Lauren Bateman breaks down Monster Mash with four chords: G, E minor, C, D. Learn finger pivots for smooth changes, three strumming patterns from basic to syncopated, and how to mute the beat 3 downstrum for the full effect.
Questions this video answers
G, E minor, C, D.
4/4 (counting 1–2–3–4).
Two measures of G, two measures of E minor, two measures of C, two measures of D (repeating).
A pattern where the down-strum on beat 3 is omitted (you strum down but do not hit the strings on beat 3).
Chapters
Hey, guitar enthusiasts, I have a graveyard smash for you. Today. We're going to be doing the Monster Mash. Let's talk about the chords. Four simple chords. We have a G chord, an E minor chord, a C chord, and a D chord, which makes this song great for beginners. And if you know my two fingered versions, we have the G chord, the two fingered G, the E minor chord, the two fingered C, and then the two fingered D chord. Now, want to show you a couple pivot points. Whether you're using two fingers or three fingers, I like to make my E minor chord with my first and second fingers. Some people like doing it with their second and third. The reason why I like my first and third is because when I go to pivot into a C chord, if I'm using just my two fingered method, I only have to move one finger. Okay. And if I want to get into a G chord, I just have to move one finger. Same thing with the three finger chords. If I'm playing an E minor chord and I want to pivot into C, I can leave my second finger in place, pivot the other two fingers in. Also with the G chord, that first finger can stay in place and then you get the other two. But I find the C chord is the one that most students need the most help with. And just having that little pivot, look how little I have to move because my second finger is already set up in the front of this chord. When I go to pivot into that C chord, I can get my third finger right in the front there. So that's what happens when you use your second and third fingers. You kind of have to reposition everything. And I like being able to pivot in and out of chords. So you guys choose whichever way you want to do. But those are going to be our chords. We've got G, E minor, C and D.
So this song is in four, four time, which means we're going to be counting to four. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. 1, 2, 3, four. And that is the most basic strumming pattern. If you're an absolute beginner, that's where you can start is just by getting the timing of these chords. Now, the great thing about this song is it has a chord progression that repeats over and over and over again. So you have two measures of G, two measures of E minor, two measures of C, and two measures of D. And if you need the lesson notes, you can always go over to my website to check those out. So if you started with just a G chord and we use the simple strumming it would be 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Okay, so that's just your timing. 1, 2, 3, four. Okay, now if you want to spice it up, we can add things in between. Okay. Those are called eighth notes. So the 1, 2, 3, 4, those are quarter notes. And then when we add up strums in, those are called eighth notes. They come in between the down strums. Okay. So the next way that we can spice this up is just by adding in some up strums. So we got 1, 2 and 3 and 4, and 1, 2 and 3 and 4. And that's just played down, down, up, down, up, down, up.
So those are the first two options that you can use at the beginner level. And don't worry, I'm going to play through the song. I just want to go through the strumming patterns first so we have the timing. The late beginner strumming pattern would be this next one that I'm going to play. And what's going to happen is we're going to lose one of our down strums. We call this a syncopated rhythm in music. It means one of our down strums, the one, the two, the three or the four is missing. And sometimes it's multiple or missing. But in this song, we're missing the down strum on the three. Okay, so that strumming pattern, we were just doing 1, 2 and 3 and 4, and 1, 2 and 3 and 4. And it's the same strumming pattern, except when you do the down strum on the three, you're still going to strum down. Just don't hit the strings. People get really caught up with these syncopated patterns. You've already played the pattern. Just don't hit the strings on the three. Okay? So it's going to sound like this 1, 2 and 3 and 4, and 1, 2 and 3 and 4. And.
Now if this one trips you up, this is what I want you to work on. Just take it in half. First, I just want you to go 1, 2 and 3. 1, 2 and 3. Okay. Oops. And I hit the string. Don't hit the strings. 1, 2 and 3. Just practice doing that. That can be weird if you've never done this before, where you have to try and hit the strings 1, 2 and 3. And then I just want you to try and put the up strum after the three.
And then just add the four. And on the end.
Down, down, up.
Up, down, up, down, up, down, up.
So those are the three strumming patterns that you can use. There is one more, but I'm going to show you that one a little bit later. I first want to play through an entire verse and chorus and we'll play through together. And if I'm going too fast, you can always use the settings cog to slow it down. Let's take it from the top. We got 1, 2, 1, 2, ready?
And I was working in the lab late one night when my eyes beheld an eerie sight but my monster from his slab begin to rise and suddenly to my surprise he did the mash he did the monster mash the monster mash it was a graveyard smash he did the mash it caught on in a flash he did the mash he did the monster mash.
Now, the great thing about this so is once you play through the verse and chorus, you've pretty much played the entire song. There are a couple variations in some of the verses which I'm going to talk about right now. So you're going to play a verse, a chorus, a versa chorus, and then there's this bridge section where things change up a little bit. We're just going between a C chord and a D chord. But on the last set of D chords, what we're going to do is we're going to strum the D chord. We're going to mute the guitar. Okay. Using our strumming hand, you're going to do a down strum and then quickly mute the strings.
Okay. So if we take it from a C chord, it would sound like this.
Two measures of C. And then you strum the D. Kill the strings as quickly as possible. And you can see I'm just doing that with my strumming hand by resting my palm on the strings, not being percussive. I'm not hitting the guitar. I'm just killing the strings by putting my hand on them. Okay. So if I take it from the top of this bridge, it's gonna starting on a C chord. So we've got two Cs, two Ds, two Cs and then the D with the strum and hold.
The zombies were having fun. The party had just begun. The guests included Wolfman, Dracula and his son.
And then right into the verse.
Now, if you listen to some of the verses as you go through this song, there's many, many verses. Some of the verses do that on the end where you have the D and then you mute it real quick. So just listen to the song as you're going through it and see if you can listen for that muting part. So let's take it one more time. We're going to go from the second verse chorus through that bridge. Let's play along together. Ready? One, two, two. One, two.
From my laboratory in the castle east? To the master bedroom where the vampires feast? The ghouls all came from their humble abode? To catch a jolt from my electrode?
He did the mash?
He did the monster mash?
The monster mash?
It was a graveyard smash?
He did the mash?
He caught on in a flash? He did the mash? He did the monster mash? The zombies were having fun. The party had just begun. The guests included Wolfman, Dracula and his son.
If you're in the Halloween spirit and want another creepy lesson and song to play along with, check out my rendition of Halloween right over there.
