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My 4 tips for starting to learn Blackbird

Lesson #265 • Nov 3, 2019

Video lesson

Note, there’s an obvious error in my video’s PDF chord notation – where I list the G as 8th & 10th fret (5th and 2nd strings, respectively), when it should be 10th and 12th fret. This has been corrected in the Instructional PDF! But my mistake lives on forever in this video. Wanted to give you a heads up!

Instructional PDF 1 page

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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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Editor’s notes

Here’s 4 quick tips to keep in mind when going about learning “Blackbird” by The Beatles –– which is a song I’m currently learning for the very first time! I wanted to capture these insights while they’re fresh. Whether you go about learning Blackbird from my lesson (coming soon) or from some other teacher, these tips will help you get over some of the initial hurdles you may encounter.

Things I talk about:

  1. You don’t have to play the entire song
  2. You don’t have to play it the exact way Paul does
  3. It’s okay to avoid the third string when starting out
  4. It’s okay to simplify the 2 difficult chords

The point is to have fun, and not feel pressured by the weight of this song when getting started. From there, you can take it as as you want to go – whether your goal is to play it like Paul, or you just want to casually futz around with the chord shapes. Have fun!

Watch Paul McCartney play it live

If you’re curious how he plays it, give this a watch! Notice how strummy he is, both with his thumb and his index finger. As I state in my video, it’s okay if you don’t play it exactly like him!

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