Log In My Account Join Upgrade Premium VIP Beta Tester Free Trial
Menu Search Join VIP Beta Tester Premium
 

Home ❯ Songs ❯

← Prev Song Next Song →

Danny's Song

by Loggins and Messina • Lesson #95 • Aug 25, 2017

Video lesson

Print-Friendly 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 March 2023 code at Musicnotes checkout: FXSDV8DUHV (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.

Editor’s notes

In this lesson I’ll show you how to play the song “Danny’s Song” by Loggins & Messina. I’ll include the chords needed, progressions used, strumming pattern, and of course fingerpicking tabs to get you started with things. To follow along with my video, I suggest picking up the 4-page song sheet linked above. It has all the lyrics and chords on page 1, while also digging into the progression, fingerstyle, and strumming on page 2. Pages 3 and 4 give you tabs for the entire song, including my exact fingerstyle tab.

Chords needed

Standard stuff here, the one exception being the D/C variant I prefer to play for the C-major used throughout the song. For one, it’s easier to switch to. For two, it’s sounds a bit more unique and interesting than a normal C-major. Use it or not, as per your taste.

E ––––2––––0––––2––––0––––0––––3––––0––––
B ––––3––––1––––3––––3––––2––––0––––3––––
G ––––2––––0––––4––––1––––2––––0––––2––––
D ––––0––––2––––4––––2––––2––––0––––0––––
A –––––––––3––––2––––2––––0––––2––––3––––
E –––––––––––––––––––0–––––––––3–––––––––
      D    C    Bm   E7   A    G   D/C

Fingerpicking pattern

Here’s a bit to get you started if you want to fingerpick the song. I’ll start with the intro, which uses only the D chord (played for four measures):

E ––––––––––2––––––––––2––––––––––2––––––––––2–––  <-- right ring
B –––––3––––––––––3––––––––––3––––––––––3––––––––  <-- right middle
G ––––––––2––––––––––2––––––––––2––––––––––2–––––  <-- right index
D –––0––––––––––0––––––––––0––––––––––0––––––––––  <-- right thumb
A –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
E –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
     D

For a simple fingerpicking approach for the entire song, just use this same pattern on all chords you play. It is important you strum the bass note of each chord first – whether that’s the 4th string, 5th string, or 6th string. Afterwards, position your index, middle, and ring fingers freely – but try to use this same pattern.

Here’s the general patterns I use, in a few different contexts (based on the bass note of the chord):

E ––––––––––x–––        E ––––––––––––––        E ––––––––––––––
B –––––x––––––––        B ––––––––––x–––        B ––––––––––x–––
G ––––––––x–––––        G –––––x––––––––        G –––––x––––––––
D –––x––––––––––   or   D ––––––––x–––––   or   D ––––––––x–––––
A ––––––––––––––        A –––x––––––––––        A ––––––––––––––
E ––––––––––––––        E ––––––––––––––        E –––x––––––––––

And here are specific examples, per chords in the actual song:

E ––––––––––2–––        E ––––––––––––––        E ––––––––––––––
B –––––3––––––––        B ––––––––––3–––        B ––––––––––3–––
G ––––––––2–––––        G –––––4––––––––        G –––––1––––––––
D –––0––––––––––   or   D ––––––––4–––––   or   D ––––––––2–––––
A ––––––––––––––        A –––2––––––––––        A ––––––––––––––
E ––––––––––––––        E ––––––––––––––        E –––0––––––––––
     D                       Bm                      E7

See my video lesson for context. Don’t over think it! I’m sure you could get wild and crazy complicated with this - but for now, I want to get you started with what’s above.

Browse Related Lessons

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

About Song Notes

Hey there! My name is David Potsiadlo, and I'm the creator of the 400+ weekly lessons here at Song Notes, going back to 2013. Here’s my guitar story »

Get Free Lessons Each Week!

Join the 20,000+ readers who get my new lessons dropped in their inbox each week. I teach a fun mix of songs, weekly riffs, practice ideas, and more!

Enjoy my lessons? Buy me a beer!

If this and my other lessons have proven helpful to you, please consider making a one-time donation to my tip jar. Contributions of any amount help make this project possible (including the many, many hours I put into it).

Thanks!

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

Browse All Recent Lessons →

Browse my all lessons

By lesson type

By technique

By musical genre

By decade

By musical key

By popular artist

← back to homepage