SONG 203 • Barcelona by George Ezra

Continuing his series of great songs about European cities that start with the letter “B,” George Ezra gives us a moody song about Barcelona. This is a fun song on guitar, and very manageable if you know a little fingerpicking and don’t mind using an open tuning. If you have some experience on guitar and want to learn some fingerpicking and play in an open tuning for the first time, this would be a good song to try out. I teach the song in Open D, though the recorded version is in the key of F – it looks like George is tuning to open E and putting a capo on the 1st fret. I prefer to tune down to Open D, and you could put the capo on the 3rd fret to get to the key of F. (People who want to sing & play the song can experiment with different keys by moving the capo around.) This is such a fun tune that I’m really looking forward to future songs from George Ezra about Berlin, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brno, Bratislava, Brussels, Bergen… Anyway, hope you have fun with this song.

Part I – Picking patterns, chords, melody, playing through the song

Part II – the solo / instrumental section

Lesson road map:

Part I
00:04 – Play-through
01:12 – Introduction, difficulty level
01:51 – Tuning: Open D, tuning & capo considerations
03:42 – Picking pattern: bass pattern, finger-string assignment
06:50 – Picking pattern: basic picking pattern, rhythm count
08:42 – Verse: chord progression
09:42 – Verse: 1st string melody line
13:21 – Verse: combining 1st string melody w/ picking pattern
16:20 – Verse: play-through with rhythm count
18:09 – Chorus: chord progression
20:19 – Chorus: picking pattern, rhythm count
22:45 – Chorus: play through
23:50 – 2nd Verse is structured differently, play-through
25:00 – Song structure from 2nd chorus through outro
26:42 – Parting thoughts

Part II
00:04 – Play-through & introduction
00:59 – Structure & chord progression
01:37 – Melody notes
05:35 – Play-through of melody over the I chord
06:09 – Combining melody & picking pattern
09:30 – Rhythm & counting through the solo section
11:07 – Play-through with rhythm count
11:59 – Play-through at slower tempo (guitar only)
12:40 – Parting thoughts

Artist website: http://www.georgeezra.com