How to Play Blackbird on Guitar Video Lecture - The Ultimate Guitar Course

all right everybody today we are going
to learn the classic Beatles song
blackbird and I kind of have a different
way of teaching this so it's a good
lesson kind of song structure but before
you Beatles purists get your ring goes
in a bunch I want to just be out right
and saying this is 92% accurate and I'm
sacrificing 8% accuracy to make it forty
three percent easier right so in this
lesson we're just going to cover the
main part or what I consider the main
part and it's going to sound like this
[Music]
okay so basically this is a really great
song to just introduce yourself to
finger style guitar because it's one
very simple pattern that you're tracking
across route notes so really I think any
anybody at any level can learn how to
play this song and to me it's a must
know song to have in your guitar
repertoire right so basically what we're
going to start on is just with the like
your ah your ring finger on the third
fret of the e-string this is a G this is
in the key of G so what's really
critical in this song is the open g
string which we're going to get to right
so we start with just the third fret of
the e which is a G and we're going to
pluck both this low E string and the B
string together at the same time right
so I'm using my thumb for the root note
of the chord and my middle finger for
the B string now you can totally use
your pointer finger for the B string ah
and just kind of use like a two finger
thing but I would really highly
recommend using your thumb and two
fingers for this it's going to help you
out in the long run right so we're gonna
do is we're gonna the root note the open
B string at the same time and then my
pointer finger is going to come and hit
the open g string right so this is
really the most important part because
this is going to be repeated many many
times through the song we have a double
note thing and then a single note open g
string right then we're going to go to
open a and 1 B and then the g string
right and now after this this is where I
think it becomes a really good lesson in
just to kind of memorizing song
structure because we're going to learn
to shapes and basically the rest of this
entire song with a few variations can be
played with just two shapes and they're
really really similar to each other
right and the first one we're going to
do is 2a and 3b and I'm using my pointer
finger to play 2a and my ring finger to
play 3b it you could easily use your
pinky if you want to it doesn't really
matter as long as you can get whatever
whatever is comfortable but we're going
to think of this as a shape and this
shape is going to be representative of a
minor chord like if you've ever played a
B minor chord or really any minor chord
this ruto right here 2a is a B that
might look familiar right
so we're just taking a piece of this
we're taking the a string and the B
string but because we don't need the
rest of it it's much easier and it opens
up the open g string for us to do that's
right so we're going to call this shape
number one okay and we're going to refer
to this knot by its name of B minor but
we're going to refer to this by its fret
on the a string because everything else
is tracking on the a string so this is
the second fret on the a string and the
first shape now what I mean by shape is
just you can track your your you keep
your finger here on the B string and
your root note is always going to be on
the a street a and B together and then
open G right so the only other shape
that we have is going to be the next
shape and we're going to move it all the
way down to ten on the a string which is
a G right and again it sounds there's
resolution there because we're on the
keys but anyways so this is ten and now
we're going to have a two fret spacing
Maya pointer fingers on ten a and my
pinky is on 12 B we're going to the
exact same thing a pinching both and the
open g string now since we have a two
frets facing this is gonna be shaped
number two off the tenth fret so we go
from two one two being the second fret
one being the shape all the way down to
ten two and essentially the rest of the
song can be played using either the
first and the second shape and just
rooting it on a different root note on
the a string right so aside from that
the only other thing we need to know is
a picking pattern a finger style picking
pattern and that's going to come into
play right here just sound like this
[Music]
this is really good for kind of training
rhythm into your hands like different
fingers and stuff like this and is all
about counting and it's super easy it's
like one of the easiest for beat counts
that you can use in any other song it's
going to really value before you write
and before we even get to the chord
we're going to do it with just the open
strings right so now as I was saying
before your thumb is almost kind of
locked to the open a string for most of
us right so all we're going to do is
going to take a bar which is four beats
in the song 1 2 3 4 and this is just
going to be real steady right this never
changes tempo is always kind of keeping
the pulse of the song which makes it
such a great acoustic guitar song to
learn so the the picking pattern is
going to be 1 2 & 3 & 4 ok so the thumb
is on every downbeat every number 1 2 &
3 M 4 and then the an beats are going to
be different so the very first downbeat
is going to be thumb and the B string so
both on 1 2 is the thumb by itself to
and which is the treat g string 3 & 4 so
the end of 2 is the g string the end of
3 is the B string so the downbeat the
one gets a MBA one two and three and
four one two and three and four one two
and three and four again like I said
before you can use these two fingers and
do it like 1 2 & 3 & 4 but I suggest
using 3 because I think it'll be easier
for you in long-run and you just kind of
want start incorporating more ease
