Easy Guitar Song - Working Class Hero John Lennon Guitar Lesson

Hey, guitar enthusiasts, Lauren Bateman here. In this video, we're going to be going over a simplified version of John Lennon's Working Class Hero. Really great song. Only uses three chords. Let's get into it.

So this song only uses three chords for the entire thing. The majority of the song is on what we call the A minor chord. We also have a G chord that pops in every once in a while. And even less than that, we have a D major chord that pops in every once in a while. So make sure to jump on over to my website where you can grab the chord chart for this song. I will put a link in the description below this video. Also, just want to make a quick mention if you're digging the new Lauren Bateman T shirts. I now have T shirts up on my website. You can go to laurenbateman.com backslash T shirts if you want to go grab one and support the channel. But let's get into the song. So this song is really just verse after verse after verse after verse. So once we go through one verse, you pretty much know the entire song. So what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to break this tutorial up into three different sections. And what we're going to do is we're going to do the most simplified version. I'm going to show you how to spice that up even more. And. And then towards the very end of the lesson, I'm going to show you how to throw in some embellishments like hammer ons to really make it sound like the song. So let's talk about the timing and rhythm for this song first. This song is going to be played in three, four time. So we're going to be counting 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1st, 2, 3, over and over again. So it's going to have a swing, it's like a waltz feel. And the strumming pattern that we're going to use throughout is going to be.

1, 2 and 3 and 1, 2.

And 3 and down, down, up, down, up, down, down, up, down, up.

So like I said, the majority of the song is on A minor. So let me play that strumming pattern for you so that you can hear what it sounds like. So here's what our strumming pattern is going to sound like. So it's 1, 2, 3, 1, 2.

3, 1st, 2 and 3 and 1, 2 and 3 and 1, two and three and 1, 2 and three and 1, 2, 3 and 1, 2 and three and.

So that's our strumming pattern.

Down, down, up, down, up, down, down, up, down, up, down, down, up, down, up down, down, up down, up, down, down, up, down, up.

Super simple. You're going to use that for the entirety of the song. Nothing changes. So let's go and talk about the chord progression that we're going to use for, for these verses. So like I said, the majority of this song is on A minor, which makes this a great song for practicing getting in and out of a minor to a G chord or even a D chord. So the verse is basically a minor twice followed by a G chord once. And then we have 1, 2, 3, 4, a minors after that. All right. And then it repeats that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4 times. And then on the fifth time through we do A minor, G D and then you do A minor four times. So this is what most of the song is going to sound like. So it's going to be a minor.

1, 2 and 3 and 1, 2.

And 3 and G, 2 and 3 and A.

And then we repeat.

So we got A minor, A minor to G, back to a minor, two.

And three and one, two and three and one, 2 and 3 and.

And the very, very last one where we get the G chord, it's going to sound like this. So we're going to have 1, 2.

3, 1, 2, 3.

A working class hero is something to be sing.

Hear that?

So it's 1, 2 and 3 and G 2 and 3 and D 2 and 3. A minor 2 and 3 and 1, 2 and 3 and 1, 2and 3 and 1, 2 and 3and.

So that is the essential chord progression. So you get to hang out on this a minor chord for a very long time. Which makes this an amazing song for beginners, particularly if this is your first, first time working through three, four time rhythm. So that's all you have to worry about if you are an absolute beginner. But if you want to spice it up a little bit, I'm going to show you in this next section of the tutorial how we can add bass notes to the strumming pattern to make it sound a little bit more like the actual song. So let's talk about that next real quick. If you guys are enjoying this lesson so far, this. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel this way. YouTube will show you more of my lessons just like this. So all we're going to do. So the chord progression is going to be the same. The rhythm is actually going to stay the same too. So we're still going to have 1.

2, n, 3, n 1, 2, n 3m. 1, 2 n 3m. 1, 2n 3m.

What we're going to do on that one is we're going to play a bass note. So it's going to be the bass note of the A minor chord. So it's going to be the fifth string. Okay, the fifth string.

