Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix a great song to learn. In this video I will explain how to play the intro the way it was recorded on the album.

The chord progression is a little bit more relaxed, I will show you two versions, one very easy and the other one more difficult using barre chords. Remember – don’t rush, pay attention to the quality, spend some time practicing the lick before you integrate it with the chords.

Song structure:
Verse: C / G / D / A / E / E / E / E

Normal version:

Easy version:

How to play Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison

March 20, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

Brown Eyed Girl is a great late beginner song. Changing the chords smoothly may be a little bit tricky, but with some practice you will be able to play it.

I encourage you to try to learn the intro to the song, as it is one of the most recognisable melodies. Watch the video to learn how to play this song.

Song structure:
Verse: G / C / G / D
Chorus: C / D / G / Em / C / D / G / D

How to play Comfortable Numb – Pink Floyd

March 6, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd is an amazing song. It’s got great lyrics and melody and an awesome solo, all of which, make this song a classic that every guitarist should know how to play.

The song consists of a few of the very common open chords and one barre chord – B minor. Many beginners don’t like barre chords. They struggle with keeping these chords sounding clean. Also beginner’s can find it quite tricky to change chords quickly when one of them is a barre chord. This is however, when this song comes in very handy! It is a perfect song for practicing barre chords. Watch the video to learn more.

Song structure:
Verse: Bm / A / G / G/Gb / Em / Bm
Chorus: D / A / D / A
C / G / C / G
A / C / G / D

How to play Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd

February 29, 2016/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

Simple man by Lynyrd Skynyrd is a classic song. Great melody and lyrics from one of the most popular bands of the 70s.

The chord progression is very easy in this song, just three chords: C G Am (click this LINK if you would like to learn the strumming version of this song).

Song structure:
Verse/Chorus: C / G / Am / Am

What makes this song very interesting is the way we play these chords. Over the C major chord we will play the following arpeggio:

Over G the arpeggio is very similar – the same pattern but this time, starting from the 6th string (we have brought everything up by one string):

The A minor chord is played twice. The first time we will play exactly the same arpeggio as we played over C:

For the second time, we will slightly change the ending:

Here are all of the elements connected together:

How to play Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton

August 20, 2015/0 Comments/in How To Play /by Darius Chrobak

Wonderful Tonight is one those songs that you can instantly recognise in just a few seconds. It is also a great beginner guitarists song.

This song uses common open chords, but the chords G, C and D always cause some troubles. Working on this tune is a perfect ‘exercise’ to work on these types of transitions.

Song structure:
Verse: G / D / C / D
Chorus: C / D / G / G/Gb / Em / C / D