Step-By-Step Summer Breeze Guitar Lesson with Strumming & Lead Lines!

Summer breeze makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind.

Hey, guitar enthusiasts, I have a super fun song here that's gonna teach you how to go between strumming and playing little lead lines on your guitar. We're gonna do it step by step. Let's get into the lesson.

So we're going to be doing Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft, which is a big hit in the 70s. Let's talk about the chords we're going to be using for this song. So we're going to have the A major chord. We're going to have an E major chord. We're going to have an E minor chord. Okay. We're also going to have an A minor 7. We're going to have a G chord. We're going to have B minor 7, which is A bar chord. And we're also going to have a B7 suspended fourth. It only comes in one part of the song, but if you practice this B minor 7, all you have to do is stretch your pinky. Stretch your pinky out to the fifth fret here. That might be a little bit difficult for some of you guys. And if you guys can't play that chord, don't worry. You can just hang out on the B minor 7 and it'll work just fine. But I'll show you where you can introduce that chord. It comes in for one measure, but let's get into the strumming first. So this song has a lot of improvisation to it. It's probably a little bit more of an intermediate song. So we're going to take it section by section. There's four sections of this song, and I'm going to it all together for you guys at the end with a little bit of a playthrough. So the intro starts off with two chords, E minor and that A minor 7. And we're doing an E minor chord. And we're going to pick the top string. It's going to be the top string, then the A string below. And then you're going to strum the rest of the E minor. And the timing is 1 and 2, 1 and 2. And when you get to. And after 2, you're going to switch to that a minor 7. It's going to sound like this 1 and 2 and.

1 and 2 and so a little bit more up to speed.

And if you notice on my chord change here at the E minor, I'm leaving my second finger in place and I'm just pivoting the first finger back and forth, right? It's like my easy C chord, which is actually an A minor 7 chord in the E minor. So if you play your E minor with your first and second fingers, that's usually how I teach students to play it. But I would. If you don't. If you play with your second and third, I mean, could you do it? Move your second and pivot? I just find this, for me, is a little bit too much of a stretch. So I like the first and second, really can stretch that finger just to grab that first fret on that second string. So again, from the top, it's.

Now, if you just wanted to strum the intro, you could do that four times. Or what I would recommend doing is playing through that twice and then jumping over to this lead line, which is going to sound like this.

So what are we doing here? What I would recommend is giving each finger its own fret. So the first finger is going to own the seventh fret. Second finger is going to own the eighth fret. Third finger is going to own the ninth fret. And the pinky is going to own the tenth fret. All right, and we're up here. We're further up on the guitar so that this isn't too much of a stretch. If you're playing the bass line down here, a little more of a stretch. But this guitar part works out really well. So we're going to start with our third finger on the ninth fret on the third string. Okay? And you're gonna play that note. Then you're gonna come down, second finger is gonna end up on the eighth fret on the second string. Then we're gonna come down again to the bottom string, okay, this high E string. And we're gonna play the high E with pinky on the tenth fret. First finger on the seventh fret. Okay, so just those first four notes. We got 9, 8, 10, 7.

And again, that's 1 and 2. And.

Okay, so that's the first four notes. And then we're going to come up to the B string, and we're going to play 10, 8, 7. A little bit of, like a little walk down here. So it's 10, 8, 7. Then you're going to come up to the G string, and you go, nine, seven, nine. Okay, so all together, I'll play it very slowly. We've got 9, 8, 10, 7, 10, 8, 7, 9, 7, 9. Okay, so this is what it's going to sound like at a slower speed.

So this is what it's going to sound like. And if you need to use the Settings to slow me down, to practice and play this. Go right ahead.

Again.

So if we put those together, it would sound like this.

And you guys may have heard me make a little bit of a mistake in there. And that's okay because I'm definitely not perfect. And I hope you guys aren't perfect either, because I'm definitely not. So here we go. That was the intro. So that's what you can do. You can either just strum or you can do the lead line. Or if you're playing with a friend, your friend can do the strumming and you can do the lead line or vice versa. So the next section of song we're going to move into is the verse section, all right? And I'm going to offer you two different types of strumming patterns. Now, this is a little bit more of an intermediate song, so the strumming, I feel, is going to be a little bit more improvised. If I were playing this, I wouldn't be focusing on what my hand was doing. I would just keep it within a framework. So I'm gonna give you two frameworks to work within. The first one has a lot more strumming. So the first one, I'm just gonna take that A minor 7 chord and it's gonna be 1, 2 and a 3, E and a 4 and A. Oh, what was that? Okay, I'll slow it down. So it's gonna be 1, 2 and a 3, E and a 4 and a. So that's gonna be down, down, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, down, up. Alright, so the first half is just one, two and up. You've probably seen me do that in lots of songs. One, two and up. Okay, and if you just wanted to do that twice, 1, 2 and a 3, 4 and a, that would probably work fine for the song. But I want to, I want to push you guys out of your comfort zone a little bit. So we have 1, 2 and a 4. First half of the pattern. The second half is 3E and a 4. And up, down, up, down, up, down, down. So put those together. It's going to be 1, 2, 3, 4.

So the second strumming pattern I'm going to show you. Remember, these are just frameworks. I want you to start feeling the music, but I'm going to give you some frameworks. Starts off the same. One, two and okay, down, down, down, up. The second half of the pattern changes. We're going to do E, A, 4, E. And so it's up, up, down, up, down, up. So for some of you we're going to be doing three ups in a row. You may not be used to doing this, but I'm trying to push you guys out of your comfort zone a little bit. So let's take that again. So it's 1, 2 and A, E, A foreign again.

