Lauren Bateman teaches the melody of Amazing Grace for beginners, focusing on the 3/4 waltz rhythm and mostly open strings. She breaks down a five-beat sustained tone that comes from a tied rhythm, then plays through the whole song.
Hey, guitar enthusiasts. I'm going to do a wonderful song in this guitar lesson called Amazing Grace. We're going to learn how to pick the melody line for this. So let's get into the guitar lesson.
So this is a song that I actually do in my seven level guitar system. It's a whole beginner course. So I do have a printed out PDF here. If you're in that course, you can go print it out. If not, I'll put a link below in the description and. And you guys can go make a little donation on Patreon. I'll put the PDF on Patreon for you guys over there. Now, something I want to make sure we understand is that this song is in three, four times. So what that means is there's only going to be three beats per measure. So we'll be counting one, two, three, one, two, three. One, two, three, one, 2, 3. It has that swaying feel. Okay, so we're going to sway. All right, That's a waltz. And the melody is going to follow this very distinct short, long timing.
Short, long, short, long, short, long, short, long.
So the short note is only going to be one beat and the second note we play is going to be held for two beats. So keep that in mind for the rhythm as you're learning and playing this song. Now, this song is relatively easy. We're mostly going to be using open strings, but every once in a while we'll be playing the second fret with our second finger and the third fret with our third finger. So just keep that in mind if you have the tab. Whenever you see a number two, play with your second finger. Whenever you see the number three, play with your third finger. Keep it simple. So this song starts with a quick little pickup. A pickup is just, you know, a note that doesn't take up a whole, whole measure. And it's going to be the open D string. And we're going to slowly work our way down the guitar to the open G and then the open B string. Okay, so that's amazing. And then Grace is also the open B string Grace.
So we have short, long, short, long.
There's that melody that I was talking about with the rhythm. So it's open D, open G, open B, open B. We're going to use our second finger to fret the third string, our G string at the second fret. And then we're going to lift that finger up and play the open G. And we're going to move that second finger up one string to the D string and play the second fret of the D string, that's the entire first line of the song. So to start from the beginning, it's going to be open D, open G, open B, open B. Second fret on the G string, open G string, second fret on the D string. Alright, so that is going to be our first line. So that sounds like this.
Short, long, short, long, short, long, short.
And then the long is going to be the next line, which is again open D. All right, and then we start right back from the beginning. We're just going to play everything we just did with a slight change on the end. So we're going to start at the open D, down to open G to open B, open B again.
Second fret on that G string and then third fret. This is where the change is. Third fret on the second string. Okay, so that's mi. All right, so we have fra. All the way from the top, we.
Have short, long, short, long, short, long, short, long.
Here's the repeat.
Short, long, short, long, short, really long.
So this note here gets held for five beats. All right, Just so you guys know five beats. Because there's a dotted half note which is three beats, and there's a half note which is two beats. You'll see there's a little tie. This is important to know if you're reading music. There's a little hook. It's called a tie. And if you notice in the tab, some of you guys might have seen this before and not know what it is, the tab, the three is in parentheses, which tells you don't play that note again. It's just letting you know that that note keeps ringing through the next measure. So if you've ever seen that before, that's what it means in the tab. So when we get to this note.
Me, two, three, one, two.
That's how long we're going to hold that note for. Hey, guys, I hope you're enjoying this video so far. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel so that you see when I release new videos just like this one. Let's get back into the lesson. So jumping on to the third line now we're going to start with the open B string. Third fret on the B string, open B string, open G.
Second fret on the D string.
Open G. And then back to the second fret on the G string so you D string, not G string, D string, so you never have to lift up that finger. Okay, so again, it's open B, third fret B, open B, open G Second fret on the D string. Open G string. Second fret on the D string. So that line is going to sound like this.
Short, long, short, long, short, long, short.
And then the long. We're going to start just the way we did on that second line. Open D and then again open D, open G, Open B. Open B. Second fret on the G string, and we're going to end on a dotted half note on an open G. So that's going to ring out for the entire length of the song. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to do a little demo for you guys so that you can play and sing along with me. Let's get into the demo real quick, guys. I appreciate every thumbs up and comment I get, so make sure to like this video before continuing. All right, everyone, so I'm going to play through top to bottom. Just so you know, I'm going to count in. And I have to remind you that I'm going to count 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. That last three, I have to start playing. Playing and singing so you won't hear me say three. We're gonna start playing. All right. And if I'm going too fast, you can use the settings cog on YouTube to slow it down. All right, ready? Here we go. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2.
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I'm found Was blind but now I see.
So you can hear that short, long, short, long, short, long.
Very nice. Three, four, feel with the waltz. If you guys are interested in learning how to strum along to this song or maybe do some finger picking or I'll put a video up here so that you guys can go check that out. It uses slightly different chords, but it definitely applies to the chords we're using in this song. YouTube's going to suggest a couple more videos over here. Go check those out if you're interested. And as a second reminder, I do have a full seven level guitar system. So if you're interested in learning guitar in a step by step manner, instead of haphazardly jumping around on YouTube, put a link in the description below for you to go and check out that course. YouTube's going to pop up a couple more videos over here. Feel free to go and check those out. I hope to see you guys in another lesson video.
