How hard is Blackbird?

[jay42]

I'm trying to understand the level of playing here at agf. The question is, how hard do you think Blackbird is...not for you necessarily, but for acoustic guitarists in general? I do include the odd brush technique he uses. I learned it in 1970, but didn't realize I had some notes wrong until the Hal Leonard bible came out. I've only run into a couple guys who can play it, which seems wrong to me.

[b1j]

I get all the notes, but the brush technique eludes me. But listeners don’t notice I’m plucking all the notes.

[rule18]

This is one of those songs that I play almost everyday, usually in my warmup. It incorporates a number of techniques that I find useful. Years ago, most of the nuances eluded me until one day it all fell into place and since then I find it easy to play well. When my wife and I had a duo thing, she would play the vocal line (cello).

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by jay42

I'm trying to understand the level of playing here at agf. The question is, how hard do you think Blackbird is...not for you necessarily, but for acoustic guitarists in general?

Listen to stuff posted on Show and Tell check out links in a lot of AGF member's sigs.
Blackbird is not a hard piece and I suspect the average acoustic guitarist could deal with it handily.

[Glennwillow]

Justinguitar has a well done video on how to play Blackbird. I think this is a good piece for a player who has gotten beyond the beginner stage, but in my experience, it's not terribly difficult. I think it's harder for most players to sing than to play it.

I never liked playing the right hand the way Paul McCartney played it. I could play it his way, I just didn't like it. So I ended up doing it my own way.

- Glenn

[frenchie]

The left hand is easy, as in it only needs one or two fingers for the chords. As for the right hand ( all opposite if McCartney or a lefty), that's a different matter.When in RishiKesh, McCartney tried to learn the Donovan finger picking technique, but it was a no go, so he stuck with his own pluck brush style. Lennon did learn it, but his style was back to front, as heard on Dear Prudence & Julia. I play that way too, and use it for parts of Blackbird. So my way of playing it is a mix of both McCartney& Lennon😁

[Chickee]

Once you learn the few chord shapes it becomes quite simple. The problem folks have with it is they feel it must sound like the recording, soon become frustrated and give up before they can just enjoy the song for what it is.

frank d.

[mr. beaumont]

Relatively easy, though I think it's one of those tunes that 1,000's of players can nail the intro but can't play all the way through.

[Howard Emerson]

It was written by a left handed bass player, so how hard could it be?

HE

[Joe Beamish]

Easy to play badly and without singing.

[jricc]

I'll say relatively easy too However, beginners may have trouble grabbing the interval shapes.

[jricc]

Link to my version if interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsXb75Bw2Vs