An excellent 1960s guitar tune from The Mamas & The Papas. Today we’re learning the classic CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ just in time for summer.
The song has a definitive melodic guitar intro and some good open strumming chords with a simple repetitive rhythm.
The CAPO IS ON FRET 4 if you ‘d like to be in the same key as the recording. (Feel free to play this without a capo or find the fret which works with your voice if you’re singing along too).
Enjoy!
THE SONG:
We’ll begin today with the chords you need for the entire song….(don’t worry about the F Barre chord, there are alternatives below)
The chords:
(if you can’t play your barre chords yet, substitute the F for one of the following)
THE INTRO (PICKING PATTERN):
Follow the tab below to play the intro. I have blended the intro into one guitar part. (In the recording the song has 2 guitars that overlay each other).
The intro is a melodic phrase interweaving between an Asus2 chord in the first bar and ending on an E7sus4 chord in the last bar.
If you’d like video lesson help with this click this link ➡️ VID LESSON
THE RHYTHM:
This rhythm for the most part has 2 chords per bar so you would play the first chord for beats 1 + 2 + and the second chord for beats 3 + 4 +. The + (up) strums in the rhythm are the points you can change chord in the bar. You will lift your fingers off the strings for these strums and essentially play open strings. Again for more details check out the my video lesson ➡️https://youtu.be/Jqp1U8i5Izs
THE CHORD SEQUENCE:
This sequence comes in after the picked intro.
SONG STRUCURE:
Intro (picking)
Verse 1 (chord sequence)
Verse 2 (chord sequence)
Instrumental (chord sequence but sub first 3.5 bars for just an Am chord. Come back in on F and follow the rest as previous)
Verse 3 (chord sequence)
End (repeat A G F G x3 | Play Fmaj7 for 4 bars | Single strum on Am to end.
This is truly a top song to learn a catchy, well-known picking intro and some simple chord strums. Perfect song for SUMMER!
Enjoy
VIDEO LESSON:
FULL ACOUSTIC PLAY-THROUGH:
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