How to Write Your Own Acoustic Guitar Interpretations Video Lecture - Guitar

there are some things in life that
aren't really supposed to be open to
interpretation speed limits instructions
from your girlfriend the European Union
financial guidelines I'm looking at you
Greece but lucky for us songs and music
definitely on acoustic guitar are very
open to interpretation so today we're
going to talk a little bit about how
maybe you can take a song interpret it
on acoustic guitar and we are going to
be using as an example the song I did
with Alia a great Beatles song come
together so maybe if you haven't seen
that I will link you to that if you want
to check that out first a lot of people
kind of requested like a lesson on how
to do it but I thought I'd just kind of
like take you into a what I think is a
good way to kind of maybe take a melody
and try to make it your own because like
let's face it like if you're just trying
to play like a Beatles song straight up
just like they played it there's a 0%
chance you're going to be able to play
it anywhere nearly as well as they could
do it so you might as well take that as
an opportunity or any other song they
kind of try to put your own spin on it
and make a little bit different and kind
of impart some of your musical
personality honest so these are just
kind of a couple ideas that I use when I
try to do these on my channel right so
come together is an awesome song really
like a fantastic riff and the actual way
to play it it's kind of a combination
between a guitar line and a bass line
and it all starts on this B note so the
tenth fret of the E string we're going
to start here and like the guitar is
doing something like this it's like 10 e
twice down the string to the a string it
10 12 and then you're kind of getting
maybe like a like a dyad where either
you're just hitting the tenth fret on
the d-string kind of melodically what I
hear most from the guitar ooh just like
that so 10 e tenfold a
can be while the bass is doing something
like something like that right which is
kind of the same thing it starts out the
same way then we go to the 10th fret on
the g string and then back to the octave
D ok so the way I was kind of trying to
incorporate that in an acoustic guitar
setting ended up sounding like this and
that kind of brings us to maybe what's
the job of an acoustic guitar if you're
like an acoustic guitar do or playing
with a singer or like a company mint or
just singing yourself is the
disadvantage you're at from trying to
recreate like a full band song like a
Beatles song is that you know there's
one guitar they can create a lot of
space just doing that and the bass can
kind of complement that at a lower
octave then the drums are kind of
keeping the time you know you're kind of
at a disadvantage of recreating that
entire atmosphere with just an acoustic
guitar so the advantage that an acoustic
guitar player has is they can kind of
incorporate the melody into chords so
that's what we're going to talk about
for this first part is I'm choosing to
kind of play this this d2 it's 4 which
is a d2 and a except in an open position
and the reason I'm using an open
position is because now we can kind of
incorporate fuller sounding chords into
what we're doing to kind of give more of
like a you know an atmosphere to it
instead of just kind of trying to sing
over a single line which might sound
kind of puny I'm just to increase the
guitar with a vocalist right so we're
going to play in the D on the tenth fret
of the low E string we're going to hit
the D to the open string hit it twice
we're going to kind of do that same riff
but open D open G hammer on to the a
here is the same thing is like that and
then we're going to add the C note right
the first fret there but we're going to
kind of play all the use within the
context of this chord so if I have an
open D open G or open D 2 G 1 B 2 and
open Ian kind of getting this chord as a
glue in which to insert an
interpretation of the melody okay
another thing you can do is that slide
right there or that hand run right there
something that sounds kind of cool on
acoustic guitar so definitely any
opportunity you have to incorporate
slides or hammer on it's kind of a must
I think when you're talking about the
accompaniment of an acoustic guitar
so that last time this goes through four
times right maybe the last time do
something a little bit different so
always again this is just my opinion
there's no right or wrong way to do this
but I always try to make it something we
have a for repetitive times in a row try
to maybe switch them up a little bit so
that last time maybe I go to the fifth
fret kind of come back slide back again
it's all my Styles all kind of like the
illusion of movement and a busy way that
isn't kind of taking away from what the
vocalist is doing but essentially that's
kind of how I got that main rep so Dee
hammering on slide or a hammer on and
I'm not worried about getting just the
single single note again I think it
sounds better in the context of gluing
it together with fours which brings us
to the verse okay now again in the real
song the it's like a power chord blues
shuffle' thing played on an electric
guitar so it would be like a power part
on the tenth fret real kind of
traditional blues thing going on where
we have 10 e and 12 a and then you're
just using your pinky to get 14 you kind
of burst of two at each one two three
right
I never use the same thing on an a wrap
to Angie and then back to the same kind
of deal right so we're gonna take the
essence of what it is but translate it
more to an open acoustic guitar sound so
when you want to maybe make a deep hour
for it up here we're doing the same
thing but I'm grabbing it open d2 on the
g string again which is a I D is v and
another D so right here this doesn't
have a third it's not a major or a minor
right so it's still kind of keeping the
the tradition of the new power board
intact but maybe sometimes I'm saying
that open E string to kind of give it a
suspended sound and just like down here
we're taking the fifth and going up a
step
I'm doing the same thing the fifth being
the second fret on the g string and
grabbing it with my ring finger fourth
fret of the g string so now we have more
