Jason Mraz 7-Pack

Lessons

• Lesson 1: 93 Million Miles - Jason Mraz - Guitar Lesson

  93 Million Miles is a song by American singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner Jason Mraz. It appears on his Love Is A Four Letter Word album and was released as the second official single in 2012.
  
  The lesson covers both the version of the intro as played on the original recording as well as a version of how Jason plays it on stage, which is as free form as can be.
  
  The song is in the key of D, in Dropped D-tuning, using all the chords except for chord VII. On the original the guitar is capoed on the first fret, but on stage it’s usually capoed on the second. Because of Dropped D-tuning, a couple of chords with the root on the bottom string need to be modified. Also a few unusual chord shapes in the bridge may take a little work.
  
  It features random strumming in common time, which often changes to half time feel back and forth. It also includes focused strumming and several melody notes need to be picked out. For that the student should have some basic strumming skills.
  
  Keep in mind that Jason plays this song different in every performance and the student in encouraged to do the same.

• Lesson 2: A Beautiful Mess - Jason Mraz - Guitar Lesson

  A Beautiful Mess by Jason Mraz is the final track of his album We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, which came along with his huge hit, IРІР‚в„ўm Yours. It features a very melodic fingerpicking intro, by using all the chords, or at least part of those, in the key of E. Quite a few colourful chords throughout the song, such as m7, add9, add11, dominant7add11, which can be played with just a simple basic Р’С• swing time strum. We also take a look at some of the nuances and subtleties of Jason MrazРІР‚в„ў playing since he tends to change the way he plays his songs all the time.

• Lesson 3: Back To The Earth - Jason Mraz - Guitar Lesson

  Back To The Earth’ is a very fun and cheery song to play and is taken from singer-songwriter Jason Mraz’ new album ‘YES’, which will be released in July 2014.
  
  It features a very easy progression in the key of G and a simple strumming pattern in swing time. The lesson covers both the ukelele part, performed by multi instrumentalist Chaska Potter, and Jason’s part. The latter is harder to play since he uses barre chords from the E and A families only. We take a look at a few details of his playing as well, which involves strumming, plucking and muting the strings.
  
  The lesson also shows how to play the song in the key of C, where the guitar is capoed on the 7th fret, for the ones who don’t have a ukelele and are not ready for barre chords just yet.

• Lesson 4: I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

  In this lesson Neil goes over the strumming patterns and chords to this catchy song by Jason Mraz. This version is based on early recordings in the key of A, before Jason started using a capo, raising it to the key of B.

• Lesson 5: If It Kills Me - Jason Mraz - Guitar Lesson

  If It Kills Me, by Jason Mraz, is another great track from his album We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, which came along with his huge hit, I’m Yours.
  
  It’s in the key of D and features an intro and verses that are catchy and muted, several barre chords, a distinctive bass run, and a simple 4/4 strumming pattern. The lesson is mostly based on his early performances, but we will also take a look at how he has been playing it in recent years, using Drop A tuning.

• Lesson 6: Love Someone - Jason Mraz - Guitar Lesson

  Love Someone is the first track and the first official single of Jason Mraz’ new fifth album called ‘Yes’.
  
  It features a very easy progression, using the I, IV, V and VI in the key of D, in Dropped D-tuning.
  
  In the lesson we mostly take a close look at the strumming hand, since Jason Mraz uses a few different techniques. It involves a very catchy and cool fingerpicking percussive sounding intro, which is the main pattern throughout the song.
  
  It also includes a couple of subtle hammer-ons and dampening the strings. Other than that, fingerpicking combined with strumming or occasionally strumming is in there too. The student needs to be able to switch back and forth between one and the other.

• Lesson 7: Love For A Child - Jason Mraz - Guitar Lesson

  Love For A Child is another beautiful track from Jason Mraz’ album, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, and is written about the divorce of his parents when he was a young boy and how it had affected him as a child and grownup. This lesson is based on how he performs it live, when it’s just him and his guitar on stage. Since he has played this in several different ways over time, we will take a look at how he fingerpicks it, how to just strum it, or do a combination of both. It features a very nice melodic intro along with several barre chords from the E, A and even C families. Also, a few tricky chord shapes in the chorus make this a hard song for beginning guitar players.

• Lesson 8: I Won’t Give Up - Guitar Lesson

  I Won’t Give Up is from Jason Mraz’s 2012 album Love Is A Four Letter Word and is a pretty basic strumming song with a nice fingerpicked introduction and verse. It is played in Dropped D Tuning with a capo at the second fret. This lesson works on picking the mono bass pattern (not alternating strings) and using a simple 3/4 strumming pattern.