How to play "Blackbird"

[thimsmot]

I can't understand why some people get all shitty about the exact, precise, technical minutiae of the fingering, strumming, picking, etc. After all, this is a video about how to play the damn song, not how to perfectly duplicate a particular performance on a particular recording.

[philtangerine]

@climbeer1 this is pretty close, but its not actually the way it is on the original. I've posted a video showing the style of the original, you can find it by searching philtangerine blackbird...have fun. This one's close though.

[nachogerfauo]

You're a genious!

[ptolemyauletesXII]

Yes! you've got it!!! That's it exactly... the reason people think it is finger picking is because Paul double tracked the guitar. There are TWO guitars playing, and he is not a robot, hence there are slight inconsistencies. But the strum pattern is exactly as you do it, and when you watch Paul play it live you can see the thumb and finger only. It just takes practice.

[Voovatvicky]

@ptolemyauletesXII . If YOU listen closely you will find that it is fingerpicking. If you want to do it that way fine. I think it is just an excuse for people who can't do the pattern. Anyway- who are you, Paul McCartney?

[ptolemyauletesXII]

@Voovatvicky I am not Paul McCartney... but Paul McCartney certainly is! If you watch any of the several videos of him playing HIS OWN song on YouTube you will see that he is ONLY using his index and thumb. He uses this style on several songs. Look up mjsokes on YouTube for an explanation. Furthermore, if it is fingerpicking how do you explain the strumming sound in the song? Lastly, fingerpicking is actually EASIER than the sweep pick style McCartney uses.

[ptolemyauletesXII]

@Voovatvicky I suggest listening again to the original recording, and listening for the strumming/plucking. This is done with one finger. The pattern is Pluck/sweep/sweep/pluck/pluck/­sweep. Do not get confused by the double tracked guitar. There are two acoustic guitars playing on this track, and that causes many people to think there is more going on then there actually is. Then go search McCartney Blackbird and watch...

[ptolemyauletesXII]

@Voovatvicky Paul McCartney - Blackbird

Live Glastonbury Music Festival 2004

Look at the close ups... Thumb, index finger... the others are just hanging there. Of course, there's nothing wrong with playing it using fingerpicking... it's just no the way Paul did it. Hope this helps.

[MrWowman97]

@Voovatvicky shut yo face gayboy this is right u r wrong

[Zoeiscrazylike]

Awhh this was very helpful, ulthough I started to loose it towards the end the second watch made me understand perfectly :D

[nachogerfauo]

Just, Thank you very much!! Fantastic job!! I love this song...

[TheMaxone08]

Thanks Your a good teacher!!!!!!:)

[andyrain4]

This was a lot of help.. You did an excellent job teaching. Keep it up :)

[pocketmouse11]

thank you so much for this!! i'm a beginner on the guitar and i was able to do this easily. you're a great teacher!

[TheMoonMan45]

I get lost twords the end of the video :'(

[YourHeroine13]

THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH FOR THIS

[Voovatvicky]

It doesn't sound right with the strum, finger picking is best for this song.

[ptolemyauletesXII]

@Voovatvicky Vicky, it may not sound right to you, but this is EXACTLY as Paul plays it. If you listen carefully to the record he is not finger picking, he is... well... finger sweeping... just one finger and one thumb.

[itchigo57272]

Thank you so much! =) This really helped plus you're a great guitarist!

[itchigo57272]

Thank you so much! =) This really helped plus you're a great guitarist!

[Dracontiar]

This was brilliant, thank you! I couldn't find anything with both the appropriate strum pattern, and the breakdown needed to actually learn it, so this is greatly appreciated. :)

[MrSuperzonal]

kinda looks like Cris Angel

[BlackUeJackMusic]

Great! your'great!

[billyhuntuk]

Thank you ! After hours of trying to find a tutorial on this I have at last found one that is .. a) correct and b) bloody good !! .. thanks for you time and effort. Greatly appreciated.

