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Melodic Strumming Fun with "Lola" by The Kinks

Lesson #165 • Jul 31, 2018

About this lesson

In this lesson I teach you a fun way to play an extended intro to Lola by the Kinks. This arrangement is purely instrumental (no singing). We’ll capture the melody of the vocals as part of our strumming – which creates a sound that’s both big, recognizable, and quite fun to play. As per usual, my video walks you through things step by step: the chords, strumming, melody notes, with plenty of tips on putting them all together on a single acoustic guitar.

Part 1 - Intro & Verse Instrumental

Learn this amazing Mike Massé-inspired instrumental arrangement of into & verse! No singing required. I break down each of the six lines, step by step, allowing you to strum while capturing the implied vocal melody.

Part 2 - Lead Riff, Explained

Learn the iconic lead guitar riff that’s heard after each verse. I include several tips that slightly simplify this, as my lead guitar chops aren’t always the best.

Instructional PDF 2 pages

Follow along with the print-friendly PDF! It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Follow along with the print-friendly PDF!

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Want to Learn the Full Song?

If you’d like to learn the chords and strumming for the full Lola song, you’re in luck! Check out lesson #427 where I teach you how to play it from start to finish, including tips for playing the lead guitar riff you hear after each verse.


Recommendations

Here’s the Mike Massé cover that inspired this lesson. I may play it exactly like him in all cases, but this gave me the seed of inspiration to put together my version shown above. He’s got a ton of great videos on his channel, check it out!

Here’s a live performance by The Kinks from 1980. In this version you can hear the extended acoustic intro that Mike Massé plays in his acoustic cover up above. They start playing in 1:06 of this video:

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