Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
♪ ♪
♪ Back down, down to the downtown. Down to the lockdown... Boards, nails lie around ♪
♪ I crouch like a crow. Contrast in the snow. For the agony I'd rather know ♪
♪ 'Cause blinded, I was blindsided ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Would you really rush out? Would you really rush out? Would you really rush out for me now? Would you really rush out for me now? Would you really rush out for me now? (hums) ♪
♪ ♪
Hi guys - Drue James here. The song I'm playing is the beautiful "Blindsided" by Bon Iver - really great song, great poetic lyrics, very sparse guitar playing. And a great one for a beginner, so you've been playing 4 or 5 months.
Okay, so I'm just gonna take you through a bit of the terminology that I'm gonna be using as I'm going through the lesson.
So I call the strings after the actual names that they are. So if you want to remember it like that, so it's Eddie, Ate, Dynamite, Good, Bye, Eddie. So that's E, A, D, G, B, E.
So that's the actual notes of the strings. So, and also, where the capo is - I've got the capo on the 3rd fret at the moment, so I'm going to be speaking in relation to where the capo is.
So if I say put your finger on the 3rd fret, you're on the 3rd fret presuming that the capo is the neck of the guitar. Okay?
So, you'd be there, which is actually technically the 6th fret, but you'd be on the 3rd fret.
And you've got your capo on the 3rd fret for this song. Okay? Good.
So let's get started on the song. The beginning is very straightforward. We're holding down the 3rd fret on the thickest string.
Now I'm not going to be talking too many measures in this, and how many times you're hitting it. If you need to do that, it's quite a slow song, so you can just listen to the song and piece it together.
Or alternatively, you can go to my singer-songwriter channel, and there's a video of me performing the song and you can play along with me there.
So you're starting on the 3rd fret on the thickest string, with your 3rd finger, this finger.
And with your thumb, you're just hitting that. ♪ ♪
Nice sort of marching pace. Okay, and then with your index finger, you're playing open G string. Okay, so you're going...
I'll start the song from the beginning now...
♪ ♪
1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, and 4 and. You do that 3 times.
♪ ♪
Okay, that might be a bit faster than the song. And then you're just doing... 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3. And then we're into the melody.
Or when the singing starts. Okay, so we're on the...
♪ Back down ♪
That's the first part. So how I'm achieving that is, I'm holding - I'm still holding down the 3rd fret on the thickest string, but I'm taking my 2nd finger and holding down the 2nd fret on the G string.
And I'm doing a pinch. Basically a pinch means pulling the 2 strings at the same time. So I'm pinching those 2 bass notes, and then open on the B string. So I'm going...
♪ ♪
And then just hammering away at the 3rd fret.
♪ ♪
Okay so you've got that.
♪ Back down ♪
Nice and sparse, it's left for a little while.
Then... ♪ down to the downtown ♪
So let me show you how I'm doing that. So I'm 3rd fret, open on the B string, back to the 3rd fret, 2nd fret on the G string where we were before, 3rd fret, open on the G string, and then pinching those 2 notes together.
So that's the 3rd fret and the 2nd - 3rd fret on the thickest string, and 2nd fret on the G string. Pinching, 3rd fret on the thickest string, again as you can see that finger never moves.
Open on the G string, and then 3 more hits there, so it's...
♪ down to the downtown ♪
I'll do that again without singing. So it's...
♪ ♪
One more time, just in case, 'cause this is the most challenging part in the song.
♪ ♪
There we go.
Now the next part is - so we're going...
♪ down to the lockdown ♪
Okay. So how I'm doing that is once again, 3rd fret on the thickest string, open on the B string, 3rd fret on the thickest string again, 2nd fret on the G string (so that note we've had before), 3rd fret on the thickest string again, open on the G string.
And then, we're holding down the 2nd fret on the G string, and we're moving to an open string on the thickest string, the E string. So we're going...
♪ ♪. And that's a pinch there, so we're pinching those together. ♪ ♪ Then lifting it up. Okay?
Lifting up the G string. So we're going...
♪ ♪
Okay? ♪ ♪
And then 3 hits on the thickest string, one more. And then open on the B string. Thickest string, 2nd fret, so this is the...
♪ Boards, nails lie around ♪
Okay, so it's open on the thickest string, open on the B, open on the thickest, 2nd fret on the G string, open on the thickest, open on the G, and then pinching that first shape that we pinched.
So that's holding down the 3rd fret on the thickest string, and 2nd fret on the G string. Okay?
Thickest string again on the 3rd fret, open on the G string. ♪ ♪
Okay, so I understand that - just hearing just by how fast I'm saying it - that is quite a lot to take in.
