A beginner-focused YouTube guitar lesson by Lauren Bateman teaching how to play "Last Kiss" (Pearl Jam/Wayne Cochran) using four chords: G, E minor, C, and D. The lesson covers chord fingering tips (pivoting fingers between chords), two strumming patterns (basic down-down-up and a syncopated later-beginner pattern), and a play-through structure (chorus and verse patterns with occasional double-G endings). The video includes short vocal excerpts and a closing call-to-action to additional lessons and the instructor's website.
Chapters
Hey, guitar enthusiasts. We're going to be doing a Pearl Jam remake of an old Wayne Cochran song called Last Kiss. It's a great song for beginners because it uses four chords. My four favorite, the G chord, the E minor chord, the C chord, and the D chord. And of course, if you know my simple two finger versions, you can use that as well. And I always remind students, on the E minor chord, I like to use my first and second fingers because it creates a nice pivot point to go into the C chord. It also creates a nice pivot point to go into your G chord. So just a little something. If you don't know my teaching style, that's what I recommend.
So the great thing about this song is that the chord progression is relatively the same throughout the entire song. That's the order we play the chords. So for most of the song, it's going to be giving E minor, C and D. So I'm going to show you two strumming patterns where they start with a beginner strumming pattern that will help you work on the timing of your up strums. And I'm going to show you more of a late beginner strumming pattern. And then we're going to play through the entire song. So the first strumming pattern, let's pick a nice chord, like a G chord here. All right. And what we're going to do is we're just going to work on the timing of that up strum. Because I know so many beginner students have trouble kind of getting those up strums to fall into place. So when I work on this with students, I say, let's just work on the first two beats.
So we got one, two, and. Okay, so it's going to be down, down, up. Okay, so it's 1, 2 and 3, 4. 1, 2 and 3, four. Down, down, up, 3, 4. Down, down, up, three.
On your own.
One more time.
Good. And what I tell students to do is on that three and four, just work on keeping time with your strumming hands.
So if I've got one, two, and.
I'm still pretending like I'm going to be strumming on three and four, I'm just not hitting anything.
One, two and three, four.
One, two and.
Okay, so you can see my right hand, the strumming hand is keeping the time even when I'm not strumming. Okay, so. So that's where you can start off. Get the timing on that strum. Because I know a lot of students, they tend to rush when they get into upstroms, they tend to go. It's like they all of a sudden lose the timing a bit. They get a little anxious on doing that up strum and they over up on the strum. So work on relaxing that up strum and then you can kind of graduate to this later beginner where we're going to be doing two up strums in a row. And that's what I said earlier. Keep this right hand moving because nothing's really changing when you're with what we're doing with our right hand. What's changing is when we're hitting the string. So this next drumming pattern is going.
To be down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up.
So it's just what we were doing before, except we're adding an up, down, up on the end.
So it's 1, 2 and, and 4 and down, down, up.
Now, we call this a syncopated rhythm because we're missing a down strum on that third beat. And if that's tricky for you, no problem. Just throw the third beat back in.
One, two and three and four. And one, two and three and four.
Okay, just throw that third beat right back in there. Whatever strumming pattern you find most comfortable, that's what we're going to use to play through this song. So if you need the lesson notes to follow along with me, you can always go to my website, laurenbateman.com we're going to start off with a chorus, so we're going to be doing G, E minor, C, D twice. And then we're going to have a double G on the end. And then we're going to jump into the verse where we're going to be doing that same chord progression looks like four times. And then we're going to throw that double G on the end. So it's the only change is that sometimes on the end of the verse and the end of the chorus, we add in this double G. And the great thing about this chord progression, as you're practicing, we go from G, E minor, C and then D. So you can use those pivot points to walk down this chord progression. So we have a G chord. First finger stays in its spot, slides back a little bit to make room for the second finger. E minor, second finger can stay right in place and then pivot right into that C chord. So G, E minor, C and then D. Ready? Here we go. One, two, ready?
Oh, where, oh, where can my baby be? The Lord's a girl away from me she's kind of heaven? So I gotta be good?
So I can see my baby when I leave this world?
We were out on the date on my dad?
We hadn't driven very far?
There in the road straight ahead?
The car was stomped, the engine was dead? I couldn't stop so I swerved to the right? I'll never forget the sound that night?
The screaming tires, the busting glass?
The painful scream that I.
Last?
Oh, where, oh, where can my baby be? The Lord took away from me? She's gone to heaven? So I gotta be good?
So I can see my baby When I leave this world?
If you like this fun song by Pearl Jam, then I highly recommend you go check out my Black Lesson right over there for another Pearl Jam classic.