anyways right so this is just the one
picking pattern and when I chart this
out I'm going to designate a picked
chord with a star so right now we have
the the whole thing from the beginning
is 3 e & open via G open a and 1 B
Frette to shave one and all the way down
to fret 10 shape to pattern so this so
we have this shape right 10 and the the
to fret spacing so 10 a 12 B 1 2 & 3 & 4
& again so we have 2 bars of what I'm
going to call 10 - 10 threat second
shape right so again all it is 1 2 & 3 &
4 1 2 & 3 & 4
so it's essentially kind of the intro
and the steady you can get the pulse of
your thumb the more fluid is going to
sound now sometimes I'll make this
second shape with my ring finger
sometimes I'll make it with my pinky
doesn't really matter whatever is
comfortable for you in whatever you can
get some good right by the way like I
said when this B minor was
representative of a minor chord the same
thing goes for shape - when I have a two
front spacing that's representative of a
major chord right so we have a G and a B
which is its major third the third gives
us its class so you can think of the
first shape being a minor chord and the
second shape being a major chord
essentially right so after this it gets
a lot easier and it just comes down to
memorizing the root note that you need
to start on and either the shape you
have to apply or pattern so after we go
through the first car
[Music]
we're gonna go to 3 to 7 1 5 to 9 right
so I think this is where this kind of
system of taking a root note and a shape
and combining them is a much easier way
to string together in my memories I mean
this is the best way for me to learn and
this is the way I teach it and I think
it resonates with a lot of people
instead of thinking like I've got to get
to 3a and 5b and then 7 a and a P and
then 5 a and 7 B and then 9 a and 10
p.m. it's way easier to think of three
to seven one five two nine one seven one
cap okay so again it still might seem
like a burden to kind of memorize these
things but there's something about this
chord progression that your ears will
really lead the way and you're going to
memorize it a lot sooner than maybe you
think you can can right so three two and
remember every time I'm hitting a and B
in together and then the open g string
all by itself to kind of glue it
together with the root note of the key G
so three two seven one five two nine
this is a really great place to just
drill something like this instead of
going through the entire song just boom
don't even worry about doing it faster
this lows need you three two seven one
five two nine
and I can keep both of these fingers I'm
playing with my pointer my pinky this
way and they're glued to the string
right and being able to track this is a
lot easier now just for the purist but
this is one of the ways that kind of
deviates from the original song the
original song it has something like this
right and right here this is kind of
like a I think this can be a pretty big
reach for beginners so I'm essentially I
feel like I'm keeping the integrity of
the song intact by kind of just playing
the minor chord there but anyways so
three two seven one five two nine one
seven one but with that pattern both two
and three and four and then we go from
seven one two six two and you can do
that just by moving your pointer finger
back and another pattern so we have two
patterns in a row seven one two six two
so again let's add that so we have three
two seven one five two nine one seven
one pattern six two pattern five two
seven one three two pattern three one
pattern to one pattern open two pattern
I want to talk about this for a second
right now okay so when I say open -
we're making the same shape as we were
on the other ones but if we did open
your pointer finger would just be off
the fretboard so the open a string rings
out along with to be so we kind of have
a run of patterns right here
3 2 1 2 & 3 & 4 3 1 2 & 3 & 4 the B
again with a pattern open and then
here's the one time we deviate the only
thing that happened there I went down to
the D string and I'm routing that on the
a string that's the only time we're
doing it in this part but on the D
string but still doing the same pattern
1 2 & 3 & 4 the only think I changed as
my thumb is on the D string now instead
of the a string and I'm doing it in
pattern 1 so you can think of this as
open D 1 and that brings you back to the
beginning and then I like a subsequent
lesson I'm going to show you how to
string all these together but again
we're just going to repeat all these and
I'm going to have on the side it was
kind of a graphic that you can start to
use to maybe just kind of get the feel
for the structure of the entire song
because it's really a really beautiful
chord progression the way it's played
and it's just kind of easy you know so
it's a great one to learn so again we're
going to start off with the G and the B
dia
to the open g string and then this is
really open one on a a - 110 - pattern
twice three two seven one five two nine
one seven one with the pattern six two
with the pattern five two seven one
three two pattern three one pattern
- one pattern open to pattern the D
string root one pattern and then back to
the beginning right depending on what
song well part of the song you're in you
can kind of do a couple different things
sometimes it goes back here but we'll
talk about that later right so again I'm
gonna play the whole thing from the
intro more time a - 110 - pattern twice
three two seven one five two nine one
seven one pattern six - pattern 5 - 7 1
free - pattern 3 1 pattern
- one pattern open a pattern
open D minor
[Music]
so there it is this gonna be the main
part I'm gonna do the next part again
and the cool thing about the next part
[Music]
it's the exact same thing the same
system but I want you to kind of really
work on just memorizing that first part
first and then when you're ready go to
the next video