Beatles Guitar Chords

When you first start learning guitar it can be difficult to keep your motivation up. Even if you’ve been playing for a while, boredom can set in and you can become stale repeating the same basic stuff over and over. One sure-fire method that I have used to overcome boredom and procrastination when it comes to guitar is to play along with my favorite albums. For me the Beatles are a great source of musical inspiration. The Beatles guitar chords, their use of unique musical instruments and their all-round groundbreaking musical ideas are the ultimate cure for the guitar lesson blues.

The Beatles sixth studio album Rubber Soul marked an evolution in the band’s sound, showing the world that they had become more serious and sophisticated artists. Learning a few of the tracks from this album and playing along regularly can bring about an evolution in your own guitar playing! Rubber Soul has a very folky laid-back feel with plenty of opportunities to shine on acoustic guitar. Almost every track on the album features amazing vocal harmonies, but often they sit subtly in the background simply complementing the guitar chords. I’ve picked a few standout tracks to talk about here.

Track 2 “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” has been widely credited as the first pop recording to feature an actual sitar. The main guitar hook is based around a simple E chord (played like a D chord with a capo on the 2^nd fret) and the song translates really well to a solo acoustic guitar.

Track 3 “You Won’t See Me” is a lesser known Beatles tune that is 100% “brit-pop”. 90’s bands such as Blur and Ride quite obviously took a few lessons and some inspiration from songs like this one and you can too.

Track 4 “Nowhere Man” is a great example of how the Beatles guitar chords really bring color to a song. Bittersweet acoustic guitar from John, sparse but perfectly suited electric licks from George and of course vocal harmonies that highlight the guitar chords.

Track 7 “Michelle”, originally written by Paul as a bit of a joke to entertain his friends at parties. It has a French vibe and uses some pretty interesting chords. The guitar picking style used by Paul was thumb for the low notes of the chord and fingers for the high notes. Paul also played the cruisy lead breaks.

Track 9 “Girl” also has a bit of a French sound this time from John. The middle 8 / lead break is interesting with overlapping guitar lines, one staccato (short sharp notes) and one walking, easy to play and sounds really interesting.

These are just a few of the excellent tracks for the budding guitarist to be found on Rubber Soul. It’s an album that uses terrific vocal harmonies to really emphasize the music and these are songs that translate really well to a single acoustic guitar. Spend some time playing along with these songs and I guarantee that you will find at least one new chord or one new idea to give your playing a little kick.