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Surfin' USA by The Beach Boys is such a classic song! There's debate as to whose it is - many consider it a rewrite of Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen and credit it to him. Rock drama apart, this one is great for acoustic guitar and perfect for beginners!
π‘ My Journey: Surfin' USA by The Beach Boys was one of my first songs on guitar. My first teacher, Pete Thompson, taught me it in a shop called Southern Music in Tasmania. Teaching it brings back so many great memories. :)
We'll start by looking at the basic chords and strumming, then we'll check out the riff and some authentic rhythm tricks! Let's go.
If you want to play along with the original Beach Boys recording, you'll need to use a capo on the 6th fret. If not, don't put the capo on.
Playing with a capo on 6 feels pretty uncomfortable when you're a beginner. I didn't use a capo for this lesson, and the guitar still fits with the song. Most people won't even notice the difference. ;)
Before we get to the chords, let's discuss a crucial aspect of playing guitar. This is a really big deal! You see, the big danger for beginners is stopping while you change chords. If you do this often, you're developing a bad habit that you'll have to correct later in your journey.
π JustinGuitar Beginner Songs & Lessons App: Check out my beginner guitar app - you can try it for free! There are hundreds of songs with great backing tracks, meaning you'll never develop the habit of stopping while you change chords.
The app really speeds up your progress. Playing with backing tracks from the early stages of guitar will help you with chord changes, rhythm, feel, and much more. :)
You just need the A, D, and E chords to play Surfin' USA. These are the first three chords we cover in my free Beginner Guitar Course, so this Beach Boys song is perfect for course students. You'll find free chord charts and a demo in the video lesson.
Here's a little trick for remembering the sequence: sometimes we change to A exactly on "USA" and "CaliforniA". That's handy if you lose track of the chords. :) Now let's look at the rhythm!
Your first stop is to strum only on beat 1 of each bar, listening out for where the lyrics fall in relation to the chord changes. With this easy pattern, you'll already be able to sing along and have a blast.
There are lots of stops at the start of the verses, and an easy way to incorporate them is to strum on beat 1 of one bar, let the chord ring out, then mute the strings on beat 1 of the next bar. We cover the muting technique below. :)
Once we get to the main part of the verse, we use an eighth-note pattern and omit the stops. You can explore different strumming patterns, but in the video we look at the authentic pattern and how to incorporate the stops.
You'll notice my hand keeps moving up and down during the silence to help me feel the time. In rhythm guitar, we keep the strumming hand moving all the time, even if we're avoiding the strings.
π₯ Top Tip: If you're struggling with rhythm and getting your strumming pattern right, practice it with muted chords. Strumming can be really hard, and this technique will help you make sense of the rhythm.
I encourage you to experiment with different strumming patterns and choose the one that feels good to you. Another option you can explore is Old Faithful!
To sound like the Beach Boys, you'll need to mute the strings a few times in the verse. You have two options:
1 - Use your fretting hand, putting all your fingers on top of the strings. That's probably the easiest way for beginners, but you'll have some unwanted sound.
2 - Mute with your strumming hand by resting the edge of your palm on the strings. A little bit will do - you don't need too much contact to mute strings. This can be tricky because your hand has to stop, which might knock you out of sync and make it difficult to strum in time in the next bar.
Try both ways and see which one works best for you! If you need extra help on this, check out my lesson on the all-stop mute.
The intro riff is a lot of fun! It's a bit harder than the chords, but in the video you'll find the tabs and some handy tricks. It's based around an A chord played as an E-shape Major barre chord, which we learn in Grade 4.
Check out the original
My Grade 3 has great lessons for advancing beginners looking further to become independent, creative guitar players.