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By Tony Das Published on: Thu Apr 21, 2022
We’ll explore a couple of songs, starting with “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman, which uses just three chords, all of which are seventh chords. Apart from this, we’ll also learn how to play Magnolia by J.J. Cale which uses just two chords, and “I Shot The Sheriff” (Eric Clapton’s version) which uses four chords.
A celebrated guitarist who has performed with well-known bands for two decades, your teacher is a professional musician who has played at some of the biggest music festivals in India, and toured the UK and the Gulf as well. As a guitarist, bassist and singer, he has worked on several film scores and movie songs.
If you’ve read the previous blog post on seventh chords, you would know the seventh chords in the key of C major. Now, we’ll use some of those chords to play a few well-known English songs that you would no doubt be familiar with. Keep in mind that seventh chords and major seventh chords are quite a bit different, so don’t equate the two.
Identifying the use of these chords in popular songs is a great start to learn them better, and to appreciate how they’ve been used by musicians who came before us. Let’s explore these songs, starting with “Give Me One Reason”. The use of these songs (or excerpts from these songs) is purely for educational purposes.
This song uses just three chords, all of which are seventh chords – F#7, B7, C#7. The progression (12 bar blues) is as follows. This is a mix between the song and a more common version of the 12-bar Blues, but it will work absolutely fine in either case.
This is a sweet and simple song that you can play using just two chords – F Maj7 and C Maj7. Almost the entire song is made up of these two chords and features a simple four count/beat downstroke for the most part.
F Maj7: 5th string (8th fret), 4th string (10th fret), 3rd string (9th fret), 2nd string (10th fret), 1st string (8th fret)
C Maj7: 5th string (3rd fret), 4th string (5th fret), 3rd string (4th fret), 2nd string (5th fret), 1st string (3rd fret)
Most of this song is played with Gm7, Cm7, and Dm7, except for a brief bit where we play EbMaj7. The strumming pattern has a sort of reggae feel to it, which is a percussive sound and the sound of upstrokes on the guitar.
Gm7: 6th string (3rd fret), 5th string (5th fret), 4th string (3rd fret), 3rd string (3rd fret), 2nd string (3rd fret), 1st string (3rd fret)
Cm7: 5th string (3rd fret), 4th string (5th fret), 3rd string (3rd fret), 2nd string (4th fret), 1st string (3rd fret)
Dm7: 5th string (5th fret), 4th string (7th fret), 3rd string (5th fret), 2nd string (6th fret), 1st string (5th fret)
EbMaj7: 5th string (6th fret), 4th string (8th fret), 3rd string (7th fret), 2nd string (8th fret), 1st string (6th fret)
That brings you to the end of this blog on learning guitar with Tony Das from the Demoz School of Music. If you’ve read through all 25 posts and practised the techniques, you’re sure to have made good progress. With guitar as with most instruments, it’s a lot about developing a mental and physical connection to the instrument, and understanding the instrument better. And that happens the more time you spend practising with it.
Go back and read through all the blog posts, to catch any minute details and nuances in technique that you may have missed before. Also, remember to use the metronome during practice to get your timing right. Good luck and have fun playing your favourite songs.
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