Bill Withers: Ain't No Sunshine

Free guitar lesson

Back to course index

This is probably Bill Wither's most famous tune, as it has been played in too many films to mention, plus covered by a huge amount of artists over the years. It's beauty is in its simplicity, with the song being made up of three or four chords with a simple melody line that works perfectly. Thomas walks you through it nice and slowly!

Chords: The Main Chord Shapes

There are really only 4 chords for this song, which can all be played in open positions but Thomas chooses to play some of them as barre chords, just to liven up the sound a little. Here are the chords as open chords and barre chords, practice whichever you prefer!

Open Chord Versions

Barre Chord Versions

The rhythm Fingerpicking

For the rhythm of the track, you can simply use a basic 'thumb fist' style picking pattern. This means that you play the first, second, third and fourth beat of every bar with your thumb (targeting the root note of the chord) followed by the rest of the chord with your fingers grouped together (so as to play each string needed). These hits will be on the "and" of every beat. So, to say it out loud you get "thumb fingers thumb fingers thumb fingers thumb fingers".

All done?

Congratulations

You've now completed Song Jukebox: Bill Withers and taken a huge step forwards in your guitar playing journey.

Feel free to bask in glory for a while, or go ahead and try another course if you're hungry for more.