Down, up, down, up.

And then we're going to switch to the fourth string so the D string.

Down, up, down, up.

So it'll sound like this.

So you hear that alternating bass.

Set that if you listen to the song you're going to hear. Hear that in the size.

All right, so that's the first spice you can add to the song. So all we're doing, like I said, is playing the bass note on the one beat one down, up, down, up. And then switching to the fourth string bass.

Down, up, down, up.

So we're alternating between five, the fifth string and the fourth string for the bass line.

One, two and three and one, two and three and one, 2 and 3 and 1, 2 and 3 and.

Alright. And if you don't know these strings very well, in my guitar course I do have a couple exercises we go over to learn the distances between the strings. But if you need to watch the strings, that's okay.

Watch your right here so that you can do that alternating bass line. So that is the alternating bass line. What we're going to do next is we're actually going to learn how to play the song, how it's played by John with all these cool little hammer ons added in. So let's talk about that next. Hey guys, I hope you like this video. Make sure to give me a thumbs up Also if you have any questions for me about guitar or leave a comment below and maybe I'll make a video for your question. So the third and final thing we're going to talk about for this very, very simple John Lennon song is we're going to take that alternating bass pattern that I just showed you the four or sorry, the fifth string to the fourth string. The fifth string to the fourth string. And we're going to build this. This is all going to be off of the A minor chord. And what I'll do is I'll put a little bit of a close up here so you can see what I'm doing with my fretting hand. But I'll also, at the end of this I'll go in for a super zoomed in close up so that you guys can see what I'm doing. But we're taking that Alternating bass line again on the A minor chord. And what we're doing, we're playing the first time through, we're playing just the bass note.

Down, up, down, up.

And then the second time through, we're going to lift the second finger on the A minor chord. So this D note or this D string is going to be exposed.

And we are going to hammer with our second finger onto the second fret of that D string. So it's going to be.

And the timing of that hammer is, is 1 and so we have 1.

2 and 3 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 1, 2 and 3 and 1and 2 and 3.

And so a great way to practice hammer ons if you've never played them before. Now hammer ons, they're more about speed than the actual strength. There is a strength component, but it's like snapping a finger. If you do it too slow, it's not going to happen. But if you snap your finger fast, you'll get the sound. But if you go too slow, you're not going to get that snap. Now same thing with the hammer on. So there's speed and timing involved. So it's going to be the bass note which is going to be the fifth string.

Down, up, down, up, hammer. Down, up, down, up, bass. Down, up, down, up, hammer. Down, up, down, up, bass.

So you hear that, right?

So you'll hear that in the actual song where he's going bum.

And that's. He doesn't do it all the time. He doesn't do it every time. But he does throw it in quite frequently. So you can kind of alternate between just doing the alternating bass line or, or throwing in this hammer on. I would recommend going and listening to the original version so that you can hear the different variations and these different spices that he's throwing in because he's just sitting on an A minor chord. So how do we make an A minor chord interesting? We have to add in all these extra spices. So give those a try and let me know in a comment below if you found this helpful. Okay, guys, so here's the close up for working class hero. You're going to see. I have an A minor chord. My right hand is. Or my picking hand is hitting that open a string, the fifth string. So it's bass.

Down, up, down, up.

Lift this finger, it's going to be up. Hit the D string and there's the hammer.

1 and 1 and 1 and 2 and 3. And so it's bass 2 and 3.

And 1 and 2 and 3 and 1 and 2, and 1 and 2 and 3.

And it's a little bit faster. It'll sound like this.

So you can see this finger is just going up and down on that a minor chord. Hey, guys, thanks so much for watching the video. YouTube's gonna pop over a couple more videos over here. Go check those out. But also, again, don't forget to subscribe to the channel so that you see more videos like this. And don't forget to give me a like so that YouTube shows more of my videos to students just like you. Hopefully I'll see you guys in another lesson video.