Skip to Main Content | Lesson Index | Glossary

EGS Songbook Level One  Give It All – Hip Hop

Songbook Level One

Understanding the chart

Download and print out the score, so that you can refer to it as you follow the guitar chart.

'Give It All'

Go through the chart, step by step, looking at each section and understanding what the chart is asking you to do.

Step One

The first thing you will see is the name of the tune, ‘Give It All’, and the name of the composer. 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!

Step Two

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.

Step Three

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.

Step Four

The song starts with a gentle Introduction, bringing parts in at different times. The guitar comes in at bar 9, after an eight bar rest. Here, you are required to play the last four bars of the Introduction using open chords: with a clean guitar sound.

Step Five

Compared to the other songs this is very straightforward, both rhythmically and structurally. To break it down simply, you have to play:

  1. Introduction, 12 bars (you ‘rest’ for the first four bars)
  2. Chorus, 8 bars
  3. Verse, 10 bars
  4. Chorus, 8 bars
  5. Bridge, 4 bars
  6. Verse, 10 bars
  7. Chorus, 2 x 8 bars
  8. and finish on a whole note, on an A minor chord.

Just go through the chords in each section, so that you can make the changes comfortably. Make sure that you count the ten bars of the Verses correctly, as this is a slightly unusual number. However, in this song, the ten bar section is very musical and you will hear it quite naturally.

Step Six

Now 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 guitars, or mute the guitarist on the track so that you can play on your own.

Remember to:

  1. Concentrate.
  2. Count.
  3. Look at the chart as you play.
  4. Cycle the difficult bits and practise them.
  5. Slow it down to a tempo at which you can read and play.
  6. Have fun.

Next: Give It All guitar score