[loveguitars]

Excellent

[14TylerA]

thank you soooooooo much helped a lot man

[jblover4lyph]

woah...this vid helped me learn it really quickly :) thanks!!! Im so excited now!

[memorabiliaofcelia]

that was really helpful, THANKS! :)

[ThatZeldaGuy]

I got blisters on my fingers!!

[MsGrindFreak]

thank you so much I loved how you told us exactly what fret and what string to use

[samscontact]

Wrong.

1 - use p,i,m fingers

2 - no strum, it's a six attack. pm,i,m,p,m,i

[katerenee17]

wonderful instruction, thank you for posting

[mslmatao]

dang. good taecher

[andylennon18]

Hey you look like Anthony Kiedis hahaha :) thank you for the lesson I had learnt the first part before, but I couldn't find the part when it says "blackbird fly..." and now I found it, thank you !!

[FrothySurfer]

Dude I love your music. Red Hot Chili Peppers ROCK!

[MiMi3567]

Awesome  :D

[mollywhite11]

OMG THANYOU SO MUCH!! i can now play it, i l o v e it : )

[megsical]

AMAZING tutorial. You break it down really well. Thanks!

[MaccaAddicted]

Is there some way you can explain that strumming pattern to me again? I don't actually get that one yet.

[Ellielynx]

@MaccaAddicted me neither I cant do the strumming part I suck at it so I just a plucking pattern

[AnonymousObjector10]

Great tutorial. First one that breaks it down like this!

[maezingwon1986]

thank u ur awesome I've never played guitar and I feel like I got pretty much through the song :)

[spamerzz247]

thanks alot man really good tutorial

[mets50504]

Hey uhhhh. Any tips for a guy who uses a pick when he plays guitar. i dont have nails because im a Bassist, who picked up his first acoustic guitar 2 months ago. but mainly i play bass, so nails kinda kills my tone. unless i play that with a pick.

[wungabunga]

@mets50504 you don't need nails. check out lyndsey buckingham playing Big Love. no nails. try a spruce top acoustic, elixir nano strings, should be plenty bright enough sound.

[807august]

nice lesson man . . . .reallly f****** clear. . . love it 100 likes for this

[tomval1331]

thnx for helping me w/ dear prudence and this one :) your awesome

[wayneboy57]

thanks man

[eblip]

its great to see someone who clearly knows his stuff....no messing about

[spankystrat49]

Great tutorial. I also saw your EVH eruption lesson another great one THANKS

[annieeliza]

THANK YOU!!! Finally the first video i can actually learn from:)

[Mryairey]

best of all the videos

[Mryairey]

best of all the vids

[IsThatAGiraffeZ]

thanks so much dude, all the other tutorials were so confusing for me

[frankthetank930]

IVE GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!

[cindyjean1975]

I've got blisters on my fingers!!!!

Thank you for the accurate lesson!!!!

[soundfxboy]

Great lesson. Very clear.  Thanks.

[TD5642]

Great song. Great tutorial.

Thanks mate

[thebigfattalk]

Very accurate compare to the other lesson vids. Thanks.

[wweleah]

thank you so much this is great!

[StopWachaDoin]

This is a great tutorial; I can play this song all the way through accurately now!

Thanks!

[ffej157]

THANK YOU!!!!

[yawalaa]

ur awesome dude. thank you so much

[wopt70]

thanks a ton! I've always wanted to learn this song, but I'm music dyslexic or something, it doesn't make sense to me. I think if I practice this enough, i'll get it!

[bibicocorama]

Thank you so much for this lesson. So helpful :o)

[XxmegapownxX]

Nice lesson, it was very clear and easy to follow :)

[maggied68]

Thanks so much for the great lesson.  I have been wanting to learn this song since I heard the Dion Ferris version. Now I just have to practice.!!! Thanks again so much. Best lesson on the song I have watched.

[dragonslayer7412]

and uh...........................

[imri98]

thank you! :D

[bige262]

great lesson. best video on how to learn the song by far. Thanks a lot!

