Lauren Bateman teaches Bob Marley's Redemption Song using five open chords: G, E minor, C, A minor, and D. The lesson covers a simple intro lick, pivot-based chord changes, and a verse strumming pattern you can play along with as she sings.
Questions this video answers
G, E minor (Em), C, A minor (Am), and D.
First finger (index) stays at the 2nd fret and second finger (middle) stays at the 3rd fret while changing strings.
Down, down, up, down, up, down, up (counts: 1, 2, and 3 and 4 and).
Simplified: two down strums per chord half-measure (1,2 on C then 1,2 on D). Embellished: down, down, up, down, down, up (counted as 1, 2, and — 3, 4).
Chapters
Hey, guitar enthusiasts, we're going to be doing a song here by Bob Marley that uses some nice simple open chords. We're going to be using a G chord, an E minor chord, a C chord, an A minor chord and a D chord. Alright? And if you know my two finger versions, you can use those as well. I want to show you a couple pivot points on these chords to make it easier to play. So if you're familiar with my method of teaching, I like using the first and second finger on E minor because it allows me to pivot into the C chord. I can leave my second finger in place. And to go from E minor to C is a nice easy pivot. Same from E minor to G, E minor to G. You can just pivot right into it. Okay, mostly we're going to be going from E minor into C. And I think that's the easier of the two. And then we're going to be going from C to A minor, which this is nice because with the A minor chord, you just have to move the third finger underneath the other two fingers. So these two fingers can stay right in place when you're going from C into that A minor chord.
But before we get into the strumming and the actual song, let's talk about the cool little intro that you can play. I have a simplified version here. So even if you're absolute beginner, you should be able to do this. Let's take a look at it step by step. So I'm going to play through it just so you guys can hear what it's supposed to sound like. It's going to sound like this.
So if you notice when I'm playing this lick, I'm only using my first and second fingers. And my first finger is staying right here in the second fret and my second finger is staying right here in the third fret. So you just kind of have to do this motion and change which string you're playing. So let's take it from the absolute beginning. So the first four notes are going to be the third fret on the top string. Open A string, second fret on the A string, back to the G string. It has like a little hopping feel.
Okay, so bum, bum, bum, bum.
Okay, so those are our first four notes. The next measure, we're moving down to the A string with our second finger on the third fret and we're going three second fret on the D string below, Lift up that first finger, play the D string, open and then right back to the second fret. On the A string. Okay. And those four notes are nice and even, so it's going to be.
So no hopping.
So let's play those two together. What we have so far, so we've got.
In this next measure, we come back up to the top string third fret. And it kind of starts like our first one.
Okay, so we have that open a second fret on A, then open D, and then second fret on the A string. So that's going to be.
So again, that middle is quick.
Okay. So a lot of times, if you can sing these rhythms.
If you can sing it, you don't have to worry so much about what the rhythm is. So let's take that last measure that I just sang, and we're doing a little walk down. We're going from third fret on the A string. Second fret on the A string, open A string, and then third fret on the top string. And that is.
It's almost like Heart of Gold.
Actually. It is Heart of Gold. So same walk down from that. So let's take this first four measures from the top. Ready? So we got 1, 2, 3, 4.
Okay. And then we repeat that a little bit with a slight variation in one part. So the first measure is the same.
Second measure is the same.
Here's where the change comes. It's.
So we're just letting that open D string ring through. We're not coming back to the second fret like we did before. So that's going to be.
Okay. And then the walk down on the end. So let's try playing it from the top nice and slow. Ready? One, two. Here we go.
So pause this video, go back and rewind and play through with me as many times as you need to, because we're going to move on to the verses and the choruses of the song with our chord. So let's talk about the strumming pattern we're going to use. There's two strumming patterns, which we're going to use one strumming pattern for the entire verse, and then on the chorus, we're going to add in a second strumming pattern. Let's talk about the first one. So it's just going to be. We'll use our G chord, and it's going to be 1, 2, and 3 and 4. And. And we're going to play that down, down, up, down, up, down, up. Ready?
Okay, so. So again, 1, 2, and 3 and 4. And 1, 2, and three and four. And down, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, down, up, down, up, down, up.
And that's the strumming pattern we're going to use throughout the verse. There are some lockdowns, but we're going to ignore those for now because I just wanted to give you guys a simplified version of this song to play. So our chord progression for this is mostly the same. It's going to be G, E minor, C, A minor. So you're going to use those pivot points, G to E minor, okay? And then E minor into C. You got another pivot point. And then A minor. Move that one finger, okay? And then you start all over G, pivot into E minor, pivot into C. Then you move your finger for A minor. We're going to do that three times. And then on the very end, it's going to be G, E minor, C. And there is no pivot to get into the D. We're just gonna play a D chord twice. So let's take this verse through. One, two. Ready?
Old pirates, yes, they rob I.
Sold I to the merchant ships.
Minutes after they took I.
From the bottomless pit but my.
Made strong by the hand of the Almighty we forward in this generation.
Triumphantly.
And then won't you help me sing?
So now we're getting to the chorus. We're going to add in one more strumming pattern. So let's go over that first. So in the chorus, we have split measures. We're going to be going from a C chord to a D chord very quickly. So the C chord is going to be two beats, one, two. And then the D chord's going to be two beats. So if you're not very good at switching between C and D because you don't have a pivot point, you could just do two down strums, 1, 2 on C and then 1, 2 on D. So it would sound like this.
Won't you sing.
These songs of freedom?
If you want to spice it up a little bit more, you can add an up strum on the end of each chord. So it would be down, down, up, down, down, up. Okay, so it's 1, 2, and. And then 3, 4. And so it's going to sound like.
Won't you help me sing.
These songs of freedom?
Okay, so I really like that strumming pattern. So that going to use on this chorus for this playthrough. Let's take it from the G. We're basically going G, half a measure C, half a measure G back, then back to G and so forth and so on with the chords on the screen for you can always follow along with my notes on the website. So here we go. One, two. Ready? And.
Sing.
These songs of freedom. Cause all I ever had.
Redemption songs.
Redemption songs.
Now, there's one more part to the song, which is an interlude section, but it's really simple. It's an E minor chord for one measure and then a split measure of C and D. And we're going to do that four times. So it's 1, 2, and 3 and 4, and 1, 2 and 3, 4, and.
Okay, so we're going to do that at the very end. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to play through a verse and chorus, another verse and chorus, and then we'll end on our interlude. All right, let's start off with the intro. And again, if I'm going too fast, you can always use the settings cog below to slow me down. Let's take it from the top. Ready? One, two. Here we go.
Old pirates. Yes they Rabbi.
Sold to the merchant ships.
Minutes after they took I.
From the bottomless.
But my hand was made strong by the hand of the Almighty. We forward in this generation.
Triumphantly?
Won't you help me Sing.
These songs of freedom? Is all I ever had.
Redemption songs.
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy.
Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets While we stand aside and look? Yeah, Some say it's just a part of it. We've got to fulfill the book.
If you're looking for another fun and simple Bob Marley song, then I highly recommend you go check out my Three Little Birds lesson right over there where we'll go over how to play that song step by step with only three chords.
