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This Monday stream was a Valentine's week special covering love songs and acoustic techniques. I started with Wonderful Tonight - a study in basic open chords while picking out a melody. The key is that two-fret slide on the G string, which is the same technique you'll use in Wish You Were Here and countless others. I showed how to do chord melody arrangements where you're strumming but also catching melodic notes, and how to harmonise using thirds like in Rhiannon.
Thinking Out Loud came next with the loop pedal - fantastic for your timing because you can't get away with sloppiness when you're playing over yourself. The chord progression is D major and most of the solo uses D major pentatonic with that three-two method: three notes two frets apart, then two notes two frets apart.
I explained how the same four chords in different orders give you completely different songs. With or Without You starts on the one chord, but shift to starting on the minor and suddenly you've got Despacito or Alone by Heart. Same chord changes, totally different feel.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love showed how much a sus4 can transform a basic D chord into something instantly recognisable. The solo is pure Chuck Berry vocabulary - all that minor to major stuff - but Brian May adds these sliding phrases that make it lyrical rather than just scalar. This is why you can't learn lead guitar through scales alone.
For those who struggle with their little finger, I demonstrated how Clapton and Brian May rarely use theirs. They do this swap technique where they shift position rather than stretching, and it works for almost everything.
Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman finished the session - a 12 bar blues in F-sharp with brilliant groove details. The subtlety is in the muting: relaxing the bar chord hand after each strum to stop it ringing out, plus those single-note bass runs before the chord hits. That's what separates an okay version from one with the proper vibe.