STEP-BY-STEP Strumming & Intro | California Dreamin' Guitar Lesson

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray the sky is gray.

I've been born a wall On a winter's day On a winter's day.

Hey, guitar enthusiast. Lauren Bateman here. And we're going to be learning the classic California Dreamin by the Mamas and the Papas. I'm gonna show you how to strum it. I'm also gonna show you how to play the intro to the song as well. So let's.

So very important things before we start the lesson. We want to make sure we have a capo on the fourth fret. This is going to help us sound just like the record. So before we get into the lesson, let's go through the chords we're going to use on the song. First, we have an A minor chord. We have a G chord, we have an F bar chord. And if you need to use a version of F major 7, that will work just fine as well. We then have an ESUS 4 chord, which looks a lot like an A chord. Just everything gets moved up, up one string. We have an E major chord, and we also have E7. That's going to pop in every once in a while. So we're going to be going over the different sections of the song. We have two different refrains. They're played kind of separately and a little bit differently, and they're also sung differently. And then we also have the solo section as well. And if you stick around to the end of the video, I'm going to show you how to play the cool little intro that they pick. So let's start off with the strumming pattern. It's going to be a combination of two different strumming patterns, depending on what whether the chords are splitting a measure, meaning there are two beats each, or whether the chord is a full measure. So let's start with the split measures, which will be the first measure of the song is going to be a minor and a G chord. So all I want you to do on these split measures is just go down, down, up on one chord. Down, down, up on the second chord. So it's 1, 2, and 3, 4. And again.

Now if I take this first full measure of the song, you'll Notice that the ESUS 4 is actually a full measure. Okay, so we have a couple of split measures, and then we have a full measure. And then we're back to split measures. So we're kind of bouncing back between these split measures and these full measures. And if you need lesson notes, I do have them on my website. So what are we going to do for this full measure of E sus 4 we're going to do down, down, up, up, down, up. Okay, so that's one, two, and. And four, and again. Down, down, up, up, down, up.

So if I take the first measure and I play it through, it's going to sound like this.

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray.

Okay, so that's our first measure. Now, for some of you, you might have difficulty going between those two patterns. So what I would just do is stick on one chord. Let's pick an E chord here. And I would just go down, down, up. Down, down, up. Down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up.

Up, up, down, up.

So just stay on one chord and trade off between the two rhythms until it becomes almost second nature. So all you have to do is worry about whether the chords are splitting a measure or they're a full measure and you'll know exactly what to play. So let's play through this first verse now so that you can see what it sounds like. A little bit more up to speed.

I All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray the sky is.

Gray.

I've been for a walk On a winner's day On a winner's day.

I'd be safe from home if I was in LA if I was in LA California, CA Dreamland on such a winner, stay.

So this next section, the chord progressions are going to change, and we're also going to introduce our E7 chord in this section as well. Now we're going to follow that same kind of rhythm and strumming pattern, which is two measures of split chords and then two measures that are full of just one chord. So let's just play through this really quick. Nothing is changing strumming pattern wise. It's just the melody has changed a bit. So this is a very difficult song to sing by yourself. So I'm going to do the best I can to work through so that you guys can hear this next section. Stopped into a church.

I pass along.

The way E to E7 got down.

On my knees, I got down on my knees I pretend to pray, I pretend to pray. You know a preacher preaching likes the cold he knows I'm gonna stay knows I'm gon.

Now this solo section again, there's nothing really different going up here. I'm going to put the chord progression up on the page. We're just really playing through an A minor. We actually introduce a C chord in this section and we're back to the ESUS 4, lot of split measures, a lot of whole measures. But if you just follow along with the chord charts, if you want to pause the video and write this down, you can just practice through and substitute in the appropriate strumming pattern where needed. So now that you know the strumming patterns for this song and how to apply it to the different chords, I'm going to teach you step by step how to play the cool picking intro you hear for this song.

So this intro is very fast, so take your time. Go slow. We're going to go through it slow here, step by step. And we're going to start basically by playing what we call an ASUS2 chord. It's basically an A minor chord with the first finger lifted up. And we're going to pick down that chord starting on the fourth string. So it's going to go four, three, open. Okay. And then we're going to come back up to that fourth string. So it's.

Okay again.

Can already hear it.

Okay, now the next few notes, you get some options. You can either reach down with your pinky and play three, one, open on the first string. I forget what I did. Let me just see. So I go.

I like releasing the chord and using my finger. Third finger to first finger, then open on the B string. But whatever you're more comfortable with. I know for me, my pinky tends to be a weak finger. I think it is for a lot of guitarists. So my preference is to lift the hand off the cord and use the third finger and then the first finger. So let's do that from the top. So we've got.

Okay.

That'S the timing.

One more time.

Okay, so that's kind of like the first phrase. Now the next phrase, we're starting on the second fret of the third string. And then we're coming to the first fret on the B string and then open E string. And I'm going to give you a couple options here because when I listen to the recording, I hear some things and it could be that there's a couple guitars, but I think it's could be something else going on. But I'll show you in a second. So we're starting second fret, third string, first fret, second string, open E. First fret on E. Open E. And then again, three, one. Okay, so that whole phrase is going to be.

One more time.

So what I hear on the record sometimes is this.

So I hear him kind of playing two strings at once. Now, if you want to keep it clean, you can just do it. The single notes. It'll sound just fine. It'll sound like this.

But what I hear him do is going.

So what I think is happening here is it's going the second fret, the first fret. But instead of just strumming this E string open, I think he's leaving the first finger down on this B string, and he's strumming them both at the same time. Then he's moving his first finger down, and he's catching the open B string. And then I think he's strumming both strings open. So it's kind of going like this.

Okay, one more time. So we got first finger B string, first finger E string, and then no finger. And he's playing the B and E string at the same time. So that would sound like this. We would get.

So whichever you think you're going to be able to do, whichever one sounds better, but that way sounds more like they're playing it on the record. And let's get through our final phrase now. Our final phrase. We're starting back at that asus chord. Okay. And we're starting on the fourth string. 2, 2, 3. 1 open.

2 open. On the G string. And then we're strumming an E chord. You could play the E7. I think they're actually playing an E7 because it has a lot more tenseness to it. But E or E7, whichever one you can grab faster. So if we take this from the beginning, it's going to be.

And again.

And one more time up to full speed.

Hope you guys enjoyed this lesson on the Mama and the Papas. If you are looking for another really cool intro to learn that incorporates playing and strumming at the same time, then go check out my Walk the Line lesson right over there.