[tspcebtwn]

teach in rote

[cybercop112]

hey man i loved the video but i didnt get the strun pattern

[zidizadaze]

wow your an amazing guitarist!

ove your guitar too!

[xiLLdAVEx]

thats an awesome lesson there man. props

[NezianBelcyder]

Thanks

[nilsloor]

You're my fuckin idol!! awesome tutorial 5/5

[107124]

Wow dude I can never find a better teacher:) thanks so much!

[llemmar]

Thanks a lot - good teacher :)

[krugerMarcos1]

Who the fuck cares if its not the way Mcartney plays it, your not fucking mcartney, he's not mcartney, no one is. so shut the fuck up. learn it the way you like it, if yu want Mcartney's way of playing it, ask him yourself

[viMayheMiv]

@getarslim wow...ur comment is straight up gay. Nobody cares about ur injury, everybody gets them, u literally didnt have to mention it at all. U sound like moron. nobody is gonna go visit u so u can play blackbird. ur gay

[nosleeplisa]

Hiya Pete! I stumbled across your vids and have to thank you for this! I'm a total noob, but in two nights you've got me playing blackbird :) You're the coolest! Thanks SO much!

[getarslim]

Hi, not mcartneys version as I play it but good, I recently fell and broke my wrist and ruptured the muscles in my shoulder rotator cuff. If you ever visit Scotland I can show you how Mccartney plays it.

[zynnetrix]

First of all. This guy is a pro. You can hear this. But his version got a little flaw (flea..). The picking pattern differs pretty much from what he is doing. Maybe he wanted to keep it simple - i don't know. Anyways - there is a truly excellent TAB for this song online (google!). Check it out. I think he still doesn't really have this under his fingers - especially when you consider that Paul McCartney could sing along to this song while playing (including the more complicated picking pattern!)

[dragonjo8]

You are correct. This guy is a pro. You should see some of his other videos, specifically the Eruption tutorial.

He is very close to the picking technique (which was pretty much invented by McCartney) used in the original recording. The pattern should be a simultaneous pluck of the 5th and 2nd strings, then a down and up strum, then a pluck of the 5th string followed by a pluck of the 3rd string (it looks like he incorrectly does an up strum here, hard to tell) then a down strum.

[LordSim76]

Thanks.

[asiacardona]

I found it easier to play the two notes at a time with my thumb and my second finger, so that I can keep them in place and play the open G string with my first finger. (It makes it easier to play the song at the tempo the Beatles used.)

Nice video though. It's very helpful. =)

[YouserNayum]

holy shizz ur the first tutorial to actually explain the fingerings n all

GREAT TUTORIAL

[heidegger101]

God I love utube ! Great instruction by this young man.

[iHateSubs]

YES! thanks so much!

i finally got this song in the bag

your a great teacher man!

[Braulioiscool]

great video man, ur a great guitar teacher

[ImShAnERoBBiNs]

Dude, that's Awsome, Thanks A shit load< really you have no idea

[vmjaynes]

WOW! I have tried to learn this song forever! Thank you!!

[Kleenx98]

Dude great tutorial. Loved it a lot this is probably one of the best ones I've seen. Now I can play this song. Thanks a lot.

[0808paul]

soz 5 stars i mean

[0808paul]

omg i had to learn it for an audition in highschool band and u taught me everything i needed to know!! 5 starts

[Killuara]

Hey thanks! This was awesome!

[flabdabit]

Best lesson on the WEB.

[cingle2004jp]

Jette un oeil, tres superbe

[TheCozyfit]

allways wanted to learn this one. thanks very much

[nanneken]

Trent Reznor?

[berinhocas1]

good job

[sunnydayz101]

nice hair

[MAreesay]

this is one of the best tutorials i've seen, great work.

