This song from the album 'My Dear Melancholy,' is a great example of how effective just 4 chords can be in one song. We essentially loop the same three chords around the track, with a 4th chord that pops in at the start and end of the song. Dan walks you through a beginner and intermediate version as well.
Let's start with the beginners version, which consists of 4 open chord shapes with the capo on fret 4. Remember that you only use the Bm chord in the very first part of the song, and then at the end of the song. The chords are:
As this song doesn't actually have a rhythm guitar track, we can be ptrtty free to do what we like with the rhythm However, for a beginner, this rhythm works well over the song. Remember to change to the C major chord on the 3rd beat of the second bar.
Now then, if you want to challenge yourself a little further and create a bit more texture to suit the atmospheric theme of the tune, you can use barre chords or even CAGED chords with delay and reverb. These are the actual chords of the song (remember that the capo allows us to refer to chords in their open position names, rather than the actual audible sound of the chord). You can start with the barre chords like this:
Alternatively, if you wanted to practice your CAGED chord positions (which we highly recommend), you can try these shapes that are all based in the same part of the neck.
Ready to move on? Remember to check out every lesson in this unit first – then try the next unit...
This is the third record from The Weeknd's 'My Dear Melancholy,' album (2018) and it continues to demonstrate his ability to write unbelievably catchy melodies over 3 or 4 basic chords. In this track we are using a lot of 7th chords, as well as some lovely melody notes that we can place on top of the chords if you are looking for a challenge! Don't worry though, we'll also work through a total beginners version!