Music Monday: Blackbird

When I started learning guitar, it wasn’t long before I wanted to tackle Beatles songs. Indeed, most of my guitar practice was done with Beatles records and a copy of THE BEATLES COMPLETE music book (that actually belonged to my older brother, but I frequently borrowed it from him). Playing along with the Fab Four helped me learn chords (especially barre chords–I didn’t have a capo so I had no alternative!), practice chord changes, and develop my ear. In fact, there were occasions when I called the music book out on mistakes (e.g., missing the half-diminished in “Penny Lane”).

For a while, though, “Blackbird” was an enigma. It was finger-picked, and in my mind there was a mystical aura around finger-picked songs. Sure, I managed to learn the introduction to “Michelle,” but “Blackbird” was an entire finger-picked song. Finger-picking was the domain of classical guitarists, and geniuses like Chet Atkins. So I put off even attempting to learn it.

Then, one day at school, one of my friends who was learning classical guitar showed me the first few bars of “Blackbird.” He hadn’t figured out the rest, but I thought, “Heck, I know Jon’s a good guitarist, but surely if he can figure out that much, this song must be figure-out-able!” The aura around “Blackbird” began to dim.

I went home that afternoon, got out my copy of “The White Album”–record one, side two, track three, and listened closely. As I listened, I noticed that the guitar part really consisted of nothing more than a melody and a bass line. And the bass was mostly doing chromatic runs–half-steps up and down the neck. If I could figure out the tune Paul was playing on the higher strings, and put the right bass notes to it on the lower strings, I’d have the song licked.

That evening, I figured out “Blackbird.”

The aura was gone.

And if I can do it–so can you! To help you, I’ve put together this video showing the song as I figured it. The “X”s mark where you should put your fingers. Any “X” outside the fretboard indicates an open string that should be played–but most of the time these are not as important as the main tune (you’ll see what I mean when you watch the video). Use this as a guide, but listen to the recording to get the picking and strumming patterns Paul uses. It’s possible I’ve got the correct notes, but Paul McCartney is playing them elsewhere on the neck. If you can hear that (and guitar is not my first instrument, so my ear isn’t as attuned to such things), then feel free to make the necessary changes.

I thought it appropriate to feature this song today since it’s Martin Luther King Day here in the U.S. Paul has cited the Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s as inspiration for the song.