For my first song to learn, I chose ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley. I have been learning from Andy Guitar, who teaches how to play this song in his third day of his ten day beginners guitar videos:

What it entails:

To play ‘Three Little Birds,’ you must be able to play the A, D, and E major chords. The strumming pattern is simple and on beat. Each chord is strummed for a count of four (one barre).

The song:

Intro

A

4 barres (16 counts)

Chorus

A

Don’t worry about a thing,

D                                                                                              A

‘Cause every little thing is gonna be alright.

A

Singin’: Don’t worry about a thing,

D                                                                                              A

‘Cause every little thing is gonna be alright!

Verse

A

Rise up this mornin’,

A

Smiled with the risin’ sun,

A

Three little birds

D

Pitch by my doorstep

A

Singin’ sweet songs

E

Of melodies pure and true,

D                                                              A

Sayin’, “This is my message to you-ou-ou:”

Repeat Chorus

My thoughts…

I have really been enjoying learning to play this song! I am struggling with changing chords, especially from E to D major, but I have noticed my improvements every day. The hardest chord for me is D major, and it gets played frequently in this song. I struggle to press the chords down firmly as I feel my hands are pretty small and cannot grasp the guitar properly. Some tips that have helped me work on my D major chord are:

  • use the very tip of your fingers
  • don’t have your nails too long (sad face)
  • rotate your hand so that it comes away from your guitar, this way you won’t accidentally touch the other strings with your fingers
  • play each string individually to see how they song
  • PRACTICE!!! Your fingers are going to hurt, so you have to take it slowly, but don’t give up on it!