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In this live lesson Simone takes you through all the chords and rhythms you need to get this super cool pop song together. It is a challenging set of chords to play, that includes a minor 9th chord, 'slash' chords, altered dominant 7ths and more. Simone also walks you through various ways to play the rhythm, using a pick and without a pick. So, if you're an intermediate player and want to improve your chord and rhythm playing, grab a cup of tea, pick up your guitar, and let's learn together!
The first four chords of the song, which are used in the verse, are an Ebm9, Ab9sus4, Fm7, Bb9sus4 & Bb7b9. The cool thing about those final two chords is they act as the V chord in the key (Ebm) and therefore create a lot of tension that is resolved when you go back to the 1st chord Ebm. Simone will walk you through this idea in more detail in the video.
Firstly, when you are playing the verse you are essentially hitting the "1", "2 and", "4". As an acoustic guitarist, you can start to embellish this a bit more, but this is the main rhythm that you here the keyboards play on the track. Below is that rhythm pattern... Remember that Simone chooses to play this pattern without the "4" hit, just to simplify it even more within the band ensemble.
Intro
Ebm9 ///
Verse
Ebm9 /// Ab9sus4 /// Fm7 /// Bb9sus4 // Bb7b9
Ebm9 /// Ab9sus4 /// Fm7 /// Bb9sus4 // Bb7b9
We now bring in a few new chords shapes, as well as use the same shapes as we had before. Here are the new shapes we are using in the pre chorus and chorus:
We continue to use the same groove, but have a new chord progression. Here is the outline of the pre chorus and chorus part of the song. Notice that in the last bar of the chorus you play one chord per beat (which is quick!).
Pre-Chorus
Ebm9 / Fm7 / Abm7 / Gbmaj7 / Ebm9 / Fm7 / Bbm7 Bbm7/Ab F7#5 /
Chorus
Ebm9 /// Ab9sus4 /// Fm7 /// Bb9sus4 // Bb7b9
Ebm9 /// Ab9sus4 /// Fm7 /// Bbm7 Bbm7/Ab Bbm7/Gb F7
Just when you thought that was enough... Along comes the bridge! We all love a good bridge don't we?! There are ven more chords to learn as well, which are shown below. We stick to the same rhythm when we play through the chord chart as well, also shown below.
Bridge
Gbmaj7 / Ebm9 / Fm7 / Bm7 / Gbmaj7 / Ebm9 / Abm7 / Db9 /
Gbmaj7 / F7 / F7 Gdim7 Adim7 Bbm7 // Ebm9 /// Bbm7 Bbm7/Ab F7#5 /
A massive thank you to Simone, who is a phenomenal player and tutor. If you would like to arrange a lesson with him then simply visit our guitar lessons London page. Many more guitar lesson videos coming very shortly!