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Who doesn’t love belting out to this song? It’s quirky, and a Beatles classic everybody has fun with. :)
In this easy lesson, we'll learn how to play Yellow Submarine by The Beatles. This is an easy song for beginner guitarists - you change chords on beats one and four and approach it slowly. Yup - it’s even great for Grade 1 beginner guitar players.
We’ve got mostly open chords going on in here. Some D, C, G chords and other easy minor chords are part of the progressions. We’ll also explore the exciting rhythm going on in the verses.
It’s a cracking tune to learn! Hope you have fun playing it :)
To play this song, you’ll start with a D chord on beat 1. You’ll follow with a C, G, for a bar, then an Em and Am. Then back to C and D. If you’re not familiar with how to play these chords, it might be worth checking out my Beginner Guitar Course.
For the strumming, get it right by first learning one strum per bar. Once you're comfortable with that, experiment with your strumming pattern as you develop it! You can then alternate between down and upstrums.
Feel free to approach this slowly when you’re starting to learn! Then, as you get more comfortable, you can increase your tempo. Your metronome is your friend here. :)
You'll need to play some strums on beats one and four, then back to one again to play the rhythm. We end up having a pattern that might mean faster chord changes than what you’re used to! This is excellent practice for novice guitarists. :)
💡If you dig this song - make sure to add it to your practice routine with your My Practice Assistant. :)
Figure out when the chord change happens relative to the lyrics. This will be the best trick for this song! It’s going to read along with the lyrics.
Focus on making those chords sound nice and tight! Make sure to get the chords playing on the correct beat each time! Consistency is key. Start slow and work your way to the recorded speed. This song is a little wonky to play along with the original recording.
Check out the original