Lauren Bateman teaches The Beatles' "Get Back" using three chords: A, A7, and D. The lesson covers the rooftop performance version with a simple eighth-note down-strum and a repeating four-chord progression. A chord chart is available at laurenbateman.com.
Questions this video answers
A, A7, D.
All eighth-note down-strums (counts spoken as "1 and 2 and 3 and 4").
Three measures of A.
laurenbateman.com.
The rooftop live performance in London.
Chapters
Get back, get back get back to where you once belong get back, get back, get back, get back to where you once belong.
Hello, guitar enthusiasts and Beatles fans, welcome to my simple guitar tutorial. On the song Get Back, which is very, very simple. I mean, it uses three chords, but it could technically only use two if you want it. It doesn't get any simpler than this. The rhythm we're going to use on this song is all 8th note downstrom.
So 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3.
And four and so if I play an A chord, it is 1 and.
2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.
And I'm doing all down strums with my strumming hand.
1 and 2 and 3 and 4.
Now, the three chords we're going to use in this song is an a chord, an A7 chord and a D chord. So if you don't know what an A7 chord is yet, and you know A major, all you have to do is lift up your middle finger and you have A seven. So your G string is played open. It's basically the chord that I tell my students that it's the only time I will allow them to flip me off. So you lift up your middle finger and that is your A7 chord.
Very, very easy switch. The Beatles use that a lot, that A to a 7. So let's talk about this intro. So the intro is three measures of A. And then there's kind of like this split measure where we have A for two beats and then we have B.
A 1 and 2 and 3.
Oh, sorry.
It's 1, 1 and 2 and 3, 4 E, A.
So the intro. If you need the chord chart for this, you can get it at my website, laurenbateman.com but the intro is going to be three measures of a 1.
And 2 and 3 and 4 and 2 and 2 and 3 and 4.
And 3 and 2, 3, 4 and. And then the very final measure is.
This 1 and 2 and 3, 4, 1 and 2 and D, A, A, A, A, A D, A.
And that pops up a lot in the song. It's kind of used as like a little transitional piece. But that is the intro for this song. Now, the verse follows the pattern, so this pattern is pretty much the rest of your song. So it's A, A 7D and A. And the video I used to make this off was like the live version on the roof in London somewhere. They did a performance. So that's what this one is based off of. So we're going to start with the verse, which is an A for one measure, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And then we're going to go to a 7, 1 and 2 and 3 and four and D. 1 and 2.
And 3 and 4 and a 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.
And then we just repeat that again.
A 1 and 2 and 3 and.
4, and a 7, 1 and 2 and three and four and D.
And then A.
And that is your verse. Now this continues into the chorus. The chorus is the same exact thing, except we get one of those little transitional measures in there. So we have an A, which 1.
And 2 and 3 and 4. A 7, 2, 3, 4. D, 2, 3, 4, a 3, 4, a 3, four, a 7, 2, 3, 4. D, 2, 3, 4 and a 2, 3, 4.
So again, I mean, if you can't do that, if you can't do that, da really quick, just play A. No big deal. It adds a little spice to the song if you can do it. Then after that, we've got this little solo which looks a lot like the same progression we've been playing. It's the chord progression. And then on the second progression we do the D A part. So we have our solo section, which is going to be a 1, 2.
3 and 4, a 7D.
And A. Then we have it again, A.
A.
7.
Then D. Then we have our little transitional pace, a 3, 4.
And then we get another chord chorus. And on the end of the second chorus, we're actually going to hold that A at the very end.
So it's get back.
Get back.
Get back to where you once belong.
Get back, get back.
Get back to where.
You once belong 2, 3, 4.
And then we have solo, that solo piece again. And then if I keep going, we have another verse, another chorus, another solo, another chorus, and then an outro, which is technically the solo piece again. So, song super, super simple, easy to memorize. Once you get through the intro, it's pretty much the same chord progression. You just have to know when that little extra spice of that quick.
Comes in. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take it from the intro. I'm going to play through a very quick intro, verse and chorus for you and just give you the song and then you can go and practice it on your own. And soon enough you'll be a pro. One, two, three, four.
One.
One.
One, two, three, four.
JoJo was a man who thought he was a loner but he knew it.
Wouldn'T last.
JoJo list his heart.
Chorus.
Get back.
Get back.
And that's it. You just keep repeating that for the entire song. Super, super simple song by the Beatles. Gotta love them. So there you go. That is Get Back by the Beatles. Practice hard and soon you'll have it in no time.
