Drive My Car Guitar Lesson - The Beatles

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"Drive My Car" was written primarily by Paul McCartney with some lyrical help from John Lennon. It has a funky and upbeat vibe about it and is probably one of the funnest songs by The Beatles to play on the guitar.

In this Drive My Car guitar lesson video, I will show you how to play all of those funky little guitar riffs and chords used throughout the entire song. I will also break down Paul McCartney's catchy yet tricky guitar solo.

"Drive My Car" starts out with a short blues lick that uses a couple of popular blues guitar techniques including quarter note bends and double stops. On a technical level, it isn't very hard to play, so you will probably fly right through it so you can get to the fun and funky guitar riffs used in the verse.

Those guitar riffs use a bunch of quick slides across the fretboard in a repetitive pattern that is based around just two chords for the most part. Try to really find the groove when performing these riffs. The rhythmic flow is by far the most important part of the riff.

When demonstrating these riffs, I will also show you how they are slightly altered in different parts of the song, including the rhythm guitar part to the guitar solo. Make sure you pay close attention to the explanations, or you may get lost as to what to play at specific parts of the song.

For the chorus we will finally be strumming some full chords (Bmin & G7). These chords are broken up at the end of the chorus with a cool little bass line and transition back to the verse.

After that I will finish the lesson by showing you note-for-note how to play Paul McCartney's guitar solo for "Drive My Car". You heard me correctly, it is McCartney and not George Harrison who performed the solo for "Drive My Car" on the original recording.

Even though McCartney wasn't the band's "lead guitarist", he certainly performs a very catchy yet quite tricky guitar solo. This solo will be a nice challenge for most guitar players. The reason it is so challenging is because of all the quick bends used throughout. Some of these bends are pre-bends which makes it even more difficult to play.

The solo is basically the same melodic phrase repeated 3 times followed by a short melody played with a bottle-neck slide. I don't use a slide in the lesson video, but you'll get the point I am sure.

So take few minutes and learn this great classic by The Beatles. It truly is a blast to play!

Carl...

[arnelldowret]

Putting quality lessons like these out for anyone to access is amazingly kind. It is exactly what the internet was supposed to be from the start. Thank you so much. It feels great to play what you’ve taught me!

[l.f.cliverpoolfilmclub]

That is a brilliant lesson. I live just a short bus ride from where George was born here in Liverpool England. George would be chuffed with how you have broken the whole guitar piece for us all to learn and enjoy. Thank You. Tony Jefferies.

[drhall]

Simply the better of the Beatle riff demo and clear tone explanations! Thanks my man! Yeah, eight years late to the party! Divorced and living the life!-)

[derekvaillant]

No guff no gab---great clear playing and instruction. Thanks for your good ears; Beautiful instrument, too.

[irvingbrann]

I want you to know that your videos have been very helpful to me and that I enjoy them very much. Thank you for doing a great job!

[unodawson]

woah i wasnt expecting that level of badass

[michael]

Thanks Carl... Paul did a great job of it at the Super Bowl... awesome bass lines too!

[michaeljoachim]

im a beginner, dont know chords yet just went straight to solos and your let it be and while my guitar gently weep solos were very clear and easy, great work

[bradleybrown]

Super good lesson. Camera angles capture everything.

[toodrunktofunk]

please do more beatles! the whole rubber soul album if possible

[user]

Carl you should definitely do Here Comes the Sun

[jorgemortola]

Excellent lesson!!! Thank you very much

[dEadERest]

i'm the 78th comment?
i watched up to the point where you began to speak, already, a great video👍🏽
multi-Instrumentalist, i do solo acoustic/vocal, i play no Beatles😶 i decided this would be a great place to start, ty🌴

[edguitarstanleyeisen]

Great song and brilliant lesson, thank you so much.

[jacobcorporon]

1:18 what karen thought the coronavirus was caused by

[journeyman]

Excellent job! You rock Carl! and thx for the quick reply!

[woodge]

I've got this song down to a t Carl thanks to your teaching I've learned a lot from you mate I've even started to put my own songs on YouTube many thanks Carl all the best stay safe

[BookofIsaiah]

Great tune!!!  I love this riff!!!!  Thanks for the lesson!!!!

[pault]

Great video ...George Harrison probably one of the most underrated

[rockonthestone]

Fantastic lesson! Much appreciation :)