In this lesson I’ll teach you Jose Feliciano’s fingerstyle approach to playing California Dreamin’. This version can be heard in Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and is used to great affect in that film. Make no mistake, what Jose plays is tough — so I’ll show you how I went about simplifying it in order to make it more accessible.
In the end, you’ll be left with a 4-5 chord groove that you can play in the advanced style (like Jose), or in the simplified style (as I play it). Chords, with tabs and pictures (showing finger position) are what’s focused on in my practice notes PDF.
Update from April 2025: I re-wrote all tabs in my practice notes PDF so they’re more legible! I also added a few brand new bonus videos, which are available below.
Here’s a few extra videos, made in thanks to those supporting me with Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those showing your support, you have my true thanks and appreciation — and I hope you find these additional videos helpful!
Here’s how I would suggest practicing this, broken into four distinct steps. The speed you work through these steps depends on your overall guitar skill… don’t feel bad if you spend a few days on each step! This was recorded many years after my original video, so it has better audio and video quality.
This matches the final/full version I show at the end of my video lesson. This is zoomed in, played slowly without talking or singing, and recorded many years later — so it has better video and audio quality!
If you can’t quite get the hang of the percussive silencing of the strings (which I show in my “final” version in the video lesson above), here’s a few videos that’ll get you up to speed with this technique. Note, you can do this with either your fretting hand or your strumming hand… but for this song I recommend using your strumming hand, as it can give things a nice percussive slap.
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