Tequila Sunrise Guitar Lesson - Learn The COOL INTRO & Strumming

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If you're an Eagles fan, then you are going to love this Tequila Sunrise video. I'm going to show how to play that really, really cool intro step by step, and how we can play and sing along to this song.

Now, this is going to be an acoustic guitar lesson, so I won't be doing any of the lead parts. We're just going to be focusing on the strumming. So let's talk about the chords we're going to be using for. For this song first. Now, for the most part, we're using simple open chords until we get to our bridge section. The Eagles always do something funky on the bridge section, but I'll talk about that when we get there. Let's just talk about the chords we're mostly going to be using for the verses and choruses. So we have an E minor chord, G chord, D chord. We have A minor, we have a C chord, we have D7. So that's seven chords in total that we are going to be using for the verses and choruses. You can always count on the Eagles, who have lots of different chords in their songs. So you heard that really cool strumming pattern that I did on the intro. So let's talk about that. Let's go through it step by step, because there's a little bit of a trick in there. There's a little bit of a hammer on that comes in, and it's really the combination of two chords. It's a G and a G6 chord. But we're going to be playing our G chord in a very, very special way. So this G chord, we're going to be actually muting the fifth string. Okay. So our top finger can kind of lay flat. We're not worried about if we're hitting that string or not, because we're going to need this second finger halfway through the. So that's how we're going to play the G chord. So it's kind of like a modified G chord. A lot of people refer to it as the AC DC G chord because that's the G chord you'll find in a lot of AC DC's music. So we've got this G chord, and what we're doing is we're going to be bringing the second finger on the second fret of the fourth string halfway through. So before we get into the timing of everything, I just want us to strum and get the foundation, and then I'm going to get into the specifics. So the first strumming pattern that I want you to Get a foundation for is going to be what?

1, 2 and 3 and 4 and play it is down, down, up, down, up, down, up.

Okay, if you cannot do the very intricate strumming pattern for this song, this is a great go to to get started with. Alright, we're going to work on the timing first. So it's going to be 1, 2.

And 3 and 4 and down, down, up, down, up, down, up.

Okay, now what we're going to do is we're going to play that right that muted and I want you halfway through on that three beat. I just want you to work on the timing of getting this finger to come into place. Don't worry about hammer ons or anything. We're going to get into that in a second. Just want you to get into the habit of the timing that this finger comes down on three. So it's going to sound like this.

So you can see 1 and 2.

1, 2 and I'm doing nothing. And then 3 and 4 and I.

Have this finger down. And then when one comes around again, we're going to lift that finger up. Let's try it together. Ready?

1, 2 and 3 and 4 and.

All right, now once you get the feel for that, we're going to pull one of those strums out and replace it with a hammer on. Now the hammer on we're doing. Because we played this G chord ahead of time, this D string is going to be ringing out and we're going to hammer down with our first finger here.

Right onto that note. Okay, so we just strummed all the chord.

There it is. Now you're going to have to really hammer it down to get it to ring through. If you just lightly tap it.

You'Re going to end up muting the string. So just focus. Bringing out that D note first and then hammering down.

Again.

Okay. It's about speed with hammer ons. I always tell people, if you've seen other of my videos, it's not about really how hard you do the hammer on. There has to be some strength. It's more about the speed. Right? It's like snapping your finger. If you go slow, you get nothing. You go fast, you get a snap. Same thing with the hammer on.

So it's one pick two notes. So we're going to try throwing this in there. And to do that we are not going to strum on the three beat. So let's just try that. We're just going to do 1, 2 and 3. That's all we're going to do. Ready? So it's going to be 1, 2, and 3. Good.

Again.

1, 2, and hammer.

Good.

And that hammer, the timing. That note's gonna come right in. On three.

One, two, and three.

Okay, great. Perfect. We've added in the hammer on.

Now we're gonna add in one more.

