Beginning Guitar Quick Tips #4 | Cool Pop Rock Acoustic Guitar Lick

This “lick” or short chord progression is commonly used in the Pop Rock genre especially by the classic rock band The Eagles. They use this in the song “Take It Easy”, “Tequila Sunrise” and possibly others with some slight variations. You can use different strumming patterns and get even more mileage. To make this a part of your repertoire practice the phrase in this video, then find a song you like and use it. I recommend “Tequila Sunrise” by the Eagles because it’s fairly slow. Or even better try making up your own song (my favorite thing to do).

 

The first thing to pay attention to is that you’ll be using the version of the “G” chord that uses your little finger (pinky). It helps to have a nice, relaxed “G” with just enough tension to hold it in place and nothing extra. Aim for a nice arch in the fingers, especially the pinky. Keep the thumb behind the neck.

 

Next move the first and second finger to form what looks like a “C” chord – the first finger on the second string behind the first fret, and the second finger on the forth string behind the second fret. Leave the pinky and the third fingers where they are. This makes what is commonly called a C/G chord, or a C chord with the G note in the bass. In classical music theory this could be called a second inversion of the chord. Don’t get too attached to these names. Without getting too much into theory right now thee are other names that can be used for this including a Gsus4.

 

Now move the first, second and third fingers to form a “D” chord while leaving the pinky where it is on the first string, third fret This makes a Dsus4 chord. You resolve the chord by taking the pinky off and forming a D chord.

 

Practice each of the chords with a single strum first to get all the notes sounding clearly. Then add a simple down/up strum. When that seems to be going smoothly try using a more complex strum like the Pop Rock Strum I taught in a previous lesson.