Blackbird by the Beatles isn’t played exactly how most people think #shorts

[FinlandGuy]

Saw paul mccartney in Boston in 2022. One of the best expereiences of my life!

[HalfLifeOfHumanity]

This is such a genuine gem of spoken history. I immediately went and listened to the song.. And sure enough, it wasn't the very fine tuned way its been written online picking every note like it were a classical song. He is just playing around with a finger style he probs thought was neat for the song and just said fk it and kept it that way. Yet for years, millions of guitarists learned it off the most popular tabs of the time where it was transcribed the 3 finger way you describe.. The whole time you can play it with thumb and index and just kinda relax and wing it just like McCartney did.. Paul McCartney and the winging it.


..
but fr, this makes me want to pump the breaks on using tab so much and just go back to learning by ear for a bit.. It doesn't have to be dead on, and I feel like over-imitation is a huge pitfall for many musicians trying far too hard to recreate the exact sound, technique, playstyle and everything of the song writer when they cover their songs. But playing by ear allows for some fun differences between the original and your own and they just help define your style as your own. Playing to the tab, or God forbid music books, ends up feeling really formulaic to me. And I think I'm going to revert back to only using tab when I am completely stumped.

[heathbuckley]

IT IS AMAZING how just that little bit of brightness added with the brushing completely transforms this pieces sound

[jigssup]

It took me a long time to figure out how to play it like Paul...for me it sounds nicer...a lot more feeling than a simple pluck...plenty of ghost notes and a delicate touch

[arbyscurlyfries]

This makes total sense, I've always wondered how he makes it sound almost trilly and now it all makes sens.

[mejsjalv]

Been playing for almost 30 years. I've always refused to learn this song. Some stuff can still remain a mistery.

[fantasychickenn]

I always knew there was some sort of strumming in there but assumed it was an overdub, as an old Beatles tab book i had when i first started playing had it tabbed exactly how you played it the first time

[glennmatthews]

I’ve always wondered about this. My dad, a Gen Xer, always played it differently to how the song went. I didn’t realize until I heard the song years later, but not before my dad played it to me and my sister all throughout our childhood. But the two songs sound completely different, I much prefer my dad’s version though. It’s got so much more meaning to me.

[kevinhowley]

I guess its similar enough to how John Mayer plays a lot of songs too. Stop this train, who says for example

[uacce]

I learned the song by ear so I don't know how but I figured out that one finger brush-picking by myself. I'm really surprised and proud by knowing I learned it how it was played

[karliscool]

I think the first version sounds better

[justasomeone]

Yeah, I know I don't play it the way he does, cause I looked it up when I decided to learn it, and found it too tricky for me personally, and found a tutorial of a way to finger pick it that I think sounds lovely, so I surrendered to that being the best way for me to play it.

[TheSoulEcstatic]

This sounds very similar to what Will Wood does in a lot of live performances as well! I love it

[VNEEDMUSIC]

For all the open G notes hes actually using the finger flick throughout the song. Not only that octave part. Its way more percussive in the recordong, which is brought about by using the brushy fonger technique.

[niekvanwensen]

It’s a similar technique to John Mayer’s Who Says and Stop This Train

[catandtheostrich]

That's clawhammer technique. He got that from Donovan, when they went out to India. John and Paul kept annoying Donovan to show them clawhammer. IIRC it's something banjo players do.

[josephestes]

That guitar would sound great with a little fret work. Good playing.

[drewb]

I’ve had that same white dead milkmen shirt since high school.

[entity_of_the_cosmos]

i always played it with three fingers and my thumb 🤷

[nakulsprakash]

That's the same way he plays yesterday.