3. Arpegio, Right hand guitar technique, Bob Marley, Dm Am Em F

You will learn

Playing some of the chords that you have learnt in a new technique - arpegios.
Four more chords - Dm Am Em
Some right hand techniques, including some very useful exercises
To play Sweet Home Alabama a little differently
No woman no cry by Bob Marley

Tune the guitar!

First you have to tune your guitar, otherwise it will sound horrible. =)Tune with a computerized guitar, Click here

Arpeggio / Fingerpicking

Now we are going to look at some very simple types of arpegios, or fingerpicking techniques. An arpegio is nothing else but playing individual notes from a chord one after the other - that is the essence of fingerpicking. From a musical theory perspective, you don't need to dig deeper than this at this point.

We are going to look at some easier patterns or fingerpicking from the chords that we have already learned - G, C, and D.

The way to fingerpick is simple

1. Fret the chord
2. Play the individual strings in any order, as you wish

Many famous songs use fingerpicking as

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet home alabama
Metallica - Nothing else matters
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to heaven

However it is useful to learn and get started with some basic patterns. A lot of arpegios can be played with either a pick or your fingers, but some require simultaneous usage of your thumb and other fingers. As soon as you see that it is possible - practice playing the arpegio using pick and fingers.

The following is a useful basic arpegio pattern, and in upcoming lessons (like lesson 6) you will learn more. I demonstrate it in the video.

Try this arpegio pattern on your other chords as well!

G

e---------------3------------------3--------------
B------------3-----3------------3-----3-----------
G---------0-----------0------0-----------0--------
D-------------------------------------------------
A -----------------------2------------------------
E-----3---------------------------------------3---

C

e--------------0------------------0-------------
B-----------1-----1------------1-----1----------
G--------0-----------0-----0-----------0--------
D-----------------------2-----------------------
A ---3-------------------------------------3----
E-----------------------------------------------

D

e------------------2-------------------2---------
B-------------3-------3------------3------3------
G---------2--------------2-----2-------------2---
D-----0---------------------0--------------------
A ----------------------(or 0)-------------------
E------------------------------------------------

New chords

XX0231

X02210

022000

Either you fret this chord as the diagram shows
Middle finger - 2nd fret, A string
Ring finger - 2nd fret, D string

...or as the picture shows
Index finger - 2nd fret, A string
Middle finger - 2nd fret, D string

F (simplified)

1332XX

This chord is a bit tricky. It is usually fretted in its bar chord form, like this:

133211

But you will learn more about bar chords later.

Different ways of playing with your right hand

"How am I supposed to strum this thing?" - Pretty common question from beginners, it was a question of my own when I started playing.

Unfortunately (or, rather, fortunately!) there is no specific, ultimate, correct way of either strumming or picking a guitar! Why not? Because music is not a mathematical equation with one correct answer, there are an unlimited amount of correct answers! If music would be like maths, you would not be reading this, because I HATE maths:).

There are however some easy techniques/ways of of playing that is usually taught to beginners, like playing a simple 4/4 tempo, 8/4 or combinations of these. I will show you some of these in the video to get you started.

With all of these words said, I would like to underline that if you are learning a specific song, then you should try to learn to play it like the writer of the song! Of course you can always make variations, but if you play with a strumming pattern that is too different from the original, then nobody will know what song you are playing.

But, then again, this rule is often broken, and for the better in most cases:) (for instance the Unplugged version of Eric Clapton - Layla hardly sounds like the original recording, but it is so much better than the original).

Exercises for right-handed strumming technique and rhythm

Here are a few very useful exercises to get you started on strumming that guitar.

Click here to get to the exercises

Arpegio for Sweet Home Alabama

Many people want to be able to play the arpegio for Sweet home Alabama right away, therefore I published the arpegio here. If you find this too difficult now (which you almost certainly will) - simply leave it for now and return to it later.

E||----------------------------|--------3---------------------|----------------------------|
B||--------3----3-------3----3-|--------3---------------------|--------3----3-------3----3-|
G||----------2------------0----|--------------------------2-0-|----------2------------0----|
D||--0--0----------------------|------------------0-2-0-------|--0--0----------------------|
A||---------------3--3---------|--------------2-3-------3-----|---------------3--3---------|
E||----------------------------|--3--3------------------------|----------------------------|

--------3---------------------|
--------3---------------------|
--------0-----2-0-0-4-0-0-4b--|
------------------------------|
------------------------------|
--3--3------------------------|

MIDI
Slow | intermediate | normal

No woman no cry

Allright, now to learn a song written by the legendary Bob Marley.

The song has roughly the same chords throughout, although the chorus has a small twist.

The C/B chord, that you have not learnt yet, looks like this:

X22010

Chorus
C ---C/B---- Am--- F
No woman no cry
C--- F ----C ------G
No woman no cry
C ---C/B---- Am--- F
No woman no cry
C--- F ----C ------G
No woman no cry

Verse
Say, Say,
C----- C/B------------- Am----------- F
Say I remember when we used to sit
C----- C/B------------- Am----------- F
In a government yard in Trenchtown
C----- C/B------- Am----- F
Observing the hypocrites
C----------- C/B------------------ Am----------------- F
As they would mingle with the good people we meet
C----- C/B---- Am----- F
Good friends we have
C----- C/B------- Am----- F
Oh, good friends we have lost
C-- C/B----- Am----- F
Along the way
C----------- C/B---------------- Am--------- F
In this great future, You can't forget your past
C-- C/B----- Am----- F
So dry your tears, I say

Chorus
C ---C/B---- Am--- F
No woman no cry
C--- F ----C ------G
No woman no cry
C ---C/B---- Am--- F
No woman no cry
C--- F ----C ------G
No woman no cry

Verse
C C/B Am F and so on
Said I remember when we use to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
And then Georgie would make the fire lights
while the log wood burnin through the night
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge
Of which I'll share with you
My feet is my only carriage
And so I've got to push on through,
Oh, while I'm gone

Bridge
same chords as in chorus but played differently
Everything 's gonna be all right
Everything 's gonna be all right

Chorus
C C/B Am F and so on.
No woman no cry
No woman no cry

Outro
Woman and sister
Don't shed no tears
No woman no cry

Source: LetsSingIt

I demonstate in the video how you play the song, as well as I show how to make it a little more interesting.

Tabulature for the little extra notes are: (watch video)

----------------
----------------
----------------
----------------
---0--2--0-----
-3-------------

Play on!

These are songs that you may want to try out playing now. If you find them too difficult, simply return to them later.

Elvis Presley - His latest flame

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising

Guns n Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine

Jeff Buckley (Leonard Cohen) - Hallelujah

The Animals - House of the rising sun

Tom Dooley

Allright

That's all for this lesson, before you move on to the next...

Check your thumb. I don't want to sound like "eat your greens", but it's important.
Keep your chords tidy
Try playing at least 30 mins a day
Go slow - soon you will learn how to play powerchords and I promise the speed of learning will take off from there:)
practise the basic arpegio pattern I demonstrated - know it properly before moving on to the next lesson.