Lauren Bateman breaks down the iconic intro to Sweet Child O' Mine, which uses Eb tuning and two main picking patterns across the 12th to 15th frets. She teaches a pivot technique to handle the string-skipping, then shows how the pattern moves through D, C, G, D chords.
Foreign.
Enthusiasts. We're going to be doing the Guitar center classic, the intro to Sweet Child of Mine. I'm going to show you a really cool pivot point that you can use on this intro to make it easier to play. I'm going to show you step by step. Let's get into it.
Now, before we get into anything, I just want to remind you that I have my guitar tuned down a half step, just like they do on the record. So that means we're on E flat, B flat, G flat, D flat, A flat, and E flat for our tuning. So this intro is really broken up into two different picking patterns, all right? And the majority of it is going to be the first picking pattern. Now, this first picking pattern is just going to be something you're going to memorize. But I'm going to show you a little trick that might help you in playing this a little bit easier. And if you're on an acoustic guitar, you're going to want to make sure you have a cutaway to make this easier to play. So let's talk about the first four notes we're going to be playing. So we're going to be playing the fourth string at the 12th fret, okay? So technically, because we tuned everything down, this is going to be a D flat note. This is going to be an E flat, okay? And then we're going to come down to the third string 12th fret. We've got our G flat. And then we would come back up to the fourth string. So those are the leading tones for this intro. So we've got the 12th fret on the fourth string. Then we have the 14th fret. Then we have the 12th fret on the G string, and then we have the 12th fret on the D string. Now what we're going to be doing is we're going to be moving these lead tones over the chords the other guitar player is playing. So whether they're playing a D chord, that would be this technically D note. When they play a C chord, we will be playing this E note over the G. We're gonna play the G note and then over the D back up to that technical Dino. So we're gonna take this intro a few notes at a time. Let's start with the first four notes. So we're gonna start with our first note on the 12th fret of the D string. And then we're gonna take our pinky and we're gonna reach it down to the 15th fret on the B string. So we're doing kind of a jump. And I always tell people, each finger has its own fret, okay? So the first finger owns the 12th fret. The second finger owns the 13th fret. The third finger owns the 14th fret, and the pinky owns the 15th fret. So we're going 12, 15, 12, 15, skipping over a string.
And then we're going to come up with the third finger now.
To the 14th fret on the G string and then backwards to the 12th fret on the G string. So the first four notes are.
Okay, do that again.
So now the next note we're going to play. This is going to involve our pinky skipping down again. We're kind of doing what we did earlier. We're coming down to the 15th fret on that high E string. So we've got.
And then this third finger is back up to the 12th fret. And this is where I'm going to show you that cool little pivot trick. So we've got.
So it's a finger roll. Okay, that's what we're doing. We're rolling the finger down. So what did I do? I went.
So pinky on the 15th fret, third finger on the 12th fret, and then we're rolling. So you can. You may not be able to see it on the camera, but the tip of my finger has removed itself from the third string. And I'm pressing down on that high E string with almost the knuckle part of my finger. So we've got.
And then you roll back up. Okay, so we played three notes with our third finger.
So you might want to try that finger roll.
Some people like moving their finger so you can figure out which one works better for you. But I like using this pivot, this finger roll, because I don't have to move my finger from the fret. It's just rolling. So all together, this is the entire pattern now. And I'm going to show you how to move it around for the different chords we've got.
Okay, that's over the first D chord. Now you play the same pattern again over the second D chord.
Okay, now we're changing chords. So all we're going to do is we're going to change just the first note. The rest of the notes are fine. We're coming up to this E note with our third finger. Now it's the same pattern.
Okay, they're playing the C chord again. So we're going to play that same pattern again. 14th fret on the D string.
Okay, now they're going to change to The G chord. And, and we're going to come on this technical G note. Remember we tuned the whole guitar down a half step. But I'm just going to say the G note and we're going to start here.
And they play another G chord.
And then they end. The chord Progression is another 2D.
So you're going to do that pattern twice through. Because when you hear the song, the original song, the chord progression is double D, double C, double G, double D. Okay. And then it plays through that again. And then the third time around is where things change. All right. It all starts the same. So we start by doing the first three chords all the same. So we have.
Okay, and then you would do that twice, Then you would come here.
That twice. And then you would come here, here.
Now after you do that twice, we're not going to come back to the first pattern like we did before. This is where the second pattern comes into place. And I'm going to show you again why I like this finger roll so much. So after we play that pattern that I just showed you the, the third one over the third chord. So we got.
We're going to come down now with our first finger to the 12th fret on the E string, back to the third finger. So we're going to be. We're basically going to be playing notes on the E string and then bouncing back to this third finger on the G string. So we're going to be doing this a lot.
So you might want to just practice skipping between those two strings. That's really what this was. It was a string skipping exercise.
So get used to. And I go down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up. So I'm mostly using alternate picking for this intro here. Alright, so we have 12 back to the third finger on the G string. Then we're gonna go 15.
On the B string back to the third finger. Right. So the first four notes are.
Okay.
Now we're coming back down to the 12th fret, to the 3rd finger, finger roll, 14th fret, 3rd finger pinky on the bottom E string, 3rd finger, pinky roll, 14th fret. Or sorry, not pinky roll, finger roll, fourteenth fret, back to the third finger, 12th fret.
Back to the third finger. And then you end on the B string, 15th fret. So altogether just that second pattern.
And a little more up to speed.
Now the best way to learn this intro is to start very slow and then speed it up. So that's exactly what we're going to do here. We're going to go through it very slow from the beginning to the end. And you guys can use the settings cog below to slow it down or speed it up as you need.
Sam.
So now that you guys know the intro, if you're ready to rock out to the full song and learn some really cool rock and strumming patterns, go check out My Sweet Child of Mine lesson right over there.