Strum to that first section and then we'll be good. Okay, this is it. We're just taking it step by step. You gotta do that with these difficult strumming patterns. You gotta build upon a foundation and then you gotta add. And that's what I do. My name is Lauren Bateman. I try to make guitar make sense for people who want to have fun playing great songs like this by the Eagles. I specialize in teaching older adults over the age of 50, and that's why I do a lot of music by the Eagles, Neil Young, all that fun stuff. So what we're going to do is we are going to add a 16th note strum on that first beat. So the strumming pattern in full is going to be one and a two. And then we have the hammer on the three and then it's going to be.

And four and.

All right. And the strumming pattern for this is.

Going to be down, down, up, down, down, up, down, up again. Down, down, up, down, down, up, down, up.

And you're going to see why we're doing so many downs in a row in one second.

So.

So let's just start with that G again.

So we've got one and.

It'S a very fast. It's like a dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. If you listen to the record, you hear it.

Okay, let's just do that without the hammer on first.

One and a two and one and a two and.

Hey, slow it down.

One and a two and.

Now pick up the speed.

Okay, so let's get this.

I always tell people with these intricate strumming patterns, if you can sing it, if you could do what I'm doing, even if, you know you're not a singer like me, and it doesn't sound in pitch, it's okay if. As long as you got. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. That is our rhythm.

One and a two and.

All right, and on that. And the next note is three. That's our hammer. So we got.

There it is.

And why did we do so many downs? Look where my hand is. If I did that last strum as an upper, my pick's going to be up here. And I got to do this next strum which means I need to be down here.

So we've got one and a two and three and four and.

Okay, see what I did there?

One and a two and three and four.

And.

So that is how you play the intro for Tequila Sunrise. Now you can use this strumming pattern for the rest of the song. And we're going to get into those verses and choruses right now. But that is the most intricate part of the song is that intro. So if you need to take a second to pause, go review that, do that and jump back in, because we're hopping into the verse next. Now, we all know on Eagles Records they have a million guitar players. There's just a lot of layering. I probably. If I was playing this, I would play that intro section and then I would go to a regular strumming pattern for the intro and ver. Sorry for the verse section of this song. So we're going to flip over to two different strumming patterns depending on what we're doing for the verse. And then the chorus will do something different. So the first we're just going to apply what we just learned. Okay. But no hammer ons, no special. So it's going to be 1 and.

A 2 and 3 and 4.

And so we're not going to do anything on 3. We're just going to let the guitar ring. So it's going to be 1 and.

A 2 and 3 and 4.

And.

Okay, so we're just letting that ring. So what that's going to sound like.

1, 2, ready, and.

So it Cross the sky.

Single by.

He was just a hired man.

Now, on any of those G chords, you have the opportunity to play that intro lick if you want to. But this drumming is complicated enough that when I sing, I leave it out. Now, the chorus, there's a couple options here, right? If you were playing with another guitar player, you could individually strum the chords or pick notes. But what I would recommend, if you're just by yourself, I would recommend just.

Going to a nice down, down, up.

Up, down, up strumming pattern. Because in the chorus, the whole song opens up. So it's kind of more like you'd be going.

If you listen to the song, you'll hear a lot of those individual notes being played and another guitar, I think, is just strumming the chords. But I'd rather keep. I'd rather just keep a good strumming pattern going. So for me, if I were gonna play this, I would play the down.

Down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up Every night when.

The sun goes down.

Just another lonely.

So you can hear how you can transition from two very, very different strumming patterns. Like I said, if you're playing with someone else, even over these verses, you could just pick four notes.

One and two and one and two and one and two and.

Okay.

It's a great way, if you're playing.

With someone else, to layer a couple guitar parts together. Now, I mentioned the bridge section of this song. It has a lot more crazy chords. Let's talk about those chords first. So we've got our A minor. We got a D chord. We have a B minor bar chord. We now have an E major chord, A minor again, B7 to E minor, 7 to A7, and then right back into the G on the verse here. Now, so for this bridge section, what I would do is just go back.

To that down, down, up, up, down.

Up Strumming as you're coming from the solo. And you'd probably be playing that little intro piece like this.

Take another shot of courage.

Won't know why the right words never come.

You just get numb.

Tequila sunrise and then you're right back into the verse. Now, if you love the Eagles, then I highly recommend you go check out my Eagles playlist over there to see if one of your favorite songs is available.