The song “Somewhere over the Rainbow” was written in the 1930’s for the movie “The Wizard of Oz” by Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg. It was sung by Judy Garland and over time became her signature tune.
It is arranged here in the key of C, which is a good key for the guitar. Take the song step by step. First of all learn the chords, the chord progression and then the melody. Once you’re comfortable with what you’ve learned, go on and have a go at the combined arrangement which blends the melody with elements of the chords.
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| Melody | |
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| Combined Arrangement |
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In the chord version of this fingerstyle guitar lesson the right hand generally follows a P I M A picking pattern with the
thumb playing the 6th, 5th and 4th strings
the index finger “i” playing the 3rd string
the middle finger “m” playing the 2nd string
and the ring finger “a” playing the 1st string
the arrangement is written in the key of C
in the guitar chords lesson, open chords are mainly used
that is, chords using open strings
we use C, Am, Em, C7, A7, Dm, G7, B7
there are some bar chords that you may have to persevere with if they are new to you – F and Fm
if you’re having difficulty with these chords, practice them separately
try moving your 1st finger about till you get the note ringing
don’t necessarily put the bar down first
play the first note and then fit the bar in in behind it, again manoevering the 1st finger to get a clear sound
before you learn the chords, view the chord performance video and the moving TAB video to familiarise yourself with the whole tune, and then you can go into the individual 2 bar lessons where you need to
once you’ve started to get the chords under your fingers, have a look at the melody version
again, start by viewing the performance version and the video TAB to familiarise yourself. If you’re unsure of the playing tab, go to the guitar notation tutorial
once you’ve learned both the chords and the melody, why not try playing the melody along with the chord performance version of the tune and vice versa the chords along with the melody version of the tune
once you’ve got both the chords of the tune and the melody sorted, try the third version of the tune that uses elements of both
again, in this acoustic guitar lesson there is a performance and video TAB version that you should view to familiarise yourelf with the arrangement before you start
best of luck with “Over the Rainbow”
tackle it a step at a time and you’ll be playing music before you know it.