Beatles Songs Volume 1 Package

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Day Tripper - Guitar Lesson

  Day Tripper contains one of the greatest rock riffs ever written and would have to qualify as one of the most instantly recognizable tunes around. You really only need to hear a couple of notes to Name-That-Tune. Like many Beatles songs, Day Tripper is rooted in the blues. John takes a very catchy riff, plays it twice, moves it up a fourth, then back, in the manner of the first 8 bars of a 12-bar-blues progression. At this point it diverts from the formula and continues through a series of seventh chords before finally landing where we would expect, on the dominant chord

• Lesson 2: Across The Universe - Guitar Lesson

  Across The Universe is a John Lennon tune that originally appeared on a benefit album for the World Wildlife Fund (the real WWF!) and later appeared on Let It Be. The most authentic version can be found on the reissue Let It Be… Naked. The song opens with a short melody, harmonized in 6ths, played on the 1st and 3rd strings, before settling into a little strumming over F#m and A. The verse has an interesting variation in a couple of spots where John puts an extra beat of A in a measure to let the words flow a little smoother.

• Lesson 3: Blackbird - Guitar Lesson

  The Beatles spent part of the summer of 1968 in India on a retreat with followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The English folksinger Donovan showed both Paul and John a guitar accompaniment style known as Travis Picking. Paul’s right hand technique has all the notes being played with the thumb and index finger. His index finger never really picks out a single string, it is more of a brush across 2 or 3 strings, and is brushing down or being pinched with the thumb on the beats, and brushing softly up between the beats.

• Lesson 4: Dear Prudence - Guitar Lesson

  The main guitar part is played in Dropped D Tuning (DADGBE) and John keeps a steady bass pattern going that plays the 5th string as the first bass note in each measure, alternating 5-4-6-4. The progression cycles through 4 measures where the 1st bass note goes from A to C to B to Bb. The names of the chords get a little cumbersome here but it is fine to think of it all as a D chord with changing bass notes.

• Lesson 5: Norwegian Wood - Guitar Lesson

  Norwegian Wood is played in 12/8, where each measure consists of 4 repetitions of a simple 3/4 strumming pattern. The song is fingered in the key of D, but the guitar was played with a capo at the 2nd fret moving the tonal center (tonic) to E. It uses 2 different modes, the first section, starting on D major, uses the mixolydian mode (C natural in the scale rather than C#). The second section, starting on Dm is based on the melodic minor scale.

• Lesson 6: Yesterday - Beatles - 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 7: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - Guitar Lesson

  From The Beatles album Help. This lesson shows exactly what their guitars played.

• Lesson 8: Something - Guitar Lesson

  The version of Something on Abbey Road is done in the key of C, modulating to A for the bridge. This arrangement we are looking at is based on George’s acoustic guitar demo of the song that was released on The Beatles Anthology III. This version is probably how George played it for his wife, Patti, in their kitchen in 1968. We are playing in the key of A, modulating to F# for the bridge. The intro riff, or melody is much easier to play in this key and leads me to believe that this is the key George wrote it in, if he wrote it on guitar. There are conflicting stories about this. Most composers who play the guitar tend to write things that lay comfortably under the fingers on the fretboard.

• Lesson 9: Two Of Us - Guitar Lesson

  Two Of Us is one of Paul McCartney's acoustic tunes from the Get Back Sessions, which appeared on Let It B It is a fairly basic strumming song opening with a little arpeggio lick.

• Lesson 10: Yellow Submarine - Guitar Lesson

  Yellow Submarine is a fun song to play for guitar students of all levels. It includes mostly open chords but a lot of one-beat changes as well.