Play Guitar In 7 Days!
Lesson Five: “The Day I Had My Brain Removed”
Sometimes nothing can take the place of good old “campfire chords,” the chord shapes most first-year students learn and embrace, such as C, Am, and G7. The combination of ringing open strings and fretted notes in these chords produces a pleasing sound when strummed.
Besides the very common E shape, there are two other main chords in this song: F#m7(add 11) and B7(no 3rd)(add 11). Don’t get scared by the names: it’s easier to play them than say them.
Observe how easy it is to change from one chord to the other: simply move the 1st finger from the 6th to the 5th string, on the same fret! What were you worried about? Note: In the F#m7(add 11) chord, you will have to take care to mute the 5th string with your left-hand 1st finger, but muffing adjacent strings usually happens by accident anyway, so this shouldn’t be too hard to achieve.
A centuries-old dilemma: the best way to finger an E-chord
As the saying goes, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat,” but that’s a really barbaric and cruel colloquialism, so we will dispense with that image for now. Most students learn the E-chord like this:
The normal E-chord with 1st, 2nd , and 3rd fingers
But what if you switched your fingers and played it like this?:
E-major chord with different fingers: 2, 3 and 4.
You may cry, “NOOO! Not the pinky finger!” but before you protest, notice that with this reconfigured fingering, the 2nd and 4th fingers now reside on the same strings as they do for the F#m7(add11) and B7(no 3rd)(add 11) chords. This will greatly facilitate a smooth and easy chord change, as those two fingers will never have to leave the string, but simply glide up and down it laterally. Who doesn’t love smooth and easy?
Exercise: Practice this 3-chord sequence, transitioning to each new chord VERY slowly, moving all fingers at the same time in one fluid motion.
Pro Tip: Do not cheat! You will only be cheating yourself.
The “Johnny Cash” Chord
This is the chord that John, Paul and George hopped onto a half-hour bus ride across Liverpool (with multiple transfers) to learn! And then a half-hour ride home! Used gratuitously in “The Day I Had My Brain Removed,” this four-fingered Folsom-Prison-Blues-sounding chord could be labelled B7(no no 3rd)(no add11) but we will simply call it “B7” for short.
A mistake many beginners make with B7 is letting their 3rd finger inadvertently rest on the open 2nd string, quashing it. The open string is what gives B7 its thwack! Make sure your fingers are curved, always curved – remember to hold that imaginary juicy kumquat – and press the strings with the tips of your fingers. This will give you thicker skin and you will become more callous (essential for guitar playing).
The B7 chord never goes out of style: it can be country, bluesy, folksy, even funky. Within “The Day I Had My Brain Removed,” it is actually there to sound Beatle-y, probably. No more long bus rides when your next guitar lesson is just a click away!
Soapbox/Philosopher’s Corner:
Often, the words to a song are important than the music, and the guitarist’s job is to stay out of the way and support the vocalist.
This humbling, important fact must never be forgotten!
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