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An acoustic guitar lesson on how to play “
Across the Universe” by
The Beatles |
John Lennon from the
album “
Let It Be” released in
1970. A different version of the song was released in
1969 on a record called “
No One's
Gonna Change Our World” a charity album released in the UK for the benefit of the
World Wildlife Fund.
I think this may be John Lennon’s best song. The lyrics are amazing and the melody is beautiful. A lot of people say they don’t like what
Phil Spectre did to the tune on the Let It Be record, but I love what he did! I think it’s the best version. Here’s a quote from John Lennon on how he wrote the lyrics, it’s from the Wikipedia article on the song:
“I was lying next to my first wife in bed, you know, and I was irritated. and I was thinking. She must have been going on and on about something and she'd gone to sleep and I kept hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream. I went downstairs and it turned into a sort of cosmic song rather than an irritated song, rather than a "Why are you always mouthing off at me?".[1] [The words] were purely inspirational
and were given to me as boom!. I don't own it you know; it came through like that.”
Other than the intro, the guitar part is fairly straight forward.
It’s just strumming the chords. I really liked the version that
Rufus Wainwright did, where he added harmonies to the chorus and the “Jai guru deva” part. So I tried to cover that with the guitar part by adding the melody and harmony in those sections. If you’re a beginner and it’s too tough you can just stick with the strumming.
I really enjoyed making this video. It’s such a beautiful song, it put me in a great space the whole time I was working on it!
As far as the sound goes on this one, I double tracked the guitar part and added a chorus effect post to try to emulate the guitar sound on the record.
I hope you enjoy the video and have fun playing this great old classic.
I get a lot of questions about my sound so here's what I'm using:
The acoustic guitar I'm playing here is a
Taylor 214ce koa deluxe. I really like this guitar, it intonates amazingly well and its tone is very balanced.
It's also very easy to play.
I’ve recently changed my strings from
Elixir phosphor bronze 12-53 with nanoweb coating, to Elixir HD lights. The HD lights make my guitar sound better, with an even more balanced sound. The slightly heavier top strings really make the high end come out more. I really love them! These strings are a little bit more expensive, but for me they easily last 4-5 times longer than non-coated strings.
Folks may be surprised at how much time and effort goes into creating these videos. If you're getting something out of the lessons and can afford to contribute,
I've setup a Paypal link. If you can't afford it no worries, but if you can, any amount is appreciated and will help me to continue to make the videos.
PayPal: https://goo.gl/dooFgd
Thanks for all the comments, and questions and of course for subscribing. A special thanks to all of you that have contributed financially by making a donation! I really appreciate the support.
Good luck to everyone with their guitar playing.
Cheers
- published: 21 May 2016
- views: 840