I’m currently in module 7. I’ve never played an instrument before and I’m pretty awful. But, I told my friend that I’d learn to play a song so I could play with him (guitar). He already knows Sunshine of Your Love, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I don’t know if it’s too advanced at this point, but I keep getting hung up on which fingers to fret with. This is my first attempt with the song pack and I’m used to Josh telling me which fingers to use. Is there a good rule of thumb ( no pun intended)? Will this be covered at a later date and I just jumped in too soon? If I just had Josh telling me which fingers to use, I think I could just keep working on it until I get it, but I’m just stuck on the idea of which fingers to use. Any advice? Thanks.
I’m not sure if I’m qualified to answer this but I can tell you what works for me in the hope that it may work for you.
I don’t believe there is a ‘right’ way to fret any bass line. There’s just what works for you. That comment clearly goes in the ‘not helpful’ basket.
So…maybe start by working out which bits you want to stretch for and which you want to microshift for. To do that I find it best to view the progression note by note to see where my hand and fingers need to end up after playing the current note, and so on. Practice in chunks (say a bar at a time) to get smooth from note to note and then start to put the chucks together until you’ve got your first full riff. Look at the structure of the song for repeating bits. When I was writing songs I’d go verse x 3, bridge, chorus x 2, etc. it’s still how I tend to break down songs that I’m learning. The next thing to look for is any twiddly bits and how the song transitions from verse to bridge to chorus so they don’t catch you out. Start SLOW. This will help embed the song in your head and create muscle memory for when you want to speed up.
I hope this helps.
TL:Dr fret with the fingers that feel most natural for you, learn the song structure, practice it slowly.
Sunshine of Your Love is a pretty simple tune. Here’s a video with step-by-step instructions.
You can pause the video and rewind any part you need to double-check how the dude frets the line.
You can also use YouTube’s playback control to slow playback down, if desired. Good luck.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. I had basically used your approach to learning the song and I feel like I was making some progress. But I kept thinking that maybe fingering for tabs would be covered in a future lesson and that I’d have to relearn it after having developed some bad habits with the song. I guess I’ve just got to get kicked out of the nest and learn to do some things on my own and listen to what feels and sounds good. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for this! I really appreciate you taking the time to share this with me.