If you go to my website, which is learnguitarinlondon.com, I will have the tab up there, so it's sometimes a little bit easier to read the tab when there's a lot of, sort of, individual notes like that.
So I'm now just gonna play that, the verse, again, and just feel free to play along. I just think it's a really good way just to get the hang of it, so, from the beginning...
♪ ♪
So doing that 3 times.
♪ ♪
And then we're starting on the melody, so...
♪ Back down. Down to the downtown. Down to the lockdown. Boards, nails lie around ♪
♪ I crouch like a crow ♪
Okay, so this next part. It's your first sort of strummed chord. So you're putting your 1st finger on the 2nd fret on the thinnest E string, then bringing your 2nd finger over to the B string on the 3rd fret. And then bringing your 3rd finger on top.
Bit awkward if you're a beginner. On the 3rd fret on the A string. And you strum the bottom 5 string. Okay, so the chord shape looks like that.
So that's your first chord.
♪ I crouch like a crow ♪ (pause) Contrast in the- sorry I forgot the words there (laughs) ♪ Contrast in the snow ♪
Okay, so this part is essentially a C chord. I'm gonna presume that you know a C chord, and what we're doing is we're just moving that shape up to the 3rd fret. Okay?
And what I'm doing this time, is instead of strumming down, I'm strumming up. Okay? It gives it this sort of wonderful, sort of magical sound
I don't know if magical is the right word - it's ethereal maybe is the best word (laughs). So it's like that, yeah?
And then the next chord.
♪ For the ago- ♪ Really easy, okay? So you hold down the 2nd fret on the A string, and we're strumming from that A string down to the G string. So that's including the D. Okay?
♪ For the agony I'd rather know ♪
So this next part, put your 2nd finger on the D string on the 2nd fret, and your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret on the A string. And we're just strumming those 2, holding down, and the open G.
Okay? So it looks like that. Just to backtrack, the 2nd chord that we played there - just so you can see, I do find that this is quite helpful - that's what it looks like. Okay? Cool.
♪ So I crouch like a crow Contrast in the snow For the agony I'd rather know ♪
Okay. Then we're into the chorus. So we're back onto our home note here: 3rd fret on the thickest string, and we're pinching the D string, so we're going...
♪ ♪. Okay, so you should have that. Then bass note. Then open on the G string, so it's...
♪ 'Cause blinded. I was - ♪ So this part, is 2nd fret on the thickest string, and we're also then pinching the open D string. Okay?
And then we're holding down - so we're going... ♪ ♪
So that's then holding down - sorry, I was a bit distracted, my postman's here (laughs).
So it's holding down the 2nd fret on the G string, okay? So it's...
♪ I was ♪ Then keep holding down the 2nd fret. ♪ blindsided ♪ So this is just 3rd fret on the A string, pinching, thumb, open on the G string. ♪ blindsided ♪
Good. Okay, now there's just one other part in the song, and that is this part...
♪ Would you really rush out? ♪
Okay. So you're making a C and then you're sliding that C shape up to the 3rd fret. Like the 2nd chord in the pre-chorus. So strumming it down.
For this C chord by the way, you're not strumming the bottom string, so it's just those 4. Okay? So that's the A, D, G and B string.
Now, the only thing you need to be careful of here, is when you change up to the slide, so you need to count it like this... 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and 1, and 2, AND 3, and 4, and. So you're doing an upstroke there on that chord.
And if you - strumming it on the 2 AND. Okay, so we're going...
♪ (whisper) 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and 1, and 2, AND 3, and 4, and. Okay?
What you can do is, you can do ghost strums with your right hand. And ghost strums are where you're essentially, yeah just not strumming but you're keeping time with that hand. It's a really good way of keeping tempo.
So... ♪Would you really rush out for me now? Would you really rush out? ♪
♪ ♪
Okay, and then it's just the strumming brought in there. So that is, essentially, all of "Blindsided" by Bon Iver.
There are a few other little, sort of, open notes, and there's just one bar where he says "end of a bloodline" and he holds - he kind of makes an E minor 7th holding down the 3rd fret on the B, which just sounds really, really nice.
But when I perform it, I sort of do little ad-libs and things like that, but what I've shown you there is the sort of core parts. If you want to get really, really, sort of, fastidious with it, then I just suggest listening to the record.
There's nothing there that's too challenging, it's mainly just a few open strings.
So I hope that's been useful for you, and I'll see you for the next video. Don't forget to sign up to my website, which is learnguitarinlondon.com, and if you sign up there, you'll find the tab for this song.
Okay, thanks very much. Bye.