Learn to play Ravyn Lenae's "Skin Tight" on guitar. The song uses just three minor-7 chords but demands mastery of its triplet-based feel, which breaks the standard 4-beat count. The lesson isolates each beat, slows the tempo, and builds the rhythm step-by-step until the pulse clicks.
Alright, I'm back. I got Skin Tight by Raven Linnae for you guys. This song is on some levels, very easy and on other levels, it took me a really long time to figure out. So let me just play it first. And it just kind of repeats like that. Pretty much the guitar part is the same like through the entire song. Okay, let's get into it. So we're gonna start off with a pretty regular. Just a flat minor seven chord. It's cool. And then after that it's going to go to a B flat minor 7 chord. It's literally the same shape but just up two frets. And then we're gonna finish off with. With an E flat minor seven chord. Right. So those are literally the only three chords in the whole song. So the tricky part of this whole song is going to be the rhythm. And so to start off, something that you guys got to understand is that this song, the feel of it is based in triplets. So basically the beat of it, it's.
Like 1, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3. Hold me as you can 2, 3.
T we won't go as planned.
2, 3, 1, 2, 3.
So you gotta get that feeling 1, 2, 3.
2, 2, 3. 3, 2, 3, 4th, 2, 3.
Because that's what the whole part is based on. And this might be something that's a little unfamiliar to you because most stuff is like 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And all this is 1, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3.
3, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3.
Okay, so here's how the guitar part is gonna sound. Let's just skip that part. That's like the first part. If you can get that part down, you'll get the other two parts as well. So the first chord is just. It gets a whole 1, 2, 3 for itself. So you just go 1, 2, 3. Great. And then you're gonna hit that same chord two more times on the 1, 2, and then on the 3 you're gonna switch to the next chord.
So it goes 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.
Got that? Let's do that one more time.
1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3.
Okay, so the next part is where it gets a little bit trickier. Some of these upbeats. So let's just add one note at a time. So it's gonna go upbeat. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3, 2. So you gotta keep feeling this triplet feeling in your body. It's gonna go 1, 2, 3.
1, 2, 3, 2.
1, 2, 3.
1St, 2, 3, 2.
I know it can be a little bit tricky but you just kind of gotta rep it a few times to get. Get it in your body. So after you go, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, change, 2, the last two notes are on 1 and 3. So it'll be like this.
1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 1.
One more time and I'll have a diagram on the screen helping you guys out. I don't know if you read music at all. It may not be that helpful, but I'm trying to make it as simple as I can.
1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3. 1, 2, three. 1, 2, 3, two, one, three.
So the second part is the same, basically. So the whole thing is gonna sound like this.
Three, two, one, three, one, two, three, one, two, change. One, two, three, two, one, three. One, two, three, one, 2, three.
I hope all my counting is not making this more confusing. Basically, all you need to know is that you change from the first chord to the second chord on the third part of the beat of the second measure.
So 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, change. And 1, 3.
And then it does the same pattern again on the second two chords or between the second chord and the third chord. So you start on the second chord again the. The B flat minor. This is like the. The second part.
So it's 1, 2, 3, 3.
And then you land again. So I'm going to do the whole thing one more time slowly.
One, two, three, one, two, three, two, one, three. One, two, three, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3.
So when I'm saying that 2 and ones and 1 and 3, you have to realize that in my body, you have to constantly be feeling just this. One, two, three, one, two, three. So very slowly, it's one, two, three.
One, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, two, 3, 1, 2, three, 1, 2, 3. One, two, three, 1, 2, three.
It's going to take some time. It's going to take some time, but go slow. And I hope the diagram can help. Count it out and get comfortable just playing. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2. You could even just stay on one of these courses. And then it's like, can you isolate just two? So can you just go 1, 1.
2, 3, 1, 2, 3,1, 2, 3.
1, two, three, 1, 2, three, 1, two, three, one, two, three, one, 2, three. And then can you isolate just one and three? So it'd be like 1, 2, 3.
1St, 2, 3, 1,2, 3, 1, 2,3, 1, 2, 3, one, two, three.
If you can master those two skills, then the rest of it's going to be easy. One more time. It sounds like this. Cool. So I know that this is probably a lot trickier than you were expecting, but it'll help you grow as a musician. You guys got it. By the way, I am teaching guitar for free on platform called Skool. You don't need to have your own account or anything like that. You can just use your gmail whatever you use to sign into YouTube. All you have to do is click the link. Join us there on the community. I'm literally answering your questions for free. There's a free guitar course in there. I will give you guys feedback. You can ask for personal requests in there. I would love to see you there. Great. Take care. Bye.
