Linger Guitar Lesson - STRUMMING + Cool Intro!

If you love classic acoustic 90s music, then you're going to absolutely love this song. Linger by the Cranberries There's a really cool intro, some cool picking patterns I'm going to show you, as well as a nice strumming pattern. Let's get into it.

So first things first, let's go over the chords we're going to be using. I'm going to be using more of my stuck like glue chords. So because this song has a brighter sound to it, I really want to get those brighter tones on the top. Now, as a caveat, there are a couple different guitar parts. Right. There's some layering going on in this song. So we're kind of just picking out one of those guitars to play. So I have my G chord, my four finger G chord, and then we have our CAD9 chord. Okay. We have a D chord. Now that I'm playing regular. I'm not playing the DSUS 4. I'm just playing a regular D chord here. And then we have an A chord as well as an A6 chord. Okay. So if you notice what I'm doing, and this is how you know if you can play it this way. I know those A chords are tricky. I use fingers 1, 2, and 3, and then I use my pinky to get that extra note that we need for that a six chord. Now could you try and bar it?

You could. I find that difficult because I have small, smaller hands, which is why I'm able to fit four fingers in that second fret. But I know for some people that's difficult. So maybe you can do. Maybe you can do it with two fingers because you got big hands. Whatever works for you, figure that out. And those are the chords they're going to be using for this song. Now the song starts with picking and ends with picking. So I'm going to start with the intro first and show you what we're going to be doing here. Basically, we're playing a D chord. Okay. The bottom three notes of a D chord. But it's starts with that G string open. And the timing of this is going to be one and two, three and four. One and two, three and four. And it's going to sound like this. And then I'll show you what we're doing.

Such a nice sound. It just brings a smile to my. My face. I love that. It is so great. Okay, so I told you we're starting with a D chord here. Okay. And we're lifting up that first finger. So I would make the D chord lift this first finger, because you're kind of just going to be doing up and down with your first finger here. Okay. And we're going to play each pattern four times. So it's going to be one and.

Two, three and four. One and two, three and four.

And then pattern two, 1 and 2, 3 and 4.

One and two, 3 and 4.

And for the picking, I would do all down picks on this. Down, down, down, down, down, down.

So this intro goes back and forth four and a half times. So you're going to do that full pattern four times. And then we're going to end on that open string.

And the song kind of changes t tempo at this point and we're going to jump into that A and a six chord strumming. But before I do that, let's just do a full playthrough with just these two intro parts. All right, let's try it for the top. And if you need the notes for this song, you can go on to my website, laurenbatement.com and you can follow along there. Okay, I'm going to count us in. It's going to be ready. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and four.

Sam.

Now at this point we jump right into some strumming. And this is going to be a split measure strumming pattern, meaning we're playing one chord for the first half of the pattern. And the second half we're going to play a different chord. Fortunately, it's just going from A6 to A.

Okay, now could you just play the A6 chord and hold on to it? Absolutely. So when you go look at the chord chart that's on my website, wherever you see an A6 chord, you can have the option of doing this split measure strumming pattern. Or just ignore the a chord and just stick with the A6 if you want to make it simple. So let's talk about the foundation of the rhythm first and I'm going to show you where these changes happen. So this is going to be a 16th note rhythm pattern. 16th notes. We're going to be counting one E and a two E and a three E and a four E and a one E and a two E and A three E and a four E and A. Those are 16th note patterns. So this drawing pattern, the first half is 1 and a 2e and okay, 1 and a 2e and played as down, down, up, down, up, down. So let's just take an a chord. Let's take the a chord. So we're going to do one and a two E and okay, down, down, up, down, up, down. And in time, that would be.

Ooh.

One and a two.

Okay, so it's down, down, up, down, up, down again. Down, down, up, down, up, down again.

One more time. M.

Okay, so that's the first half of the strumming pattern. Now, the second half of the strumming pattern is a lot more 60 notes. So it's going to be E and A four and A. Oh, dear. So it's up, down, up, down, down, up. So the second half of that pattern.

Is going to be up, down, up, down, down, up.

One more time.

Up, down, up, down, down, up.

And.

