Guitar Noise

Reaping The Rewards

How about we try out a couple of songs? Well, just like when first took up the guitar, it’s best to start with something relatively easy and then work your way towards pieces that are more difficult.

We’ll begin with Bob Dylan’s Shelter From The Storm. It’s very straight forward - 4/4 time and just three chords. Oh, yes, before I forget - the disclaimer:

This file is the author’s own work and represents his interpretation of the song. It is intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.

As I said, the song is in 4/4. Each verse is sixteen measures - four sets of four which correspond to the four lines of lyrics in each verse. I like to repeat the last three measures between the verses to break it up. The chord pattern for each verse (with the “inter-verse” break in parenthesis) is as follows:

D - - - / Dmaj7 - - - / G - - - / D - - -
D - - - / Dmaj7 - - - / G - - - / G - - -
D - - - / Dmaj7 - - - / G - - - / G - - -
D - - - / Dmaj7 - - - / G - - - / D - - -

( Dmaj7 - - - / G - - - / D - - -)

These are the chords I will use in Open D tuning:

First, let’s put together a strumming pattern, perhaps something like this:

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When I play this, I usually play the second D chord (the non-open one) as the first chord and the open D chord to end the first and fourth lines of the verses. This allows me to start a descending bass line on the 5th string, playing the bass note on the first beat of the measure (I hope you’re bearing with me, because it’s a lot easier to show someone than to write it out!). Visually, one verse would look something like this:

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Now this tablature is very basic. I fingerpick a lot, and even when I use a pick I tend to arpeggiate (not a verb, I know) more than I strum. But for now, just get the feel of where the chords are and how they sound. Pretty nice, huh? If you want to get the lyrics to all ten verses, just Google the song title.