Sweet Child o' Mine - Guns N' Roses 1987
Axl & Slash Gn'R 1992
It's time to put the chords you've learned into practice by playing along with some classics!
Sweet Child o' Mine - Guns N' Roses 1987.
Guitarists: - Slash - Lead & Rhythm Guitars.
Izzy Stradlin - Rhythm Guitar.
This song is in the Key of D (actually it's in the key of Db since Gn'R tune down a 1/2 step!). Firstly, you'll learn the verse only (for now). (We'll stay in standard tuning for our practice sessions, but when you can play at tempo tune down a half step and play along with Slash!).
Listening is just as important as playing! So, listen to the music you want play as often as possible. As you listen to 'sweet child o' mine' 'feel' the beat and listen for those chord changes. This is steady 122 bpm with a clear 4 beats to the bar. Slash's opening riff essentially revolves around a D chord... (We'll get to that in another lesson when you learn a few riffs!). The verses follow a simple chord progression: -
D, Cadd9 , G and D which repeat. Check out the acoustic version with Myles Kennedy on vocals/guitar and Slash on rhythm & lead.
Listen to 'Sweet child o' mine' 'feel' the beat and listen for those chord changes.
Check out the acoustic version with Slash and Myles Kennedy on vocals/guitar.
Now you have the chord progression for the introduction and verse of sweet child o' mine. It's time we added the chorus. Once again we'll stay in standard tuning for our practice sessions.
The chorus is pretty easy once you have it under your fingers and its great for practicing the A Major (barre) and the 'A shape' barre chords (Root 5 barre chords). C Major and D Major.
For now just strum all downstrokes until your confident with the changes.
Don't forget to keep listening to original and live recordings so you "get the song in your ear" it really helps you learn to play them so much quicker!