A short YouTube guitar lesson by Lauren Bateman teaching the intro lick from Michael Jackson's “Beat It.” Lauren explains fret and string positions (series: open high E, 3rd fret, 2nd fret, 5th fret, 2nd fret, hammer-on to 4th fret), emphasizes pinky stretch and picking-hand patterns, demonstrates staccato vs legato, and shows a picking-hand close-up. The video ends with a call-to-action to like, comment, subscribe, and visit laurenbateman.com.
Chapters
Hey everybody, welcome back. Lauren here. And this is probably a weird sight for you guys. I don't get on my electric guitar very often, but I can play electric guitar. And in this video we're going to do a cool little riff from a Michael Jackson song. That's pretty fun and it's not too hard. But you do have to have some stretch in your fingers and some dexterity and flexibility in your pinky. So let's get into it. Before we get into the lesson, please don't forget to like the video below and leave a great comment. I try to respond if I can. And also, don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Alright, so let's talk about this riff. It's basically something that's repetitive. So the first measure, well, kind of the pickup in the first measure are repetitive. And we've got. We're starting with the open string, top string. So we have an open. And then with our second finger we're gonna grab the top string third fret.
So it's open, top string, third fret. And we're picking down, up. And then we're going to do almost like we're going to go to a G chord. We're going to play our first finger on the second fret of the fourth string below. So we've got the open top string, third fret and then string below, second fret. So we've got.
Down, up, down. That's the picking pattern. Now this is where the stretch comes into play because our pinky is going to reach for the fifth fret.
On the D string. So we've got.
So our pinky is going to come fifth fret, fourth string. And then we're going to come back to the second fret.
So we've got open 3, 2, 5, 2, 2. Those are the first five notes of this lick.
Okay, so there is our first part. Now we're going to end with the hammer. So we're actually going to play that second fret again. And with our third finger we're going to hammer onto the fourth string. So we've got.
So one pick, two notes. So we're picking down.
So we're adding that into the mix. So we got open E, third fret, second fret, fifth fret, second fret. Play that second fret again and hammer with your third finger on the fourth fret. Then we're going back to that second fret. This is all in the same string, all on that D string, second fret. And now the fifth string is going to reach up.
On The A string fifth fret. So from the beginning, open, third fret, second fret, jump to the fifth fret, second fret, hammer.
Back to the second fret and then fifth fret.
Okay? That's the whole thing.
Notice I'm not letting those last two notes ring. I'm not going. I'm lifting up pressure on my pinky so that it stops the note. So they're more what we call staccato. They're not legato. They don't fly flow. So it's.
So I'm stopping the note on those last two. Now for the next part, we're just going to repeat that all over again, except we're not going to play both of the fives. We're going to start with the open 3, 2, 5, 2. With our hammer.
We'Re just playing one five instead of two, but again, we're cutting it off. So the first one was really simple, right? So the first one is.
Double five, and the second time is just one.
I played that really bad, but there was just one five. Let me play that again.
Okay, so let's talk about the page picking now for this pattern. So it's going to start with a down. So it's going to be down, up, down, down. So we're going down, up, down, down.
Up for the next note and then down for our hammer.
And then up, up, down. So obviously on the one that only has 1 5, we would just end on the up. So we've got.
So you just end on that up strum. Let me go in for a little bit of a close up here so that you can see my picking hand a little bit better. Okay, so here we go. We got down.
Up, down, down, up, down for the hammer, up.
And there you go. That is Michael Jackson's Beat It. I hope you guys liked the video. Make sure to like and comment below. Don't forget to subscribe and if you enjoyed the lesson, go to laurenbateman.com donate and you can make a donation to my efforts here on YouTube. Make sure to check out more of my YouTube videos or visit my website, laurenbateman.com where I have lots of other song and lesson videos. Thanks guys so much and I'll see you in the next lesson video. It.
