Essential Songs for E and A Chords

Hi guys and welcome to this lesson for my chord sequences for level one of my beginner's course, using the chords E and A, and this is ideal just to do before you have a go at the songs because the songs for this level there's always gonna be something that is a little bit song specific or new to you, and these are perfect just to make sure we've got the skills under your belt before you have a go at playing onto the record or having a go at full length songs. So the first chord sequence we're going to go for is really similar, pretty much the same as the first song we're going to go for, but this is, as I say, just taking it out of the song context and getting the skills first. So all this is, is a bar of E and a bar of A along to the beat, just strumming 1234, and that is very similar to Buffalo Springfield and for what it's worth. So here's our E major chord and we're going to strum on the beat 1234, and then change to our A chord which we practised changing earlier. And then again strum 12. But it's really crucial that whatever speed you're strumming at remains consistent throughout. If you have to do things a little slower at first, that's fine, but what we wanna avoid is kind of going one. 34, and then a pause and for the change, and then again swimming really fast, you know, 1. 4, we want to slow everything down but keep it even so that the rhythm. Is consistent, kind of like a bit faster than a ticking clock is what we're looking for. So just as a demo up to speed what we're looking for. And then we just do it in a loop. 12. One So that's what we're gonna go for now, and we'll do it a little bit slower than that to give everyone a chance. If it takes you a few attempts, that's totally cool, that's the idea of practising, which is what we're gonna be looking at in a later lesson, just in a sec. But let's have a go at this now, so starting on that E chord. If you need a pause and have a go yourself, feel free to do so, but sometimes it's easier playing along to me, so whichever your preference is. Barra V and a bar of A in 1234. E, 234. backed it. 1 Keep it going. And pause there, but finish. Ideally on the E. So to make things sound finished, it sounds great if you go back to that first chord and just give it one final strum. It sort of finishes everything off nicely. Um, you can probably tell by now that this anchor finger idea will help you, but you need a really good solid change before we can kind of keep the rhythm even. So that is your task now with the changes themselves to make those good enough and then try and add the strumming on top. The second recommended chord sequence is two bars of E and 2 bars of A. So that might seem really, really similar, but that's the idea of pop songs. In general, they're the very similar or even the same chords, but it's the lyrics over the top that make it different. And this chord sequence is really similar to a song called Silence Is Easy by Star Sailor, which was from a few years ago. You know, some people have heard of it, some people won't. Let's get the skill under our belt with the knowledge that this is a real song that we're going for. OK, so this is two bars of E then 2 bars of A, so this sounds like. 34, and again. And Keeping the rhythm, even keeping that strumming action. And we just loop that, OK. So let's have a go at that now and we'll slow it down a little bit to give everyone an opportunity but this one could be a little bit faster if you if you got used to it, OK? But again keep it even. So ready? In 23412. Last time on Strum of an And that's our second chord sequence which as I say you can treat as a real song as well. This final chord sequence is very similar to my easier beginner's version of Love Me Do by The Beatles, which I think pretty much everyone should have heard of that uh at least at some point. That is familiar with at least some pop music anyway. So uh this is 2 beats of the E chord, and then 2 beats of A, so it's a shorter sequence. It's just similar to that song, it's not exactly the same as I say, I've changed this to make it appropriate for everyone. So this. Goes like this. So we have one. 23. Tell that changing much sooner really changes the feel of the chord sequence altogether. It makes it more interesting to play but it's a bit more difficult as well. Again, we're wanting this a bit more uptempo eventually, but let's start off nice and slow. Join in at home if you think that's possible. If not you can just have a watch and then rewind it and have a go. Or even pause it and then have a go yourself. Anything's all good, don't worry about it. From that echord in 234. Then A. So quick change, one. 23. That going a little bit longer. If you've had to stop, just join in. In 3 And on Great stuff. So that last one is certainly the most trickiest, but if you've had a go at each of those now, we've had a bit of prep before you have a go at these songs, so that's ideal. And that will be all explained to you in the last lesson of this level, which is the practise routine. Recommended songs. Remember the songs are all only available on the website at Andy guitar.co.uk. So uh I'll either see you in the practise routine the next lesson or in one of those songs lessons. See you in one of those. Bye for now.