George Michael 6-Pack

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Faith - Acoustic Guitar Lesson

  Faith is a song written and performed by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist George Michael.
  
  It’s taken from his solo debut and Grammy winning album of the same name, released in 1987. It reached number one in the United States and was the top-selling single of the year in 1988.
  
  This lesson takes a thorough look at the very cool uptempo and rhythmic groove, which needs to be played by muting the strings with the fretting hand.
  
  It covers the easy progression which was recorded in the key of B. The song uses five chords, preferably barre chords from the E and A families.

• Lesson 2: Father Figure - George Michael - Guitar Lesson

  Father Figure is a song taken from George Michael’s Grammy Award winning debut album ‘Faith’, released in 1988.
  
  This lesson is based on an acoustic arrangement that Michael performed at a concert in 1996 at Three Mills Studios in London, for MTV Unplugged.
  
  Besides going through the progression, the colorful chords and the strumming, also done in double time, we mainly take a look at how to play the beautiful signature melody line which appears in the intro, interlude and outro.
  
  The latter is by far the hardest part to play, since it requires quite a bit from both hands, but the rest of the song is relatively easy.
  
  The song in in the key of A, mainly using major chords with an occasional twist to minor. The guitar is capoed on the first fret, and puts it in the absolute key of Bb.
  
  It uses the very exotic sounding Jewish scale, ‘Ahava Rabbah’, for the signature melodyline, also known as the Phrygian dominant scale, or the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale.
  
  For example, the popular Jewish tune ‘Hava Nagila’ is based on that particular scale. A segment which elaborates a little more on that is included.

• Lesson 3: Jesus To A Child - George Michael - Guitar Lesson

  Jesus To A Child is a song by the British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and multi-award winner George Michael.
  
  It’s one of Michael’s best known songs and was included on his third 1996 solo album ‘Older’.
  
  This lesson takes a close look at the chords, since it features 22 variations, based on six chords in the key of Am, with one chord out of the key. The guitar is capoed on the 4th fret to match the absolutely key of C#m.
  
  It’s up to the student to decide how they want to use the right hand. The song could be played with percussive strumming to copy the bossa nova feel, but fingerpicking or simply strumming through it should work fine as well.
  
  Personally I prefer the latter to emphasize and bring out the beauty, color and tension of the chords.
  
  There are also two segments which cover how to practice new chord shapes and a bit of theory about how to build and construct chords, when you’re not familiar with them just yet.

• Lesson 4: Careless Whisper

  Careless Whisper is a pop ballad written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of British music duo Wham. It appears on their debut album ‘Make It Big’, released in 1984, and reached number one in nearly 25 countries.

  This lesson teaches the chords and progression in three different keys. Dm, Am and Em. Each of those has it’s own pros and cons.

  If it’s your goal to give the song a percussive sound, Dm would be a good choice, since it has several barre chords. This means you need to squeeze and release the strings.

  If you’re looking for an easier key, or if you like the sound of open strings, like I do, Am would be a better option. You can still add a little bit of percussion with those chords.

  I’ve added a short segment for the key of Em, since it would work really well for female vocalists.

  Of course we also take a look at how to strum through the song.

   

• Lesson 5: Waiting For That Day

  Waiting For That Day is a song by music artist George Michael, released as the 2nd single from his 1990 ‘Listen Without Prejudice’-album.

  This lesson teaches the chords in the key of C, the progression, the little fill in the intro, and the strumming.

  We also take a look at how to make the latter sound a bit more percussive in order to copy the James Brown’s ‘Funky Drummer’ sample a little, which Michael used for the song.

• Lesson 6: Faith - Electric Guitar Lesson

  George Michael’s song Faith is and awesome way to get introduced to a unique blend of genres. Well known as a pop sensation, he managed to combine rock and even country into this masterpiece. With an incredibly simple chord progression, it makes learning the structure of the song a piece of cake. When it comes to the solo, however, you might need a few extra minutes to capture the country-esque guitar licks that abound in this awesome and fun lesson!