Preview

Introduction

Black Bird is one of the greatest songs by none other than The Beatles. It’s a song where Sir Paul McCartney performed a solo piece. It is a song that many artists from all around the world cover. The song is also used as an introduction to another hit song by The Beatles called “Yesterday.”

Chords Used in Song Guitar Lesson

Arpeggios Verse & Chorus Chords: For this song, you will be using your thumb for bass notes and playing the melody with the first two fingers. 

Strumming Pattern 

Due to fingerpicking, it does not use the traditional strumming pattern, so you have to learn Travis's picking style, which your guitar instructor is going to teach you in this lesson. Here’s how you will be using it: Thumb (T) → Index (I) → Thumb (T) → Middle (M)

Song Structure 

Introduction: In the introduction, you will learn how to tune up your guitar to play this song. 

Chords and Rhythm: In this part, Mike Walker, your guitar instructor for this song lesson, will show you the required fingerpicking technique, chords and rhythms that you need to follow. 

Song Arrangement: Right in this part, you will learn how to play the different parts of the 

song, starting from the intro and then verses, chorus, and outro. 

Song Demo: Finally, in this section, Mike will show you how to play the song on guitar with a backing track. 

Introduction:

I See Fire is a song written and composed for the movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The song is played over the closing credits of the movie. After its release, the song was able to climb to the 13th spot in the UK Singles Chart and in New Zealand it was able to reach number 1 in just six weeks of time. 

Chords Used in Song Guitar Lesson:

Arpeggios Verse & Chorus Chords: You will be following basic arpeggios picking for this song, and this is what you need to follow in order to create a simple yet attractive progression: 

e|------0---------0------|  

B|------0---------0------|  

G|----0---0-----0---0----|  

D|-----------2-----------|  

A|--2--------------------|  

E|-----------------------| 

Strumming Pattern:

This one is primarily a fingerpicking song, but in case you wish to play the strumming pattern you can follow this: D D U U D U. 

• D = Down strum
• U = Up strum

Song Structure:

Introduction: In this introduction, Mike Luciano, your guitar instructor is going to share why everyone needs to learn this song, and where, and why you should be putting the capo on 

guitar like Ed does. 

Intro Lick and Song Arrangement: In this section, Mike shows you how to play the intro licks for the song and how to use hammer-on and pull-off techniques with your first and third fingers. Along with this, you will learn the entire song arrangement as well. 

Song Demo: This section shows you how to play the song with the backing track played alongside. 

Beginners Version: If you are not able to play with new techniques which you have learned in this guitar lesson you can also try the beginner friendly version of I See Fire by Ed Sheeran which is mentioned in this part. 

Why Learn I See Fire By Ed Sheeran?

I See Fire take the full advantage of acoustic fingerpicking which is something perfect for beginner guitar players to start with. This song will also help you in building dexterity, accuracy, and finger independence as you play. Furthermore, it’s a great introduction to the thumb-bass technique, along with melodic picking. 

FAQs I see fire Guitar Lesson

Q1. What was the reason behind Ed Sheeran's writing I See Fire? 

Ans. It was Peter Jackon, the director of The Hobbit, who asked Ed Sheeran to come up with a song for a kid’s movie. Sheeran saw the movie and started working on the song.

Q2. What other songs are out there which sound similar to I See Fire? 

Ans. There is a huge library of Ed’s songs, which sounds pretty familiar, starting with Eyes Closed, Give Me Love, Happier, Shivers, and Beautiful People. 

Q3. Which song is Ed Sheeran’s biggest hit? 

Ans. Without a doubt it has to be “Perfect,” this particular song topped charts in more than 18 different countries, making him one of the most loved artist all around the globe. 

Fun Fact: The song I See Fire was written, composed, and recorded on the same day. After Ed Sheeran watched the entire film The Hobbit for which the song was officially released on 5th November 2013. He sat down to write the lyrics and his flow made him finish composition and recording of the song in just 24 hours. 

In this video lesson Steve Luciano teaches how to play the song Aashayein as part of our guitar series on Indian songs. The song is broken down into multiple lessons for easy learning - Intro, Chords, and Progressions, Rhythm and Song Demo. Don't forget to make use of the chords and tabs provided with the song lesson!

Welcome to the guitar lesson on the song that went viral on everyone’s feed, showing up in surreal landscape visuals – Gul by Anuv Jain. The song was also popular among the youth because of the artist’s other relatively more viral songs. It has received over 64 million views on YouTube since its release in 2021. 

Gul in Urdu means flower. The song is about the flower that people keep and forget in their storybooks. It talks about how we dream about fairytales in the dusty and mystical books, which often don’t come true, and that that is okay. We’ll be okay because we have that spark within us – Jaadugari.

