Hi guys, how're you doing?
Welcome to day four of this ten day guitar starter course with me, Andy Crowley.
Now in this lessen, we're checking out a very recognisable riff that's just played
using the chords E, A and D major.
Now we've all heard of the term guitar riff before,
But it can happen that people don't actually know what it refers to.
Now a guitar riff is the short recognisable part
of any particular song.
And it has to be short.
It has to be repetitive, so it has to be the same thing that repeats over and over.
And it's also instantly recognisable as that song.
This one is 'Wild Thing', originally done by the Troggs.
And it just has these three chords in it, and let me give you a quick demonstration now
of what we're going to be going for in day four of this course.
Now most people watching this video should recognise that as 'Wild Thing'.
I'm not going to say everyone, because there is always someone that doesn't recognise a certain song
but most people will, and if you don't know it
other people will definitely recognise it if you play it.
And that can be a fantastic asset to have
especially in your early days of playing guitar.
When you really want things to sound exactly like the record
And sometimes it doesn't, or sometimes we play simplified versions of songs.
It's great when this sounds absolutely like the record.
Let's get in for a close up now and learn this easy song.
So to play 'Wild thing', we start of on an A major chord.
And we're going to play in this fashion.
In coherence with the rest of the course.
If you're not familiar with this A chord, and you're more familiar with this way of playing an A
or any other way, you can use that.
But I advise this one, because this riff is constantly changing chord.
From the A to the E and the D chord.
And we want to make that change as good as possible, and that's the idea of this finger staying down.
This anchor finger that we have, between all these chords
which never quite lifts off, it just slides.
So we're going to start of on an A chord, and we're going to strum twice.
That's twice on the beat, so
Join in with me now 3,4
one, two
Be careful not to pick the thickest string, but we can have our thumb on top
like this.
So when this sound is made when we just pick that string, not pressing down to gain a note.
We're just muting that string with our thumb.
So then I can strum all the strings.
And that thickest string is not heard.
A very handy skill.
So we strum twice.
Then we change to the D, after a slight pause.
And we strum twice, but quicker.
On two down strums, so
A, A
D, D
One, two
three and four.
is the rhythm of it.
One, two
three and four.
Now to make that change smoother,
we can mute by laying our hands over the string at the sound hole like this.
And that will really clean up the sound and make this riff sound a lot better.
But it will sound like 'Wild Thing'
even without that muting, it will just sound a lot cleaner with it.
So after that change
A, A
D, D
We then do the biggest and hardest change to the E chord.
from the D
It's the hardest change that we've done so far.
Then we strum E on the beat.
one, two
And then we go back to the D again.
So A
D
E
and back to D
And that's the whole thing, that's just what we repeat.
Just let me have one slow demo before we play together.
wild thing
you make my heart sing
Hopefully very recognisable for you guys.
Let's have a go at playing it together, really, really slowly
Play along with me, starting from the A chord
In two
three
four
to the D
and then to the E.
One, two
back to a D
and four.
Let's give it another go, really slow in two
three
four
A
mute
D, D
to the E
E
chord
three
D, D
This time we're going to try this riff in a loop
Let's try and play it four times, remember with these guitar riffs
they have to repeat, otherwise it's not a riff.
It has to repeat exactly.
for it to sound correct and sound and be the song we're going for.
So one more time.
But we're going to cycle this whole riff four times
From the A chord.
In two
three
four
A
three and four
E
to the D
D, D
from the top again.
A
D, D
E
D, D
A
D, D
E
D, D
And that's our riff, ok.
Couple of tips: remember we had this thumb just creeping over the top.
Taking out, muting this thickest string.
That thumb wants to be in the same place on the D chord.
But it needs to lift higher on the E.
Because it's all six strings.
That we want ringing out on the E chord, but when we're on the D chord
we ideally want the thinnest four, but it's ok if we just catch that A.
It's not going to sound bad, but it sounds really bad
if that thickest E string is ringing out on a D chord, we don't want that.
Also especially when changing back from the E chord.
We want to make sure that all our fingers are as far this way as they can on the fret.
Not in the middle, we want to be right over here.
And as much on the tips of your fingers, curling over this first
knuckle, or sort of joint in our fingers.
Curl those right over
and they will ring out, if they're too flat, they will not ring out.
And all our chords
will sound a bit flat, and not quite ringing out
The correct way, right on the tips, really right on the tips
And that is our riff.
When the song first starts , the first riff that you hear in the 'Troggs' version
Actually stays on the E a little bit longer, so the first round of the riff is the intro and that goes like this.
A, A
D, D
E, E, E, E, E, E
And then they start singing: Wild thing
do, doo
doo, doo
You make my heart sing
So it's just on that first attempt
that we need to play
A, A
D, D
E, E, E, E
I think that's six times.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
yes, six times.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
A, A
D, D
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
So that happens just on the first repetition as an intro.
And then it's the normal riff that we've learned.
Until 'you make everything groovy'.
Until the lyrics say those words: 'You make everything groovy'.
And then we have: 'Wild thing'.
Wild thing, I think I love you. We have that section which is
I count it as a middle eight, it's in the middle of the song.
And it's longer than eight bars, but it's kind of this middle section and a little part.
Where we're going to play this little riff.
Now this is where we're going to play the more advanced A chord, three in a line.
Which you may find easier to do, but it is harder to change between the chords with this A.
that's why I'm saying it's more advanced.
But what we're going to do here is a thing that the guitar riffs do.
Which is maybe something that's a little unconventional.
Something, you know, not playing a chord the standard way, this is what happens in real songs.
And for this one, we're just going to lift off of the A chord, have all open strings.
And strum the middle four strings, 1, 2, 3, 4
And then we strum those same strings
and that's how we play those four notes.
one, two, three, four
Wild thing, I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure.
That section, ok?
four strums: 1, 2, 3, 4
And we have four of those
Four of that whole thing, so let's try and do that together.
In
One, two, three
Open
down
open
down
Wild thing, I think I love you, again strum
Open, down, open down
But I wanna know for sure
open, down, open, down
So come on and hold me tight, last time
And then we go back into the main riff, which we need to go back to that other way of playing an A.
And if you want to play along with me and play this riff as you remember it, let's give it a go.
two
three
four
D, D
E, E
D, D
Wild thing
D, D
E, E
You make my A, A
D, D
E, E
You make everything
groovy, so one more time.
Wild thing
And then
one, two, three, four
I'll do that one more time.
one, two, three, four
Open A, Open A
Wild thing, I think I love you.
But I wanna know for sure.
Open A, open A
you can keep your thumb here the whole time, cause we don't ever want this one ringing out.
And it sounds a lot better
If we don't play that thinnest string.
sounds a bit heavier, a bit more rocky.
So that's how to play 'Wild Thing' by the Troggs, if you like a longer chord sheet
to be able to follow, and to know where you are in the song
the link is in the description and in the top corner
for the chord sheet for this day four song of this ten day guitar course.
But that's the end of today.
So what you need to do now is stop this video and have a practice at 'Wild Thing'.
for around ten minutes, along with the other songs that we've learned in the previous days.
Give them a quick play through and you'll be ready for tomorrow's lesson.
Day five, where we're starting to learn minor chords.
And learn another single note lead line that's going to be really great.
Really great song for you tomorrow, brand new one from my channel.
So I hope you will join me there, please subscribe if you're enjoying this course and you like what I do.
Check out the rest of my channel for hundreds more beginner's guitar lessons
all the way op to intermediate level.
But I will see you in day five tomorrow of this guitar course.
Take care of yourselves guys, thank you very much for watching and bye for now.