Sam Goffen
Dec 19, 20202 min
Full video lesson going over all sections including a demo of the song.
A song by Jason Mraz, arranged by Tristan Seume for Rockschool.
The chords used in this song are the G5, D, Em, C/E and A/E. If you're unsure on how to read chord diagrams or TAB music notation, please make sure to watch the video that explains this.
Before you start this lesson, please remember that learning a new song takes time, patience and practice.
Pause and rewind are your friends. Pause often, taking each section of the lesson slowly and learn it fully before moving onto the next. Rewind lots to check and recheck the more difficult parts, and also to play along with me when I demonstrate bits.
Here's the video lesson. Have fun!
A quick mention though about the C/E and A/E chords. These may look confusing but don't worry, they aren't too hard. These are called 'slash' chords and you name them like this: 'C slash E' or 'A slash E'.
A normal chord always has the same bass note (lowest note) as its name. So, a C chord would have the bass note of C. An E minor chord would have the bass note E. So, what do you think the bass note would be in a D chord?
Yes, that's right, a D.
A slash chord tells us that the bass note (the lowest note) is not what we'd expect. So the first letter is the chord we play, and the second letter is the bass note. So in a C/E chord, we are playing a C chord, but the lowest note we play is not the C as we'd expect, but an E.
This may still sound a little confusing, but all we really need to think about is just playing 4 strings when strumming our C and A chords, and our bass note is then an E anyway.
So, in summary, just make sure to only play 4 strings each time as marked in the music and you'll be playing the correct 'slash' chord.