Into the Mystic

by Van Morrison • Lesson #513 • Sep 8, 2023

In today’s lesson I’ll teach you how to play Into the Mystic, the Van Morrison classic from his third studio album Moondance (1970). I’ll teach you the chord shapes, strumming patterns, and various licks & fills you can use to spice things up throughout the song. If you’re looking for additional help with strumming, be sure to check out my prior tutorial (lesson #506) where I give some tips on getting up to speed with those tricky sixteenth note strums. Let’s get into it!

  • 0:00 Overview
  • 1:28 Capo & Chord Shapes
  • 3:30 Verse
  • 7:56 Chorus
  • 10:40 Horn Riff & Vocal Melody
  • 14:09 Intro Strumming
  • 19:09 Final Tips & Farewell

Licensed Song Sheet 2 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.

On the fence? Here's a guide I made showing the purchase & print process, including answers to common questions about my song sheets.

Buy at Musicnotes.com

Save 50% on this song sheet by applying the November 2024 code at Musicnotes checkout: C9XTNRRV2R (click to copy). Thanks for being a Premium supporter!

Song Notes Premium includes a 50% discount code you can use when buying any of my licensed song sheets. For the current month's code, upgrade to premium or log in.

Lesson Discussion

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

View Comments

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

To access the community forum, upgrade to premium or log in.

My Strumming Tutorial for This Song!

If you’re looking to go deeper with the strumming, specifically with the faster-paced sixteenth notes, see this separate video. Be sure to check out my strumming & rhythm guide (available as PDF) which shows many different patterns & exercises to get you up to speed.

Premium Lessons

The following videos are available to members of Song Notes Premium. If you’re not a member, learn more about the many perks of Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those of you who are members — thanks for your support! It makes these lessons possible.

Play-Along Practice Track

Here’s a practice track I made which loops through me playing the progressions used in the verse and chorus, over approximately 4 minutes. Chords are shown on screen, so you always know exactly what to play next. You can use this to practice any strumming pattern you want. Given this is slowed down (80bpm), it’s a great stepping stone should you want to be able to play things at Van Morrison’s tempo (85bpm).

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

Playthrough with Singing

If you’re curious how it sounds when I put everything together and play through each part of the song, check this out. You can watch me play the intro, then transition into the verse & chorus strum. You can also see how I occasionally add constant down-up-down-up strums on the final 4 sixteenth notes of the measure, which I describe in my main video lesson.

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

Audio Drum Track for Play-Along Practice

Here’s a ~4 minute audio track featuring drums played in the rough style of what you hear on Van Morrison’s recorded version of this song. The tempo is 80bpm, which is slightly slower than Morrison’s 85bpm. If you’d like a steady beat to play over that isn’t a typical metronome, try this out!

Drumming track only available to members of Song Notes Premium. Already a member? Log in »

Audio of this strum (download):

“Into the Mystic” Van Morrison (album version)

Listen to Van Morrison play it! 85 bpm, capo 3rd fret.

Licks & Fills from “Shut Up and Play”

If you want to learn some of the additional licks & fills heard in the album recording, check out this tutorial. There’s lots of bits teaching the various fills used by the accompanying guitarist (many of these aren’t included in my lesson).

Other Helpful Lessons I’ve Made

Here’s a few lessons I mention in my main tutorial, which will help when learning this song. Specifically if you need help with the F chord, slap strums, or the C major pentatonic scale (used in the horn riff and vocal melody) – check these out!

Unlock My Secret Stash!

Gain instant access to my library of 244 print-friendly cheat sheets! Also includes my extended video lessons, jam tracks, courses, and more.

Join Song Notes Premium

Have questions? Watch video tour »

Browse Related Lessons

Click any tag below to view other lessons I've made in that category:

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Most of the lessons on my website are 100% free. If you have the means, please show your support with a tip jar contribution. I put many hours into every lesson — but it only takes you a minute to make a donation. You have my thanks!

Donate

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Featured Courses

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Interactive fretboard map! See the patterns behind every scale in any key.

View

Capo Captain

An easy way to calculate key & chord combinations, for any capo location!

View

Key Master

See and hear the notes, chords, scales used in each of the most common keys.

View

Blank Tabs

Free PDF templates to download, print, and write out your own guitar tabs!

View

Coming soon is Jambox – which shows all the video jam tracks I've made. It's note quite ready for the spotlight, but check it out if you like!


Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!


Recent Lessons

  • November 8, 2024

    Rhythm Deep Dive: "Guitar Town" by Steve Earle

    Watch the process of me transcribing the rhtyhm of an incredibly tricky song! All shown in real time, in writing. Featuring "Guitar Town" by Steve Earle.

  • Nov 1, 2024

    Website Tour – November 2024

    A look at the state of the Song Notes website, as of November 2024. I've been working on more than just new lessons... check out the latest updates here!

  • Oct 24, 2024

    "Fast Car" - Strumming & Rhythm Guide!

    I've gotten a ton of emails asking how to strum Fast Car — here's a lesson showing 3 possible approaches! You can strum the whole song using what I teach, or combine this with the fingerstyle riff from lesson #494.

  • October 18, 2024

    CAGED - It's More Than Just Chords!

    Learn how each CAGED shape contains not only a chord, but also an arpeggio, pentatonic, and full diatonic scale! This is a must-know realization that'll level up any practice you do with these shapes.

  • October 3, 2024

    Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee"

    In honor of Kris Kristofferson's passing, here's a brand new play-along cover of his 1971 classic Me and Bobby McGee – with some updated strumming tips included.

  • September 27, 2024

    Paul Simon Fingerstyle with "59th Street Bridge Song"

    Let's dive into Simon & Garfunkfel's 1966 hit, where I'll walk you through several ways to tackle Paul Simon's Travis-style fingerpicking.

  • September 20, 2024

    Fingerstyle & Travis Picking Lesson Roundup!

    I've been busy organizing all my lessons teaching fingerstyle & Travis picking, and have them in a new easy-to-browse layout. Check 'em out here!

  • September 13, 2024

    "Rebel Rouser" - 1950s Lead Guitar Lesson

    Let's learn how to play Duane Eddy's 1958 classic! This song's memorable riff is easy to approach, but poses a fun challenge as the song changes key over and over. I'll walk you through it all, jam tracks included!

Browse All Recent Lessons →

← back to homepage