Course guide
Here’s a quick guide to help you navigate the features of this mini course.
Materials
In the Materials tab on the root course page, you can download the guitar tablatures in Guitar Pro and PDF formats for offline practice.
Percussion Designations
Percussion elements are written on a separate drum track labeled “perc.”, located below the main tablature track.
• Wrist kicks are indicated by the F note on the first space of the percussion staff (highlighted in red in the picture below).
• Thumb slaps are indicated by the C note on the third space, and are also doubled with an X symbol on the 6th or occasionally 5th or 4th string in the tablature (highlighted in green):
Doubling the thumb slap on both tracks makes it easier to distinguish from other X-marked elements like muted (or “dead”) notes, which also appear in the tab as X symbols.
Left-Hand Fingering
For your convenience, the recommended left-hand fingers for fretting the strings are marked on the sheet music using numbers 1 to 4 (if you’re left-handed, simply read them as right-hand fingers):
1 — Index
2 — Middle
3 — Ring
4 — Pinky
It’s often quicker and more reliable to figure out the correct fingering by glancing at the sheet music rather than trying to follow the video, which is always in motion, even at slow tempos. That’s why I highly recommend getting used to reading the fingerings directly from the score:
As shown in the example above, use your ring finger for the 3rd fret and your index finger for the 2nd fret.
Bar Numbers
To make navigation easier, every pair of bars is labeled with a number (e.g. 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.). Only the first bar in each pair is numbered — the second one is left unnumbered for cleaner notation.
Since some fragments in the tutorial are repeated several times, paying attention to the bar numbers will help you better follow along and understand which part is being played at any given moment.
Tab Navigation
For easier navigation during the video demonstrations, the section of the tablature currently being played is highlighted with a slightly brighter tint. This highlight may cover a full bar, a part of a bar, or even just a single note:
Please note that in this tutorial, I don’t explain how to perform percussion techniques such as the wrist kick and thumb slap. If you’d like to master these techniques effectively, I recommend checking out my guitar course Essential Fingerstyle Percussion, where I explain them — and many other techniques — in great detail.
Video Slider
Most videos include demonstrations at both slow and normal tempos. To play the version you need, simply click on the corresponding preview.
If you’re using a mobile device, double-tap the preview instead:
Full song
Here’s the full performance of the arrangement we’ll be learning in this tutorial. It’s a raw take from my YouTube video without sound effects or post-processing, just the natural sound of the guitar:
When you’re ready, click the “Mark Complete” button to begin the tutorial.