Jo’s Blog

The latest from Jo Bywater
Song Lessons- Englishman in New York by Sting (Acoustic Rhythms & Chords)

Song Lessons- Englishman in New York by Sting (Acoustic Rhythms & Chords)

Englishman in New York by Sting is one of My favourite tunes to turn up loud and sing along to. It makes for an awesome acoustic guitar arrangement.

We have a driving thumb and staccato finger picking pattern for the verse and chorus in which we have three chords. The middle section is a little bit more chordy but we’ll make it….

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Song Lessons – Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution by Tracy Chapman (Acoustic Strum Easy & Harder)

Song Lessons – Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution by Tracy Chapman (Acoustic Strum Easy & Harder)

Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution released in the late 80s is a well requested song for acoustic guitar strummers. Tracy Chapman has taken 4 chords, repeated them in the same order throughout the song and with a bit of an interesting strumming pattern created something that defines it and is instantly recognisable to this song even though these same 4 chords are used in countless other songs.

Today we learn the actual strumming pattern in the recording. I’ve added tab and rhythm charts to help reinforce the lesson. In the second part I break down the rhythm into an easy version for those with less experience or those not wanting to learn the more complex version.

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How to read guitar chord boxes (+ free download)

How to read guitar chord boxes (+ free download)

A chord box, also known as a chord diagram or a chord chart is a simple line picture of the guitar fretboard which shows us which frets we need to put our fingers on and which strings we need to strum in order to play a chord.

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