[Jaygo99]

Peter, pretty please with sugar on top will you do a few more acoustic lessons regards John (child of the sixties)

[DafHob]

Outstanding lesson bud. Keep it up (:

[JaCkMiChEaLs0n]

lol are you taking us on a tour of your house one song at a time

[Nothingous]

I find it interesting, because the version tabbed in the beatles book that i play is really quite different.. Yet this sounds exactly alike, if not better.

[Natyoz14]

you have no idea how long ive looked for a frickin good lesson on this song thanks man :)

[Spadesofred33]

thanks man. it really helped

[MrBeatlebum]

Brilliant lesson man really helped!

[drServitus]

your the best guitar teaher on yt that i have seen.

thank you sooo much!

[bovinicusdivinicus]

Good job on the clarity and definition of the notes and video

[duetandsolosisters]

I play it with out any srumming

[Natyoz14]

i tried that, it worked for the first part but its so hard!

how do you do it?

[df331]

finally someone who can teach it clearly!!! thanks so much!

amazing.

[protosses]

good// ") i like your shirt.

[Sutch74]

great lesson. I like how you break it into segments. really helped me- now i can get chicks

[nuttiutti]

well as long as you're doing it for the right reason =|

[skint0n0minted]

is tht why you play guitar?

[Theitalianpuma]

Thanks heaps! I love this song and now i can play it! WOOOOO!

[thatsgoodkarma]

Amazing tutorials man, keep em coming!

[xhAsh77]

Thanks for your excellent lesson on 'blackbird'.It sounds just like Paul McCartney played it On The Beatles 'White Album'.From Paul P.

[theshowman007]

thank you at last i can do it thanks to you and i love it

[ashjt]

your lesson is very clear!!!

thank you so much

[undergroundcorp]

YEAH! I'm playing! hehe...

Your lesson of the "Blackbird" is the best.

Thanks a lot! :)

Carolina

[LearningGuitar858]

Very good tutorial...This was the easiest for me to understand.  Thanks for your help!

[jrodgillman]

Really nice job on this. It was much easier to follow than any others I have seen. Thanks for taking the time to do it!

[ilrossomalpelo]

Thank you VERY MUCH for helping me learning this wonderful song!

[jumpup29]

aside from strummin songs like knockin on heaven's door btw I saw some tabs that you pick the whole song whats that about

[jumpup29]

Aside from strummin tunes like knockin on heavens door also I saw some tabs that don't strum just pickin all the way through

[Barisaxlover]

best vid ive seen yet!

[rugbyrayuk]

Thank you for the lesson. It's already up there in black and white, but here it is again: your rendering of this song was easy to follow, trumping a great many know-it-alls out there in the process. Well done.

[jumpup29]

First song i ever played. Thank you so much

[Barisaxlover]

First song? thats a hard way to begin;)

[okalaka]

thanks man you teached this song better than anybody else on this damned youtube, i've searched days for this, thank you for making it quite frank and easy

[DIANARAQUELALEXIS]

cute. but a tool.

[BrainSpecialist]

Cheers man, thanks for doing this! I now know how to play blackbird! Not off by heart, but well enough to practice it. I'm having an acoustic day today, just doing some fingerpicking exercises when I thought of Blackbird! Seemed a perfect song to try out. Thanks for uploading! :D

[edo81thredbo]

Are you able to show how to play Halleiujah?,i found Black Bird easy to follow ,thanks!

[soapdoc]

You're amazingly talented and generous!!

THANKS for posting this :) One of my favorite songs ever!

[cammoxkidd]

very niccccceeee

[maikay1403]

Peter, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to teach us how to play guitar or learn how to play some songs. I do appreciated very much. I hope are you having great time touring with Chris Cornell, my favorite singer. Is Chris an awsome guy like I think he is? Take care man and thanks again for guitar lesson and it is great to see and hear you play with the live band. Have a great day.

[1mothra]

To the aptly named thepumpdontwork:

What an absolutely asinine and insanely rude thing to say, you dumb sh*t.

To sinasl1: Tastefully, beautifully done. Way to leave your miscues in....We appreciate it and this excellent vid..all of us except the above-referenced knucklebrain.