Now you choose whichever strumming pattern works best for you. But again, these are just frameworks and you may not feel your hand might just start doing its own thing and that's totally normal. Just giving you the framework. Now for this verse, there's a little bit of a timing thing that goes on here I want you guys to be aware of. We're splitting measures on these strumming patterns. So each chord is going to be two beats except in the second line. There's a little bit of a timing difference. We go from this E chord to A minor seven. The A minor seven is going to change on the. And after two you're going to feel like the music is hopping. It's pushing you and pulling you forward. Listen to it and see if you can hear it. So we got starting with the E1, 2, ready? And.

See the curtains hanging in the window in the evening on a Friday night.

Here, here, leap forward. So I'm just changing that a 1 strum earlier than the others. And depending on what strumming pattern you, you use, you may be changing chords on a downbeat or an upbeat. So just be aware of that as a timing with this song. So let me play through the first verse so that you guys can hear it and then we're going to jump into the chorus. One, two, Ready?

And see the curtains hanging in the window in the evening on a Friday night.

A little light shining in the window Lets me know everything is all right.

Now we've got the chorus which is the summer breeze part. We also have a really cool lead line that comes in. I'm going to show you and options for how you can do that. So in this chorus, all of the chords are a single measure. So it just means you play the strumming pattern all the way through. We're going to change up the strumming just a little bit because I think the chorus starts to open up here and I like to vary the strumming pattern at this point. So for the chorus we're going to do 1, 2, 3, E and 4 and up. So that's down, down, up, down, up, down, down, down, up. Okay. Told you guys. I'm going to challenge you with these 16 note strumming patterns. Very, very cool. Amazing. To be able to vary your strumming patterns between a verse and a chorus. So again, the first half of that pattern is 1, 2, up, down, down, up, 1, 2, up. And then the second half of the pattern is 3, e and 4. And up, down, up, down, down, down, up. All right, so I'm going to put those together. It's going to be.

So let me play through this chorus, and I'm going to show you the lead line and where you can add that in. So if you take it from the chorus, it's going to be two.

Ready AM Summer breeze makes me feel fine Flowing through the jasmine of my mind.

Summer breeze makes me feel fine Flowing through the jasmine in my mind.

Now, a little tip I want to show you guys. So we have this B minor 7 bar chord. Now, when I play the first A minor 7, I play it with my first and second fingers, and then I come over to B minor 7. And then watch what I do with my hand. I lift up the bar, and I just slide the second and third fingers forward. They're already in the shape of that A minor seven. Very cool. So the first time through, I usually, just out of muscle memory, use the first and second fingers.

Summer Breeze to B minor seven. Yeah.

And then I lift the bar and sing.

Slide the fingers into play.

Now, the G chord is where we have an opportunity to throw in another lead line, which is this little section here, which is 7, 8, slide to 10, back to 8, 7 and then 8 on the B string. So most of it's on that high E string. 7, 8, slide to 10, back to 8, 7 and then 8 on the B string. So.

Again.

One more time, because I missed one of the notes.

Okay? So when you're doing this, there's a couple ways you can do it. You can either strum this G chord and then jump over to the lick, or you could just hold the G chord and jump over to the lick. Now, a question people always ask me, Lauren, how do I get from strumming over to this lead line fast enough? So when I am strumming this G chord, I'm already looking at the seventh fret. My eye is already here so that I can just jump right up here, play my lead line, and before I hit this final note here, my eyes are already back to the top, the first three frets, so I can jump right back into that A minor chord. Okay? So your hands will follow where your eyes are going. So always be looking ahead of where you want to go, and that will help your. Your hands get into place faster. So let's play through this with the lead line, and I'll show you both ways you can do it. So we got 1, 2.

Ready a.m. summer breeze makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind.

Summer breeze makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind.

I kind of like playing the G and holding it. It has a nice sound to it. And it also gives you a little extra time to get over to that lead line if you need that assistance. But choose whichever way works best for you. There's no right or wrong way to do it. Just figure out what's going to work. The final section of the song before I go and play through everything for you is going to be this bridge section. And it's not too bad. It's mostly stuff you've already learned, except we have the introduction of that special chord. I'm going to show you how to do that fairly easily. All right, so we're starting off. It's basically going between that E minor and that A minor seven. So it's like you're playing the intro all over again.

Okay, so just do that. And then we get out of that. We come to a minor 7 to B7. And I probably use the verse strumming at this point.

And I come home.

From a hard day's work and you're waiting there Not a care.

In the world.

So watch my hand if you know this B minor 7 chord, all you have to do is reach out your pinky to that fifth fret on the B string. So we're replacing. The B string right now is being played by the second finger. You don't have to lift that finger up. You just have to put this pinky down.

And you've got B7. That's 4. You could probably stay on the B minor 7. It would be fine if this is tricky for you, but I had never played that chord before learning this song, so it's just like a little practice thing. This is a very common thing that happens, especially with suspended chords where you put pinkies down in places. So it's a skill that you may want to start practicing even if you don't use it right away. In this song, now that we've gone through every section, what I'm going to do is I'm going to play through the intro, the verse, a chorus, and. And the bridge so that you guys can hear how each part sounds. And once again, if I'm going too fast, you can use that settings cog down there to slow me down. One, two. Ready? And.

See the curtains hanging in the window? In the inn on a Friday night?

A little light shining through the window? Lets me know everything is all right?

The summer breeze makes me feel fine? Knowing through the jive's been in my mind?

Summer breeze makes me feel fine? Blowing through the jasmine in my mind?

Three days of summer? The jasmines are cool? July is dressed up and playing? And I come home.

From a holiday's work? And you're waiting.

I hope you guys enjoyed all the strumming variations and the lead lines in this song. And if you're interested in learning more cool lead lines, I highly recommend you go check out my Norwegian wood lesson right over there, where I'll go through everything step by step. Really cool, strumming, cool lead lines. Go click on that lesson. I'll see you guys over there.