Here Comes The Sun

You have (really) asked for this lesson, haven't you? :)

And I'm glad you did! Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles is one of my favorite acoustic guitar tunes to sing and play. Today's lesson will teach us how to play this song properly. We'll explore all its sections and the reasons why this George Harrison classic is one of his most incredible songs ever. 

The Beatles recorded Here Comes The Sun back in 1969. The song was part of the album Abbey Road, and it seems that Harrison wrote it out while visiting his friend Eric Clapton in the countryside. :) He said the lyrics talk about how happy he was with the arrival of the spring. 

Fifty-two years later, Here Comes The Sun is still one of the most upbeat songs out there. So, I feel personally happy this is today's lesson! 💙 This video is the first one I recorded in my brand-new studio and the first one from the new JustinGuitar Song Request Board.

 

I tried to teach this song once before, but it's incredibly difficult to teach, so that this lesson wouldn't have happened without your request! :) Thank you for support my work and choose me as your guitar teacher! The road has really been sunny! :)

 

🗳 You can choose the song lesson I'm doing next! :) Keep voting and requesting your favorite tunes. Just ensure you logged in - and check out the Song Lessons page.

 

If you're following my Guitar Courses, this song is a great practice for Grade 5+ Students. If you're a complete beginner, you'll need to keep it pretty simple and forget about picking out individual notes. Remember - you can always revisit songs you learned as a new guitarist as your skills grow. Check out the 3 Types of Songs You Should Practice (to get better at guitar) if you'd like to learn more about that! 

Now, grab your acoustic. Let's get stuck and have some guitar fun with The Beatles. 

 

How to play Here Comes The Sun on the guitar

Here Comes The Sun is one of those songs that aren't very hard to play, but they're very hard to explain. It'll be especially awkward if you're not used to what I call picked fingerstyle: meaning you'll be strumming while picking out individual notes! You'll need the strumming action but individual strings as well.

So, we'll learn how to play Here Comes The Sun in sections! We'll start with its simple, basic open chords. If you're a beginner, play it that way, and you'll be able to sing with it. Ready? Let's go!

 

Here Comes The Sun - Guitar Chords

You'll need a guitar capo on the 7th fret of your guitar neck. Make sure you tune your guitar to standard tuning, and it's on point. It'll sound a bit awkward if it's not!

So, most of the main riff on Here Comes The Sun is around an open D chord shape. You'll work on lifting your second finger for some embellishment and getting the strumming and picking action right.

Spend some time playing around that. It sounds awesome, and you can have great practice working on it. :) Then, you'll need a G chord - and it's an interesting one! I'm playing the thickest string with my second finger - which is also muting the fifth string. The flesh part of my second finger can also mute the thinnest string. That helps to bring out the B note that we sometimes want in the melody!

Then, you'll need an A7 - and that's pretty much it for the entire verses! To finish the second verse, you'll add an E7 and then go back to the G chord. That's it for pretty much the entire song, with loads of variations. 

 

🚨 The bridge of Here Comes The Sun has loads of unusual stuff with the time signatures. It's not super tricky, but definitely on the awkward side. Check out the video tutorial for more information. 

 

Easy, eh? The challenge to play Here Comes The Sun as the original recording will be your picking hand. Let's take a look!

 

Here Comes The Sun - Rhythm

You'll need to pick up the melody while having the strumming feeling with some bass notes happening. Many subtle things are going on with this song's dynamics, too - meaning that there are differences in how soft or hard you'll hit some notes. 

In this song lesson, you'll learn the target notes and how its rhythm counting works. I'd recommend you spend some time experimenting on this one. Listening to the original recording is fundamental to nail down Here Comes The Sun. Believe me - listening to it and experimenting on your own will be easier than trying to follow a specific pattern!

 

💡 Dig Folk Fingerstyle? Check out this free Intermediate course and build all the foundation you need to start playing complex fingerstyle patterns! 

 

Playing Here Comes The Sun on your own? To be honest, you don't need to go into the level of detail of this guitar lesson. I went deep into how George Harrison played Here Comes The Sun in its original Abbey Road recording for this tutorial. But you don't have to!

I'd suggest you watch this lesson to learn how the rhythm works here. Some variations are happening through the song, and you can approach them in many different ways.

I hope you enjoyed this song lesson! If you have any questions about how to play Here Comes The Sun, drop me a message in the Discussion section, and I'll do my best to get back to you. 

Happy trails!

 

Want chords, tabs, and lyrics to follow along with my song tutorials? Check out JustinGuitar Tabs!