This famous guitar ballad was originally recorded in Eb tuning, so if you are in standard tuning you'll need to detune each string by 1 note to:

Low Eb:Ab:Db:Gb:Bb:Eb

There are 2 very important things to know about playing this song:

1. Slap / Mute the strings. At regular intervals you need to slap the strings / guitar body with your strumming hand. This will suddenly mute the strings and at the same time provide a rhythmic beat. To indicate this we show palm muting dots together with muting dots at fret 12. This is not their normal application, just a good way to show you what is happening - i.e. here.

Just slap the underside of your palm / fingers onto the strings to mute them. You can also hit the guitar body at the same time, tapping it to provide a beat. Your fretboard hand should remain on the notes as usual and doesn't do anything special.

2. The majority of the tune is fingerpicked, however, notice there are some strums too (often after the mute-slaps). These strums are done with your first finger, and are usually upstrums.

The trick to this song is all in your strumming hand technique. You need to be able to fingerpick, slap and upstrum in a co-ordinated way. This just takes practice. We recommend working slowly at the first G major chord, and getting it right slowly first. Then build up speed. Your fretboard hand stays on the G chord for quite a while so you can concentrate solely on your picking / slapping / upstrums with your other hand.

There are a couple of places where Nuno Bettencourt knocks on the guitar body with his knuckles. We like our guitars to remain unharmed, so recommend just slap-muting instead - like here.

For the fretboard hand the song's chord sequence isn't too bad to learn. You can divide the song into a few repeating chord sequences, and get through everything surprisingly quickly:

Part 1 - G major - C add9 - Am7 (also add the D note) - C major - D major / D sus4 (Repeat)

There is a little freedom with exactly how it is played each time. Just get the sequence / strumming right, and work by your own feel when playing the song rather than worrying too much about getting it note perfect.

Part 2 - E minor - Am7 / Am7 (no 5) / Am7 - D7 - G descending riff - E minor - Am7 / Am7 (no 5) - D7 - G7 - C major - G7 sus4 - C minor - G descending riff - Em7 - Am7 - D7

That will help you get underway with the main guts of the song. Use the bookmark feature to help you through the rest of the song parts.

Remember to be kind to your guitar - you can slap down on the strings without hitting the guitar body (like we do here). That way you still get the rhythmic effect without potentially harming your guitar. Also - take rings and dangly things off your strumming hand, or you'll become an integral part of your guitar!