In 1983 Katrina and The Waves released the awesome, up-beat WALKING ON SUNSHINE. It has been the high energy, bouncy soundtrack of our summers ever since…

Today’s lesson is a rhythm study. Learning the endurance needed to make your way through a song like this is a great skill to build.

The capo is on fret 1.  We’re in 4/4.  For this song we only need 3 chords :  A E & D (The I IV & V chords in the Key of A)

THE SONG:

The Chords-

The Rhythms-

There are 2 rhythms we’re looking at today.  The Intro/Verse/Instrumentals are one of the them.  The second trhythm is the chorus.

Due to the speed of the song we begin by breaking the rhythm down to a slow speed, understanding where the ups & downs are and start by playing it on muted strings so we can concentrate on the strumming hand. 

Rhythm 1:

Once you have the rhythm above sorted we can add in the chords (as below) – this is a 2 bar rhythm

The chord sequence above repeats for the whole intro and verses.  Once you’re comfortable with the chord changes we can now develop the rhythm and add in the mutes below.

Rhythm 2:

This is for the choruses

Repeat this sequence for the choruses.

The Song Structure-

 

The main thing to remember with fast songs is to take your time building the accuracy up slowly.  Once you can do it slowly, build the speed gradually. Don’t rush this as it can sound messy later on. 

For the Full Video Lesson –

 

Full Acoustic Play-through –