We've had a lot of the harder songs recently, so let's chillax a bit today with this easy tune from the FLC. This is a beginner-friendly song. There are only 3 simple parts to learn, and each part is very good practice. Throw in the fact that this is a mellow, groovy tune and you might just find yourself enjoying learning this one :)
Main Riff - This is nice and easy, just playing between the D sus2 chord and the D major chord. That means adding / removing your 2nd finger from the high E string while strumming. Play the tune for a while and watch it. You'll see that it's really just a short repeating riff. It's the same thing all the way through most of the song.
Notice that the chords in this riff are Muted 4 times between certain strums (and then the riff is just repeated over again). You should do this by muting the strings with both hands - called a dead stop. This is a fundamental guitar technique. We show it in the muting introduction video, with further lessons / examples in the Core Skills section (e.g. here and here). You can use your thumb (fretboard hand) to help you mute all the strings if you wish. However, you don't need to - as long as your strumming hand mutes cleanly.
Just practice it slowly and get it right. Work at getting those mutes clean so there is a decent 'gap' between strums. Don't worry if it takes a while, that's normal.
Some folks like to Thumb-mute the Low E and A strings with the thumb when playing D chords. If that suits you too, do it. Thumb-muting is also covered in the muting video / lessons. But to be extra nice, we're also showing the thumb muting applied to the middle part of the song (it's exactly the same riff, and comes after the solo). See how the thumb rests lightly on the 2 low strings. This keeps them quiet while you play. If you overstrum, these strings won't be heard.
Solo - This is a straightforward solo, without much complication. It's in the same vein as the rest of the song - chilled and fairly slow. Even if you're new to guitar, give it a go. With some practice you'll get it soon enough!
Last Riff - For the outro there is a little repeating lick. If you can handle the solo, then you should be ready for this. If not, don't worry - go through the core skills section. The exercises there will help you develop the skills to handle this lick.
The lick always repeats immediately after these two quick double stops (guitar-speak for 2 notes played together).
Don't forget, you can use the 'loop' feature and the 'slow down' button to help you see exactly how the notes are played here!
