Hand In My Pocket by Alanis Morissette | JustinGuitar.com

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About This Lesson

Learn to play "Hand In My Pocket" by Alanis Morissette on guitar!

Mega huge pop hit from the '90s! You really couldn't escape this record, and that was a good thing. :)

Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette is one of the best pop-rock albums of the last few decades. It has many songs that work great on the acoustic guitar too!

In this lesson, we'll learn how to play the song Hand In My Pocket, one of my favorites from that record. It's a pretty easy one to play in a basic way, but you can get all fancy on it too and make it harder.

If you're following my Beginner Guitar Course, this lesson is great for Grade 3+ students. But it can be an awesome Developer for newer guitar players too.

Now let's get stuck in and check out a few details on how to play Hand In My Pocket.

 

Hand In My Pocket - Guitar Chords

You'll only need four open chords to play this song. You'll start by playing a G5 chord: play a regular 4-finger G chord, lift off your first finger, and use the underneath of your second finger to mute the fifth string. You'll play that G5 for pretty much all the verses! 

 

📚 Hand In My Pocket is one of the 100 songs on my Beginner's Songbook 1. Check it out if you'd like to have the printed lyrics, chords, tabs, and strumming pattern to follow along with this tutorial! 

 

Then, you'll need to move your first finger around a little bit! The good news is that your third and fourth fingers will stay in the same position all the way through. So, right after playing the G5 chord, your first goes to the first fret. It'll fret the thickest string and mute the fifth one. That might be a bit stretchy to some of you, but some practice will get you there. :)

That chord is a G5/F, which means that the F is the bass note now. Check out this lesson to understand more about those slash chords

Next, you'll need a Csus2. Bring your second finger on the third fret of the fifth string to play it. Use it to mute the thickest string and the fourth string as well.

The last grip you'll need is a G5/D chord. Just lift your first finger and strum the first thinnest four strings. You shouldn't play the thickest two strings at all. Accentuate the fourth string to get a cool vibe. ;)

Now you know all the chords you need to play Hand In My Pocket. Let's have a chat about how to make the rhythm sound great. 

 

Hand In My Pocket - Strumming Pattern

Your first task is to get comfortable with the chord changes. Start by strum once per beat and keep the rhythm steady while switching between the grips. You'll be able to sing along with it by playing only one down strum per beat. A simplified strumming pattern to make it a bit fuller would be the following one:

D D DU D​​​
1 2 3+ 4

 

Once you're ready to fancy it up, you can do many different things. Adding some extra down strums on the upbeats can give it a vibe!

The original record has many guitar layers, including an electric guitar base. I had fun picking up individual notes as some fillers, and it works really well. If you're singing along, you might need to work the picking out and make it really automate before you sing.

If you need some extra help with that, here are my 10 favorite tricks for playing and singing at the same time.

 

Why is Your Little Finger Hurting?

If you're a beginner guitar player, chances are you haven't been using your little finger a lot! To play Wonderwall, you'll use your little finger at the same position during the entire song. Expect some pain level. :) 

Make sure you take enough breaks to let it heal a bit between your practice sessions, and if you haven't already - set up your practice sessions with My Practice Assistant. This free tool helps set up effective practice sessions to prevent overplaying.

 

💡 Don't be in a hurry - you will learn BETTER and FASTER if you give yourself time to heal.

 

Nitsuj found his Finger 3 was hurting a lot when learning the Stuck 3&4 Chords. Finger 3 overcompensates for the weakness of Finger 4 by pressing harder than it should - so be mindful of this. He knew what was going on and still struggled with it. It's normal if you struggle too! Stay aware, and don't hurt yourself. :)

 

Download my Lessons & Songs App and unleash your playing! Try it out for free.

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