of an open sounding
Thanks that you can still kind of
I'd like that extra blues shuffle' miss
to apply extending it one more fret with
your pinky on the fifth fret but still
in the context of an open chord so
you're kind of making a strum again I'm
muting it because this is the verse and
we're kind of making a dynamic version
of this we can do the same thing with
the a chord instead of doing a power
chord here let me take maybe like an
openness a power board open A to D to G
it might look like an a major but I'm
really not too concerned about hitting
that B string doing the same thing and
it's v is the second fret on the D
string going to the fourth fret right
there we can still do that same thing
with your pinky going up another half
step and then by the time we get to the
G it's like you know yeah just be good
looking mean just do it
reach that part now we can kind of
utilize some of the open strings that
really make an acoustic guitar sing so
by the time I get to this I'm kind of
doing a g7 ish thing where I have a G
power chord three e5a open D string so
another do my middle finger is on the
fourth fret of the g string which is a B
which is the major third of G chord and
open B string and open E string
and then you can kind of dynamically
ride that so the whole verse of you like
[Music]
that to the end
[Music]
so they're really kind of maintains the
essence of the song but in a slightly
different way that I think kind of
sounds pretty cool an acoustic guitar
now the chorus is going to be another
part we're going to talk about the combs
[Music]
Oni so again you can kind of hear in the
original version of the song they're
just kind of like power cord hits that
the whole band is doing is just a B to
an a to a G back to a that starts the
whole thing over again right so now this
is where you kind of take fuller chords
on an acoustic R which is something that
sounds really good and again so we're
going to start instead of playing a B
power board I'm going to go straight a B
minor and then for that a instead of
doing like just an a quarter a power
quarter I'm just gonna keep the same
chord open up the root note to kind of
give this you know keeping this board
here as a glue B add the egg because
it's G which now here we go
now we're talking to Shawn Daniel style
making this a major seven chord so
instead of a regular gia we're kind of
keeping this shape intact
starting with the B minor opening the a
string adding the G and by the time you
get to the G we've kind of actually
changing the composition of the chord
into a c-major seven instead of the g
major or a G power chord and if you've
seen some of the other acoustic
interpretations I do basically the main
rule of thumb is just to turn every
single thing into a major seven chord at
any possible time in fact my first pass
through on trying to do this one I was
trying to see if I could get away with
doing like a major seven
but it really just wasn't working I'd
say like I tried I tried my best so
we've got a B minor change through no to
an A to G and then maybe go back to that
a but again we'll school about acoustic
guitar especially in this key the open
strings can help us out so instead of
just a power chord I'm playing a major
Barre chord or I leave the B and the E
string open and you need that big kind
of open sound that'll bring you back to
so again that's just kind of like one
way that you can take a couple examples
of you know what I think is like the
essence of an all-time great song and
then maybe reinterpret it and how you
interpret it is totally up to you like I
said I kind of like using the openness
of an acoustic guitar and certain keys
to kind of get those big kind of shiny
chords going on all right maybe I you
can do something a little bit darker you
know you can always change major chords
to minor chords stuff like that ah
another one people seem to like was the
seven nation army cover that we did it
for instead of that again that's another
good example of an awesome Rassman that
is almost impossible to pull off
acoustic because if you just play the
you know riff without you know the help
of like a drum or just kind of like an
aggressive sounding like electric guitar
it can be kind of a challenge so again
I'll link you that one too but basically
it's like a jazz version of where these
notes are in the key of E minor so you
take an E minor board I'm going to fight
among seven nation army could hold me
back
that's the same thing where I'm taking
the essence of the rim but turning on
the course around in E minor chord so
the gravity of the song is an e-minor
I'm adding the notes to the chord and in
the process I'm actually making
different chords I don't have to really
even know the names of the chords I'm
making it can be helpful for sure but of
course like when I do this by the time I
get to the C there's another major seven
chord so you know that would kind of be
consistent with what I generally like to
do whenever I try to interpret songs and
put you know my own spin on it or
whatever so just a couple of ideas
anytime you're trying to maybe play
especially like an electric guitar song
or even like a piano song on an acoustic
guitar look up the chords if you can't
figure them out yourself you know like
tons of tabs and chord charts out there
for popular songs and then just kind of
start manipulating them maybe try to
find different ways to do it because you
might be surprised how much your
awareness of the fretboard grows when
you're actually not just on a chord
sheet or just following a tab note for
note we're actually trying to use a
little bit of creativity and trying to
find out maybe like the things that you
like about guitar and like the chord
voicings that you really gravitate
towards it's only going to help you find
your own voice as a musician which i
think is super important in your
creativity and just your overall
satisfaction of guitar playing and
that's the kind of stuff that keeps you
picking up your acoustic guitar I like
your guitar or whatever instrument you
play on it I need to keep coming back
and getting better and better
so hopefully this is helpful if you have
any questions hit me up on Instagram
Twitter the website or the comment
section I'll get back to you soon thanks
law