[cherub0002]

thanks! everything's clear now. great job dude

[thepumpdontwork]

Intelligent and lucid. Also very clever as you do it all with one eye. ;-)

[customstratguy]

dude, this guy is probably one of the best guitarists you`ll ever hear, and the fact that you haven`t noticed that yet, tells me that you need to pay attention... so try and keep up...

[customstratguy]

oh yea, previous comment was directed to (thepumpdon`twork) and I should say... it probably needs a little lubrication bro...

[thepumpdontwork]

That's cool. Don't see how my comments suggested otherwise, but I think this dude is an exceptional player and teacher.

[laxplayr54]

sweet vid thanks so much

[Cauldronics]

Hi Pete - thanks for the video! I can't tell every string you're strumming in the first strumming part at the 10th fret/5th string/1st finger. It looks like your 2nd finger is holding down the 3rd string at the 11th fret. What all are you fretting at that position?

[HaXeD2200]

Nice!

[hali28target]

helped a lot!

thanks!

you should do a lesson on how to play yesterday, by the beatles.

[greystreet9]

very simple, thanks !

[Playintime142]

Very easy to understand. Love it. Thank you

[stvil25]

Very good guitar lesson for blackbird, I was wondering do you know how to play Calico sky by Paul Mccartney?

[javisj2000]

Omg loved this tutorial, i tried other tutorials on youtube but yours is the easiest to follow, thx!Hope to seee more from you nxt time.

[AIRIHKUH]

the best tutorial ever... easy to follow... others are for show...

please do more of the beatles and eagles and csny...

[walker272727]

one of the better guitar lessons on here..keep it up mate

[ken53north]

Excellent lesson. Loved it. Thanks mate.

[homstar]

Whats this guys name?Id like to see some more of his playing.

[line6ampsrock]

thank you so much! your my new favorite person on youtube. You and the beatles will continue to rock my world!

[timps70]

Excellent tutorial, this helped a lot....cheers!

[CWhasp]

Great Step by Step instructions. This is a perfect beginner video for this song. There are other good ones here, but this one can be used to actually "learn" the notes. After learning the ?chording? ?structure? I found a different video that played thru the complete song from begin to end. That helped too.

[rainman2029]

not bad.finally something that play like paul method of playing blackbird

[ctmaniak]

Great job, best video i've found for this song.

Thank you

[jakeerussell]

Fantastic

[DiamondDogg44]

Bro, I have looked for the correct way to play this song all over the place. Everyone has the tab/instruction wrong. If you actually watch Paul play it, I mean really watch how he plays it, he plays it exactly the way you are teaching it. I knew if I hunted long enough, someone would get it right...Thanks brother, very helpful...Had to write the tab on notebook paper, but will make the effort if the song is correct. Compliments...

[Kinovy]

Ok, i just noticed you were a pro, touring and stuff, so you ain't got much time.

If you finish the paranoid android tutorial, you win a week in the south of France in a beautifull house with pool and stuff. Not kidding !

[Kinovy]

Thank you so much !

I'd so much like more of your tutorials !

Please end the paranoid android one, please ! please !

[freewaycruiser]

excellent , very detailed teaching.

[alienmanzane]

lol cute vid

[iluv30stm]

this was such a smiple explanation

thanks alot! :)

[nebnampach]

hey ure the dude that did the eruption lesson

[Sungodv]

What kinda guitar is that?

Oh, and thanks fer the vid!

[holycrapitsjohn]

Thanks this helped a lot

[DYLANamali]

that video was amazing.. thanks alot mate. I found it extremely helpful, you are a great teacher

[jimrocks22]

Great stuff how about Spanish Fly?

[mubou]

You are a really good teacher. I never got it before. You showed me in 2 viewings. Keep it up! I owe you a check.

[eastmantom]

Thanks for your great lessons. Hope you post more soon.

[tomchambers]

Hey, thanks for the video, really detailed instruction.