Three Golden Oldies That Every Guitarist Should Learn to Strum

Today we are going to look at the chord progression of three ”Golden Oldies”, and if you don’t know all the songs, just google it and listen to some good sounds before attempting it yourself.

We proceed from the vantage point of basic guitar notation, so if something is new to you, it is advisable to catch up and get up to scratch by googling whatever is needed.

The purpose is to show you some salient features of especially popular guitar songs so that your own prowess can begin to grow as you incorporate these principles into your own abilities.

Music has a lot to do with convention and even counter-convention.

By convention, we mean practices and sounds that have by silent consent and usage acquired a specific meaning or musical “feeling”.

Why Eastern music differs from Western music lies in exactly this convention.

The scales and the notes differ substantially, but it is clear that both classes of music can be enjoyed thoroughly.

I remember listening one New Year’s Eve to a middle eastern band proficiently playing rock music in an East–West fusion format in Tel Aviv as part of the New Year’s celebrations.

By using the right mix of instruments, it was amazing what they conjured up.

The House of the Rising Sun

How to play it

The 1 2 3 4 5 6 counts show that the song is in 6/8 time: six even beats to each chord. Try a simple picking pattern on each chord, from the bass string upwards (strings numbered 6 = low E to 1 = high E). For Am and C: 5–4–3–2–1–2. For D: 4–3–2–1–2–3. For F and E: 6–4–3–2–1–2. Keep the notes even and count out loud.

If picking feels tricky, strum instead: down on 1 and 4, with light up-strokes in between. Keep it gentle; the song should roll along in sixes, not march in fours.

The words are light and easy to remember.

The chords are following the same basic progression with an incorporation of the minor (Am) at the start of each verse, and several families of chords (C and F), (D and E) also linked to the minor (Am) make their appearance.

This was the Animals’ biggest hit.

The Eagles used a similar technique in their chord progression with their big hit song “Hotel California”.

Although many still maintain that Jethro Tull was the first to use that specific chord progression in one of their earlier songs.

Yesterday

Using a similar chord progression, The Beatles (or should we say McCartney and Lennon) wrote “Yesterday”:

The Sound of Silence

The next golden oldie is the classic hit “The Sound of Silence” by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (no not the cat).

This duo did very well, right up to their final LP “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, but like so many others they later found that going solo isn’t always a good step.

Garfunkel just contributed that extra oomph that Simon could not really reach on his own.

Putting it together

Three songs, a handful of chords. Once your hands know Am, C, D, F and E, the House of the Rising Sun is yours, and the same shapes carry you a long way into Yesterday and The Sound of Silence. Take one song at a time: learn the chord changes slowly, then add the strumming pattern, and only then sing along. That is how these classics become part of your own playing.

“The House of the Rising Sun” is a traditional folk song, best known in The Animals’ 1964 recording. “Yesterday” was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “The Sound of Silence” was written by Paul Simon. Short extracts are quoted for teaching purposes only; all rights remain with the respective copyright holders.