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Home ❯ Songs ❯ Jimmy Buffett ❯

A Pirate Looks at Forty

by Jimmy Buffett • Lesson #432 • May 6, 2022

Description

Hey there, friends! Excited to share this lesson for A Pirate Looks at Forty, the 1974 Jimmy Buffett song that quite a few of you have written in asking for. The lessons on my channel may not suggest as much, but Buffett is one of my absolute favorite musical artists – so it feels great to finally do a proper lesson for one of his songs.

Musically, this song is fairly easy to wrap your head around… it’s a single 12-measure progression that repeats for the entire song. Chord-wise, it can get tricky though with the quick change to the B-minor. But, good news! A new trick I learned the past few weeks: there’s an open (non-barred) version of B-minor which works amazingly well for this song, which I’ll share in this lesson. So, let’s get into it!

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Extended Video Lesson

Requires membership to Song Notes Premium. This additional video includes a full play-along cover, where you can hear how I play the entire song (using fingerstyle for the first half, and strumming for the second half). I also show you the vocal melody tabs, verse fingerstyle tabs, and explain how to use the backing track.

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Licensed Song Sheet 4 pages

Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.

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Backing Track

I also made a 5-minute backing track to use while practicing this song. This track counts in one measure, and then cycles through the main progression for the entire track. In my members-only video lesson I give a walk-through on how to use it while practicing. To download the backing track for offline use, click here.



Simpler Options for B-minor

If you have trouble playing B-minor in the typical barre-chord manner — or even if you can play it like that but don’t want to – check out this lesson where I show some easier alternatives. In fact, the second voicing I show in this lesson (x2023x) is what I prefer to use when playing A Pirate Looks at 40. You still get the bass note on the 5th string, as well as the 3rd fret note on the 2nd string – but don’t need to worry about barring anything. Makes it nice and easy! View full lesson notes »

Fingerpicking Overview: Travis Picking vs. Traditional Fingerstyle

If you’re new to fingerpicking guitar and want an overview of different ways your right-hand fingers play the six guitar strings, this lesson is for you. I made it to explain the difference between “Travis Picking” (where your right thumb & index do most of the work) and one-finger-per-string fingerstyle, which how I tend to fingerpick this song. My video and PDF include some helpful diagrams and example riffs to show you both techniques in action. View full lesson notes »

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