Strums and lullaby most of us were put to sleep by this tune in some point in our life.
This was a request from one of my students. It's a great simple tune to practice your
fingerstyle guitar playing. Most people know the tune and it doubles that you can put that
little ones to sleep. I'm gonna break this down into four sections and you'll see they
kinda make it's logical sense. Let's go ahead and and get started.
We're gonna start up with the form of a G chord. So I'm making the G chord with my second
finger on the sixth string third fret and I've got my third finger and
pinky next to each other. You don't actually need to put that third finger down yet but
I put it in place just to get it there and then lift it up. Now were gonna start the
melody on that second string twice taa taa and the next note and the melody is gonna
be with the third finger down on the second string so I'm pinching six and two that's
the thick E string I called that six and of course the high E as one. You can count from
there. So together it's second string and then third finger down. Now I'm doing a fingerpicking
pattern a very subtle one. I'm hitting the four and three strings so together its taa
taa pinch four three 3 then repeat.
Now were getting to move on to the next part of the melody. It's gonna be on the first
string third fret, second fret, open, open again and then on to the second string. So
with the chords now, I'm still on that G chord form but that's why I got that pinky down.
Pinch six and one and I'm also using the third string as a kind of an alternating note so
it's that's what you're hearing but I'm pinching 6 and 1. Pinch 3 now down one fret. I'm using
my first finger fret, open. Now I'm changing chords.
Now the left hand second finger and third finger slide down to fret, pinky comes down
third fret second string and I'm gonna pinch on the 6 and 1. I still need that melody note.
One more note in the first string. Pinch. Now I'm playing again another note and then
down to that second string. All together it sounds like this --- and here comes the slide.
You noticed that I went down to the fourth string for the alternating note . You can
use the third actually but let say the fourth now -- one more time cause I talk too much.
So for this next part, we must start off with the formation that looks like this. Look at
my left hand. In case you're curious it's actually a D7 chord with the base note being
the F sharp which is the third of the chord. Okay, enough there. Let's go on.
So when I'm doing it, I'm doing up the melody from the third string, open second . When
I put the first finger down I pinch - fourth string back to third and we do that twice
so it's worth practicing a little bit.
Let's do it together. Put your fingers into that let's say D7 form and start on the third
string. Here we go. Second string, open, first finger down, pinch, fourth string, third string
and then again. Pinch.
Now I'm gonna play those same two melody notes again but instead of going to the third note
I'm gonna move my whole hand to a D form chord and pinch on the fourth and third strings.
Watch. I'm actually gonna pinch there too. Watch again
and back to the G.
Let's do that G chord form so now we're coming up there and then to the D form. Pinch on
4 and 1. Open second finger now pinch again on 2 and 4. First finger on third string,
back second finger down, third string and then G. I'm gonna play that again. Watch.
All together I play the whole thing slow, going to the D form now pinch, pinch and G,
6 and 1, I pinch.
Okay now were half way through the tune. Before I go on to the third section I'm gonna play
just what we've done up to now. I' ll go slow, you can either watch and kinda confirm over
at or try playing along.
Going on...
so you'll notice the exact same chord forms basically. We're used that D7 form but there's
one more chord - the basic C chord, folk style C chord so that's where we start. I'm gonna
start with the open third string twice and then I'm gonna pinch 5 and 1 4 3 and then
the melody open second G. I got my pinky on this third fret second string pinch open and
then we go to the D7 form Let's do that one more time. Here we go. Pinch, open it up second
string to the G then open third string. Here's goes that D7 form. Let's just do that D7 form.
So I've got my second finger on the second fret sixth
string, third string second fret and first fret on the second string. I'm starting with
the pinch on six and two to four, pinky down, open first string, back to four now to the
G chord but I'm gonna do it open second string with the pinch 4 and then put the third finger
down to make the next melody note second string third fret. Okay that much again.
Now all together starting from the C chord formation I'm gonna start with the third string
two notes. Here we go and pinch G D7 formation to the G again. Good work.
So you'll noticed this last section is very much like the third section. It starts off
exactly the same and the very end it slightly changes. Let's start off with that C again.
Third string, I'm gonna play two notes. Pinch and then open second string G open and third
string. Now were going to the D7 form again but the melody is slightly different than
section 3. Listen and it still ends on G.
So let's just do that D7 part I call it. Go ahead and make the chord form. Remember second
fret second string, second fret third string, first fret second string. We will start by
pinching on 5 and 2 4 open up 2 back to 4. Now were gonna go to 3 back to 4 and end on
G . I'm gonna pinch on 6 and 3. That's a nice resting place. Let's do that part again. You
can watch or follow along. There's 3 to 4 and then ends on G.
The whole thing now starting with the C chord. Here we go. I'm gonna start with two notes
on the third string. Go. Going to G now. Open it up, third now the D7 form.
Let's go ahead and play that entire second section, the second half starting from the
C formation. We will go nice and slow matter of fact might be so slow. A lot of hard time
playing it but I'll give it a good shot. Here we go starting two notes on the third string
open and pinch the G chord, going to the D7 and back to G.
Now two notes on the third string again and were going to the C chord, open and G D and
A , D7, pinch.
You did it. I'm gonna play to the whole tune one more time nice and slow. I wanna encourage
you to take each section one at a time and then put them together. It's a good practice
in general on how to learn songs but always remember that once you practice the section
make sure when you practice that part in between one section and the others so that they flow
one to the other.
Here we go the whole tune ___ lullaby. We got this. C chord, G and then D7. Again. going
down, ending and on G. You can do it. Take it slow. Break it down and keep at it.
Well that's all I got for now. Thanks for joining me. If you found value in this video,
give me a thumbs up. I appreciate it and hey if you're not making the kind of progress
you'd like to make with your acoustic guitar , I can help. Click the link below or visit
my website directly at realguitarsuccess.com. I'll show you how much fun learning guitar
really can be. Hope to see you again soon.