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In today’s guitar lesson we will learn how to play “Always” by Panic At The Disco in it’s entirety.
Consisting of a simple fingerpicking pattern throughout, this Always guitar lesson is a great study for anyone who is relatively new to the art of fingerpicking and would like to learn a song that sounds great on it’s own even without the vocals.
That simple picking pattern goes through a series of chords that are constantly changing with cool chromatic movement. The voice leading of the chords is very beautiful and at times reminiscent of “Stairway To Heaven”.
Perhaps the most difficult part of this Always guitar lesson would be the large stretches and barre chords used in the fret hand. The more difficult chord changes or sequences should be practiced on their own without the fingerpicking pattern. That will enable you to focus on how to economically switch between chords with nothing else to worry about.
One thing that this style of fingerstyle playing does do is expose any problems you may be having holding down a particular chord. Since almost every note is played one at time, it is very easy to hear if there are any dead notes within the chord shape. Those dead notes can be hard to hear when strumming a full chord. So take this opportunity to really get those left hand chord maneuvers down correctly. This Always guitar lesson is a great barre chord workout for that reason alone!
Before learning all of those chords I suggest spending a few minutes memorizing and becoming comfortable with the picking pattern. This is the one technique that is used throughout 95% of the song so it is essential to have it mastered. After that you can start to focus on learning all the chords and progressions.
All in all I feel “Always” by Panic At The Disco is a beautiful song that would be great for any intermediate level player to learn. Simply take your time with it and learn it phrase by phrase and I think you will have it down a lot faster that you think. 🙂
Enjoy! Carl..
