How Does Paul McCartney Actually Play Blackbird?

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I spent a long time playing Blackbird wrong! I think a lot of Beatles fans did too. Check out this video to see what Paul McCartney said about guitar players and this song.

[TravelatorHr]

The verdict is out Paul McCartney's the one who plays the song wrong

[MatGurman]

50 years ago, way before YouTube, people used to play along with the actual recording to learn a song or part. It yielded different interpretations also because people listen with varying degrees of depth. Sometimes, when comparing the results to a songbook I would find discrepancies. The ear can be tricked by hearing other instruments in the track that are doing something similar. This happens all the time with lead vocal parts crossing with backup vocals. People often incorporate the two. I still think trusting your ear in a deep listening is the most accurate way to learn. I have several instructional videos and have had people occasionally tell me that the tab is wrong in places. They are correct too! They guy who did the takedown got some stuff wrong. It happens. The ear is still the best instrument for unlocking what’s in the music even though it can be wrong. In this Blackbird example, Paul’s accompaniment is being somewhat dictated by his technique using P I (thumb and index finger). This is not uncommon for self taught players (like me) to use that technique. It’s very interesting to see in these examples and you did a GREAT job at showing it.

[kbjerke]

I learned to play it "by ear" in 1970. You definitely have the "all your life" section correct. As a side note, however, I have seen Sir Paul play *MANY* different versions of his own composition, and rightly so. I learned the version from the White Album. Thanks for sharing!

[ckallaher]

I watched the Justin tutorial video too and thought it was pretty spot on in revealing the whole strumming versus picking thing. What gets me is (a) it’s just as hard to get the feel right doing the little strummy thing as it is picking it, if not harder, and (b) it’s also surprisingly hard to sing over it because of the tiny bit of syncopation between the vocal and guitar parts at times and the way the melody in the “ blackbird fly” part doesn’t always follow the chord tones of what you’re playing. It’s a testy little beast and he makes it sound like it’s easy as a nursery rhyme to play and sing.

[cstonegroove]

Thanks for sharing. I actually learned it with the finger sweeps. Back in the day, there was a very accurate tab in an old issue of Guitar magazine circa 1988.

[IAMDRREMULAKK]

2 points... first, who says that the way he plays it today is how he played it back then? Musicians often slightly improvise, and never play songs the way they were recorded, mostly because they never learnt the song (if that makes sense). They just did it. The 2nd point is there is a video of Paul playing Blackbird in the Apple studios back during the White Album sessions. I remember seeing it, though I can't find it now. He was tapping his hard shoes to the beat. So that's the video I would go to, to learn how to play it, although there's no guarantee that even then he played it exactly the same.

[Freakybananayo]

No joke, this is the first time in my 9 years playing guitar that I've seen someone actually figure out the proper technique. I haven't found a single cover on Youtube where they play it correctly, even when it says "accurate" in the title! I never realised the technique was so simple, only using 1 finger. I just learnt the whole thing today using that technique and I can finally say I am satisfied with Blackbird! Thanks man

[cyndifoore]

Thank you for getting the right notes and strumming/picking on this song, it’s one of the most beautiful songs out there.

[guysaurus]

It’s called clawhammer or frailing, it’s more common on banjo. I saw recently read that Donovan had demonstrated this technique to Paul and John. John used his version of it on Dear Prudence.

[JohnTyree]

I'm glad you did this. I thought I was going crazy looking at the 100% consensus across tabs that didn't match the song as recorded (white album). One thing I'd point out is that the bass line is straight 1/4's and doesn't syncopate like the pick/strum pattern. It looks like you tabbed it that way, but then while playing it you sometimes change the bass rhythm. 👍

[AlDunbar]

In a band in 67-68 we always tried to duplicate the sound of the record as closely as we could. Ruined a number of records by picking up the stylus and dropping it back a bit to keep replaying that tough to figure out part!

Now I mainly try to show my respect for a song by working out an arrangement that I can play well enough not to embarrass the song. If it's not exactly like the original version, who cares - it's my version.

[victorwilburn]

The Songsterr tab now has the strum instead of the individual notes. And it also shows that the pattern isn't just a fixed 8th-16th-16th, but rather alternating between that and 16th-16th-8th.

However, it also now has that A7 chord as using fret 4 on the A string and fret 8 on the B string.

[pippipster]

And the tune was based on him playing Bach wrong.

[NehemiahRyan]

I learned by ear and got it pretty much right as far as the strumming goes. It took years before I got the correct chord shapes, even though the chords I was playing had the correct notes. I was playing the right notes and the right strumming pattern but the wrong chord shapes until a few years ago.

[homeontherange]

My good friend Leslie taught me how to play this song years ago. The way he described the picking was with the thumb and the first finger. The way he showed me, when you hear the strumming, you do it with the one first finger back and forth. This song was an introduction to finger picking for me. In the years since, i usually play with all my fingers with the exception of this song.

[ebslater]

This is hilarious because I've been having this argument with other guitarists for years. Every guitarist I know insists that he finger picks it. Vindication! I learned it strumming like Paul does from day one. I'm guessing that everyone that swears he fingerpicks it only learned it from tablature. I learned it from the record by ear. Just goes to show it pays to put in the time and figure things out by ear. You'll become a better musician if you do, and I honestly think it helped me appreciate music better.

[matthewmaurysmith]

Great video! As a generally classically informed style guitar player, I've always played that open G with my index finger like everyone else, and never realized he flicks downward with his index finger! Trying it, you realize how weird that is because of the orientation of the finger Strokes versus the beat. It's like playing at a completely different way.

[georgeemil]

I think you are all correct. Musicians play their own songs differently sometimes.

I have never heard Lindsey Buckingham play Never Going Back Again in concert the way it was played on the Rumours album.

And the concert version of Band on the Run, the guitar intro for the part for 'Mama' is different from the album version.

[Glicksman]

I taught myself the alternating middle finger open "G' string way to play Blackbird because that's what it sounded like to me on the record. I also hybrid pick it. I have recently come to understand that Paul actually played/plays it with an alternating open "G " chord strum instead of the single note. That's actually much easier, but less precise sounding to me.
I should have sussed it. Given any guitar playing alternative, John, Paul and George always went for the simplest, easiest possible way to play, and why not? This is not a criticism, just an accurate observation.
I remember when "Revolver" came out and I worked like mad to play the seemingly double-stop solo in "And Your Bird can Sing". After a lot of blood, toil, tears and sweat, I actually got it, pretty much. Much later on, I learned that it was not double-stopped at all but was two individual guitars (Paul and George) playing single note lines in harmony. Bloody hell! Well, anyone (or two) can do that, dammit!. Playing Blackbird is much the same. I'm sticking to the single "G" note way. I like it better.

Cheers.

[e.collins]

If there's one thing I've learned about guitar. It doesn't matter how you play it as long as it sounds good. I've played with people who are rigid and get upset when you don't play a song exactly right. While they're over there struggling to match exact strokes of a professional musician, I'm just in my zone jamming and very much playing the same song while also sounding way smoother. Just play it how you can the best that you can