Blackbird

I was trying to play the part where you have to do the big stretch from the 4th to the 8th frets. My fingers don't seem to stretch that far. I think I have fairly normal sized hands for a girl. Will my fingers stretch out over time, am I just not doing the technique right or should i be doing some kind of finger gymnastics to get them to stretch farther?

Yes! Practice, practice, practice! I have very small hands and I can make that stretch. It took me a while, but perseverance paid off! :D

Hello! This is my first post! :)

I'm having a little difficulty with the picking pattern. I just can't hear it, and I don't understand how it should sound. I've listened to the song (numerous times) but I just can't get the same sound. It seems this part really throws the song off for me. Is there any way I could get an audio file or suggestions to hear the sound of the pattern? Thank you, and sorry if this is a very stupid question!

Hi

Listening to the original recording isn't going to be much help as McCartney didn't so much fingerpick as "flick" his index finger in a downward motion in order to get many of the notes. That's also one of the reasons why so many guitar tablature versions of this song are lacking. It's pretty hard to write out what actually happened in a concise way.

Because of that, I deliberately wrote this piece to focus more on the finger movement on the neck and to not worry so much about the actual picking. Be that as it may, tis is one of our very earlly lessons and I definitely need to get 'round to putting sound files up for it. Unfortunately because of other things going on right now, it may be a while in coming. And, rereading the lesson again for the first time in a long time, I'm also wondering if I might not do a better job in writing it out...

Something else to ponder!

Welcome to Guitar Noise, by the way, and feel free to ask anything. We don't really believe in the existence of stupid questions around here, at least when it comes to learning the guitar.

Looking forward to seeing you on the boards.

Peace

Okay, thank you for the fast reply! I was expecting to wait days before hearing a response :)

Sometimes it takes even longer than days! :wink: And sometimes things just manage to work out that one gets a quick reply. Occasionally I happen to be at the right place at the right time.

Either way, my pleasure. And welcome again.

Peace

Mr. Hodge
I also would appreciate hearing MP3s of your Blackbird lesson. After a few weeks, I could more or less play it such that another person could recognize the tune I was butchering. But, I never did get the feel for what you called the "fuller" picking pattern. With this song and a few others, I've entered the music/tab into tuxguitar. Using the software allows me to hear the correct note duration, rhythm.

Keep up the good work!