Today’s guitar lesson song page covers the beautiful: Strong Enough by Sheryl Crow.
I find this song lovey to play and sing – powerful and gentle.
We start with the picking that runs throughout the intro and verse 1 and follow that with the verse and chorus strumming patterns.
I have included Tab, chord boxes and rhythm charts to help with learning and there is also a link to the video lesson on YT.
Time Signature: 6/8
Key: D
THE SONG
Chords:
Intro & Verse 1 Tab & Picking Pattern
This cycles 6 times in total.
Rhythm & Chord Sequence:
The following rhythm plays for each Intro, Verse & Pre – Chorus. The ‘o’ means change chord here.
The Chorus rhythm below (adds an extra strum to pick up the energy).
Dynamics
Dynamics are one way we craft a song. Volume and space are 2 examples.
Volume:
The Intro & Verse is a fairly easy – going volume, nice and even. Once we reach the pre-chorus there’s a bit more ‘snap’ (accent) on the first up-strum of each bar. The chorus adds and extra strum and turns the volume up a notch (strum a bit harder).
Space:
Throughout the song on the words ‘good lord’ ‘oh lord’ etc the guitar cuts out. This creates more impact once the strum comes back in for the chorus.
In the second Pre-Chorus the chords are played with one raked (staggered/arpeggiated) strum on beat one of each bar. This brings the volume down, lightens the feel ready for the percussive chorus. The second chorus has no guitar (percussion only under the vocals), I play this by playing muted strings and tapping the guitar body to emulate the Bass Drum/Snare feel (I’ve demoed this in the full play-along vid). Once the strummed chords come back in for the chorus we’re really flying all the way to the end.
Song Structure:
INTRO | VERSE 1 | VERSE 2 | CHORUS | VERSE 3 | VOCAL BREAK | VERSE 4 | CHORUS |
🎸 For additional video lesson help with this lesson ⤵️
🎸FULL SONG PLAY THROUGH⤵️