EGS Lesson Ten Performing a song — ‘The First Time’
EGS Lesson Ten Performing a song — ‘The First Time’
Let us go through the chart together step by step looking at each bit and understanding what the chart is asking us to do.
The first thing you will see is the name of the tune, ‘The First Time’, and the name of the composer [and the name of the arranger]. The title is the important one as, if you had a number of songs to play, it is essential that you play the correct one!
At the top left hand side before the tune starts you will see the note, ‘4 clicks’. This means that you will hear four clicks before the tune starts. This will help count you into the song.
Next is the time signature ‘C’ which is the sign for common time and means there are four beats in each bar. This is familiar territory for you.
Now, you may have noticed that, just before the time signature is the beginning of a repeat, as there is the repeat sign that we looked at in Lesson 1. This is a good time to look for the end of the repeat and make a note.
The end repeat is actually at the end of bar 6 (12), so you therefore play Verse 1 twice.
Well the first thing to notice is that these chords are to be played with a clean sound. You will be changing sound when you go into the first chorus. Now, what are we actually playing on the guitar?
You play the chords to the Verse, which are C, F and G, over a two bar pattern. You play the C for a whole bar and then the F and G are played for two beats each. The last two bars of the Verse are the chords of Am for a bar and F and G – again for two beats each. Remember that you then repeat those six bars.
So you have the first Verse played twice and you are then ready to move into the Chorus. You are going to change from a clean sound to a distorted rock sound.
The rhythm has now changed to steady eighth notes and you should use a palm muting technique to get a nice clear chug – adding definition to the rhythm and creating some excitement.
You play three bars of A5 chords and then, at bar 16, you have a run to play. Two A5 quarter note power chords, followed by G5 and F5, that run into three bars of F5 muted rock chords with an eighth notes rhythm again.
You play the three bars of F5 and then you have another run into the second Verse. The rhythm here is the same as at bar 16 and you will notice, if you listen to the music, that the rest of the band are playing the same rhythm.
The second Verse continues with a rock eighths rhythm and, as a result, is pushing the tune forward more. The first Verse, by contrast, has quite a relaxed feel.
In the first bar we are introducing a mixture of palm muted and un-muted notes. So, read the accented notes as un-muted to create the rhythm.
The chords are the same as the first Verse but we are using power 5-chords. Rhythmically, there is a nice little variation to the first Verse, as the G comes in, half a beat earlier, on the ‘+’ of beat ‘2’. Watch that carefully!
The second Verse is written without a repeat, as the second time you play the sequence, which starts at bar 27, the A5 chords are played with an un-muted rhythm. This just gives a little more edge as we build into the second Verse.
Chorus 2 is pretty much the same as Chorus 1, save for the fact that the runs are played using your muted and un-muted technique to a greater degree than in the first Chorus. We have also changed the rhythms at bars 36 and 40, so you will need to run round these bars a few times, practising them carefully.
The third Verse is a little different from the second. So let us go through it methodically.
Firstly, you will see the double bar lines at the beginning of bar 41, denoting the beginning of a new section. You continue to play a rock eighth notes feel, but this time without accents.
In the fourth bar of the Verse though we have a change of rhythm where we hold the F and G for two beats each and then play the A at the beginning of bar 45 for a whole bar. You then return to our eighth notes rock rhythm and finish with a C5 power chord – which is held for one bar.
At the bottom of the chart you will see the word ‘Fine’. This means ‘Finished’… ‘the end’.
Now, I would suggest that you watch and listen to the multimedia files, and follow the guitar chart through a couple of times.
Once you have done that, have a go yourself. You can play with the guitar, or mute the guitarist on the track so that you can play on your own.
Remember to:
Next: 'The First Time'
