Fingerpicking Beatles Volume 3

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Imagine

  Imagine is arguably one of John Lennon’s greatest contributions to our musical universe. Consists of a very simple chord progression that can be easily strummed on the guitar. This lesson takes many of the piano lines and incorporates them into the guitar accompaniment. The lesson mostly presents an intermediate solo guitar version, paying particular attention to passages that are a bit deceiving and confusing.

• Lesson 2: Yesterday Guitar Lesson

  The latest project has been Yesterday, where we take a look at both a guitar accompaniment version and a solo guitar arrangement. The accompaniment version is pretty much the way Paul played it and is a simple way to back up the vocal part. The instrumental arrangement is an intermediate-level fingerpicking piece that uses more of an arpeggio style than alternating bass notes.

• Lesson 3: I Need You - Beatles - Solo Guitar Arrangement

  I recently did a lesson on the guitar parts that George Harrison and John Lennon play in George's tune I Need You, from The Beatles 1965 album Help. As frequently happens when putting together lessons, I messed around with playing the rhythm part and incorporating the melody. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and quite a bit easier than some of the more elaborate instrumental arrangements I have done, like White Bird, Eye In The Sky, and many others.

  This tune uses a percussive right hand technique where beats 2 and 4 of most measures have snare drum like click on the strings. Sometimes this is done by tapping the middle strings with the nails of the 2nd and 3rd fingers, and others with the thumb tapping the 6th string into the fretboard.

• Lesson 4: Dear Prudence - Solo Guitar Arrangement

  At the request of a student I thought I'd look into putting together an instrumental arrangement of John Lennon's tune Dear Prudence, which was released on their 1968 album The Beatles (aka The White Album). I was surprised how well the bass line and vocal melody came together, with all the bass notes on the bottom three strings and the melody notes on the top three strings. It turned out to need very little left hand movement, although there are a few somewhat unusual finger configurations.

• Lesson 5: Now And Then

  Thanks to Peter Jackson and technology developed for his Get Back documentary, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were able to resume work started in 1994 on John Lennon's demo of Now And Then. The progression is fairly basic but quintessential Lennon with a beautiful melody and touching lyrics.

  This lesson starts with Neil playing a solo instrumental version, then he goes into how to strum through the progression and details the arrangement. The last segment goes into how he creates fingerstyle instrumentals.

• Lesson 6: Come Together - The Beatles - Solo Arrangement

  Come Together is the opening track from the Beatles 1969 album Abbey Road. It was largely a John Lennon creation, although the songwriting credits are listed as Lennon-McCartney. This fingerstyle solo guitar arrangement combines melody, chords, and the classic Paul McCartney bass line that plays through the intro and verses. It also features a unique take on some of George Harrison’s soulful guitar fills, and an interesting percussive approach idea that hints at some of Ringo Starr’s drum work.