The line “toote makaan ek baar gir kar waise bante kahan hain”, which translates to broken houses are not rebuilt the same way, was a metaphorical motif that became insanely popular on social media.

Gul Guitar Lesson

The lesson on Gul is a comprehensive section-by-section tutorial of the song that goes over all the parts of the song – chords and rhythm, song arrangement, and full song demonstration. The tutor also explains how to play the song using a capo and also without the capo. 

The song features and can be played using all the standard chord shapes like Am, Em, Fsus2, and C, but the unique thing about this song is the rhythm pattern that involves a picking pattern for playing the chords. There is also a way to play the song that involves a strumming pattern without applying the intensive picking technique. The strumming pattern goes something like D - D - U D U D U D - D U - (D is a downward strum and U is an upward strum.)

The song features an Fsus2 chord, which is a suspended chord. Suspended chords, as their name suggests, have a light tension to them that wants a release and a G major sound after an Fsus2 is a suitable resolution.

The song can also be played without the capo, as instructed by the tutor, which would then require you to play the barre chords, transposing the chords. The song has a 6/8 time signature, which can be counted as ‘1 and 2 and’. 

FAQs

Q. Can Gul be played without a capo?

• Yes, but playing without a capo would require barre chords, which might be challenging for beginners. Using a capo on the 6th fret simplifies the chords to Am, Em, F, and G, making it more accessible.

Q. Why is Gul so popular among listeners?

• Gul stands out because of its relatable lyrics and minimalistic acoustic arrangement. Unlike mainstream pop tracks, it relies on Anuv Jain’s voice and gentle guitar melodies. The song’s themes of love, nostalgia, and heartbreak connect with a wide audience, especially those who appreciate indie and acoustic music.

In this video lesson Steve Luciano teaches how to play the song Gubbare as part of our guitar series on Indian songs. The song is broken down into multiple lessons for easy learning - Introduction, Intro Piece, Chords, Rhythm, and Backing Track and Lesson with Capo. Don't forget to make use of the chords and tabs provided with the song lesson!

Believer – Introduction

Welcome to the guitar lesson on a sensational pop blockbuster by one of the greatest pop-rock artists of modern music, Believer by Imagine Dragons. This song needs no introduction, for it amassed 2.8 billion views on YouTube and made Imagine Dragons world-famous, charting their way to everyone’s playlist.

Written in part and sung by Dan Reynolds, the song is about overcoming suffering and pain. He says, “The meaning of the song is reflecting on the painful things in my life, rising above that, finding a place where I could be appreciative of the pain and make it my greatest strength”. The message in the song is acceptance of pain in order to overcome it and cultivate belief in oneself through it, hence the title.

Believer peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's third top ten single after ‘Radioactive’ and ‘Demons’.

Believer Guitar Lesson

In this lesson, the tutor goes through talking about the individual parts of the song, one section after another. The first section contains the basic information about the song, like the key, tuning and tone. The second section talks about the chords and rhythm and the chords used in the song, followed by a section on the structural arrangement of the song, as in the position of verses and choruses. Finally, the tutor demonstrates how to play the song in its entirety with some improvisation tips.

Believer guitar chords are in the key of Bb minor. Mainly, three chords repeat over the length of the track, and palm-muted ‘chugs’ on the thicker strings give the song a metal vibe, while the special 12/8 time signature gives it a pop vibe. 12/8 time commonly feels like a shuffling rhythm, as if counting 1-2-3 repeatedly. The chords used are Bbm, F and F#.

The interesting bit about the arrangement here is in the overdubbed use of multiple guitars or guitar sounds. The tutor explains how there is a distorted rhythm guitar playing the power chords leaning on the low frequencies and the clean lead guitar playing the high frequency harmonies on top of it, both covering the sound space.

The instructor also goes through the lead or the vocal melody section of the song and shows how to play note by note, along with a demonstration on how to improvise on the track using the Bb minor pentatonic scale shape on the fretboard.

Consequently, this tutorial explores all the sections of the great power ballad of a song that Believer is and delivers the lesson in a structured format.

FAQs

Q. What is the story behind Believer by Imagine Dragons?

Dan Reynolds, the frontman of the band, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which is a form of arthritis and causes great physical pain. His experience with the pain and rising above it is where the song comes from.

Q. Does Believer have a guitar solo?

Believer does not have a specific guitar solo in the track, but there is plenty of room in the track that you can solo over the chords using the Bb minor pentatonic scale.

In this video lesson Mike Walker teaches how to play the song Kill Dil Title Track as part of our Guitar series on song lessons. The song lesson is broken down into multiple lessons for easy learning - Introduction. Don't forget to make use of the chords and tabs provided with the song lesson!