So if I put both of these halves together. So that's what I would do. Practice them separately first. And then we're going to put them together. So it's going to be 1 and a 2, e and e and a 4 and a 1 and a 2, e and E and a 4 and a. And I tell students, let's put the pick down for a second. When we're working on these intricate strumming patterns, just try and clap the rhythm first or even sing it. If you can sing it, you can usually play it. So what we're going to do is we're just going to tap our guitar.

Okay?

So sometimes if you can tap out the rhythm, it's easier to play. If you can sing the rhythm, it's easier to play. All Right, so it's 1 and a 2, e and e and a 4.

E and 1 and a 2, e and E and a 4E and 1 and a 2, e & E and a 4E and 1 & a 2, e and e and.

A 4E. And now we pick our pick back up, and we take that strumming pattern.

So if you need to pause the video to practice that, go right ahead. If you feel like you've got a good feel for what we're doing, let's move on to this chord switch. So we're starting off on the A6 chord.

Okay. Do you hear that?

So when we get to the. And after the two, it's going to be one and a two E. And we switch to A on that and.

All right, and then you just stay on the A chord.

And that is the rest of the intro part when the violin stuff starts coming in, and the other instrumentation. So you're going to do that a six to a chord for four times. And then we have a G chord on the end that we're going to play twice. Same strumming pattern.

Which brings us right into our beautiful verse. Let's talk about the chord progression we're going to be using here. So the great thing about this song is once we get into the verse and the choruses, our chord progression gets very repetitive. And we're playing each chord twice, which is really nice. Now we have our D chord that we're going to play twice. We have our A6 chord and you can stay on the A6 chord or you can do the lifted A6 to A chord if you want to. You don't have to, but that is an option. And if you listen to the record, you will hear it come in. We also have that C, A nine chord twice and then a G chord twice. So what we're going to do is we're going to take that strumming pattern we just learned and we're going to apply it over the verse and the chorus so that you guys can get a feel for it. But don't go away just yet because there's still one more picking part I have to show you how to do on the outro. But first, let's take a look at the strumming with the lyrics. Alright, so I'm gonna play through a verse in a chorus here. I'm gonna take it from the second verse in the song which is I swore, I swore I could be true. One.

Two, ready? I swore, swore that would.

Be true Honey, so did you.

So why were you holding her hand? Is that just the way we stand? We're lying all the time. Was it just, just a game to you? But I'm in so deep.

You know I'm such a fool for you.

You got me wrap around your finger.

Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let.

It linger?

So you see, once you get in a groove with this rhythm, you can just use it for the entire song, which makes it very, very easy. But now I told you there was one more picking section which kind of wraps up the entire song. And I really like this picking pattern. Very, very cool picking pattern. Unlike the first one where we're doing all down strums. There's some down and up here. And let me play it for you first and then I'll explain it.

Now what I'm doing here is I'm playing a D chord to start. And let's talk about the strings we're picking. We're.

Going three. One, two, three. One, two.

Three, one. Now that's the tricky part because you have to skip over the second string. You have to go from three down to the bottom string. Alright, so you may need to work on learning where your strings are here. But this is a really, really great little picking pattern. So again, it's going to be the.

Third string. And then 1, 2, 3. 1.

2.

3. 1. Okay, now what I would do once again into this, the first part, I'm probably gonna go down, down.

Up, up, down, up.

Up, down. And then when I start the next round, I would probably go.

Up, down, up, up, down, up, up, down, up, down, up, up, down, up, up, down, up, down, up, up, down.

Up, up. Okay, so I'm gonna. Depending on which direction I'm moving, we call this directional picking. So I'm going to pick in the direction I'm moving. So this first note I'm moving down. So I'm going to go down, down. And now I'm coming back up the strings up, up, down, the strings up, up, down. Okay, so going down, up, up, down, up, up, down. Okay, so that's what we're doing on this D chord. And then you're doing the same exact thing, just lifting up your first finger. So We've got the.

Third string. 3, 1, 2, 3. 1, 2.

3, 1. Back to the D chord.

Now if you want more 90s classics that have cool strumming and picking, then I highly recommend you go check out my Alanis Morissette ironic video. Really great strumming pattern, cool picking technique. Go click on that video right now.