The Monkees – “I’m A Believer” Guitar Lesson

[00:00:00]Let's go back in time to the mid60s.

[00:00:03]Here's a song originally written by Neil Diamond, but made famous by the monkeys.

[00:00:10]And then, of course, Smashmouth covered it later as well. But in this video, I want to dive into the electric guitar parts and show you some insider tips on the style behind this. There's also a really cool organ blues riff that combines with the electric lead and I want to show you how to put it all together into one electric part. So, grab your axe and let's dive into this I'm a believer guitar lesson. We're going to start off with the opening riff that sounds like this. Oh, 1 2 3 4.

[00:00:43][music] Then we're into the verse there. that I thought [singing] love was only [music] true in fairy tales.

[00:00:56]So, what I played here was the organ part to start off because the organ goes that's what the organ does and then the guitar kind of picks it up into that with a these just cool bluesy double stops. So, if you combine them, you can roll one into the next like this. Start with the fifth fret on the fourth string.

[00:01:17]And then we're gonna do these double stops on seven and six of the third and second strings there. So I'm gonna go and then bar with one finger here on five, five, five on strings four, [music] three, and two. We'll play that twice.

[00:01:36]And that's the organ part. So we'll go [music] and then we'll jump into the guitar riff which goes.

[00:01:45]So these are just double stops here. I'm hammering from the third fret to the fifth fret on the fifth string like this.

[00:01:54]And then I play the third fret on the fourth string just right underneath there. And you want to get these notes to ring over like this.

[00:02:03]You don't want like [music] that disconnected sound. You want to let them ring out throughout. So, and you just repeat that. So, you go.

[00:02:13][music] Now, we do it twice, but on the third time we're going to do what's called a grace note hammer on. So, these first two hammer ons have a rhythmic value. They're eighth notes. So, we'll count one and two and three and. But then on beat four, we'll combine those two notes together and just that'll be beat four. And then the and four is the third fret on the fourth string. So it's going to go.

[00:02:44]See how that last one is quicker.

[00:02:47][music] So 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and and then we'll go back to just the slower ones. 1 and 2 [music] and 3 and four and for a full measure there. So it's a two bar riff. [music] Okay. Now if I combine that with the organ part sounds like this. Three four.

[00:03:13][music] [music] Then from there play a G chord. So that's the opening riff which again is the organ and the guitar combined. But it's all coming out of like this stuff.

[00:03:29]>> [music] >> It's all coming out of the blues scale, [music] the G minor blues scale. And if you don't know how to play your blues scales up and down the neck, your major and minor, then go to john mlennon.com/b blues scales, and grab my free blues scale PDF guide. This is going to show you the easiest and fastest ways to play it up and down the neck. And you know, there's a lot of lessons online that teach the blues scale, but you want to make sure you're learning the right patterns. And those are the patterns that Eric Clapton uses, that BB King used, that Jimmy Hendris. And so if you're learning your blues scales and then you learn music by these legendary musicians and the patterns don't match up, then you could be wasting your time.

[00:04:21]So to make sure you're doing it right, just go to john mcclennen.com/b bluescales and grab that now as my gift to you. So from there we go into the verse and that's where [music] the lyrics come in. I thought love was only true in fairy tales. Now we're going to use two chords here for the verse. We're going to play a G bar chord which is here in third position. 3 5 [music] 4 3. It's all six strings.

[00:04:48]And then I go to a D bar chord here starting with a root on the fifth string. Five seven7. [music] So we got G and D.

[00:05:03]Now the progression is going to go one bar of G to one bar of D and then back [music] to two bars of G.

[00:05:12]So if I just strummed once, it would be like this. A one, two, [music] three, four. A one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, [music] three, four. I'm strumming once on each bar.

[00:05:25]Just, you know, because you only have one chord per bar. You don't have multiple chords in one bar. So, yet that's going to come later in the song.

[00:05:33]So, one, two, [music] three, four. A switch. 2 3 4 G 2 3 4 G 2 [music] 3 4.

[00:05:40]Then it goes again. Da da da [singing] da da da d [music] 2 2 3 4 oh 1 2 3 4 Now rhythmically on the recording you'll hear what's called a backbe where the guitar player plays on beats two and four like this. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Just a real classic way of playing where you play on beats two and four. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Now I'm playing this thumb chord. It's the same chord as G major. I just do it with my thumb. So that's [music] all that is. It's a little bit more Jimmyi Hendrendrick style that [music] way. So here, if if I was playing this just on one guitar, I would probably add the bass note in there. So I might add the bass note when the chord changes or on the down beat and then keep the two and four going. So like 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Just to kind of get a little bit of the the rhythm section feel. So, [music] [music] so that's a rhythm you can use. And then we're going to go on to the pre chorus.

[00:07:11]And that goes [music] got a new chord here. We've got a C, which is the same shape as D. We're just going to bring it down two [music] frets. And this is where the lyrics sing love was out to get me. We're going to go the way it seemed [singing and music] all my dreams.

[00:07:36]Right. And then I saw her face. So this pre chorus section goes C to G, C to G, C to G three times there. Okay. So it's 1 2 3 4 1 2 and second time, third time. [music] Then after that we go to D, okay, for two bars. It's going to be a 1 2 [music and singing] 3 4. And then we're going to break. We're going to hit that down beat and then rest. And that's where the lyrics sing. And I saw her face. Okay. So, if I combine that backbeat strumming with the bass note and now the pre chorus chord progression, it's going to sound like this. Love was out to get me.

[00:08:24]That's the way it seemed. 2 3 4a [singing] 2 3 4 1 Then I saw her face.

[00:08:36]Okay. So, here for the chorus, what I like to do is go back to the organ riff.

[00:08:41]So, it's like then I saw her face.

[00:08:47][music] Okay. So, again, you could check out my acoustic lesson on this where it's just the chords are just going G to C, two beats per chord for the chorus. But you can play the riff on top of it like this.

[00:09:06]So, that's what we did from the from the very beginning where we went [music] Right. So it's like a G. This is actually part of a G7 chord here part of that sound. So then this is part of a C.

[00:09:24]It's like part of that chord. And then we're going to add this. [music] That's a blues move right there.

[00:09:30]What it is is you take that index [music] finger there, bring it down two frets to 3, three, three, and hammer [music] into four. So, it's going to go [music] and that hammer is on the third string [music] four times. Then I'm in love for D, [music] [music] right? And then we're back to the verse section. So, what I played here for the chorus was the organ riff four times.

[00:10:13]So, 1 2 3 4 2 3 4. Third time.

[00:10:22][music] Then fourth time and go to G. 1 2 3 4. [music] Now here I let the chords kind of ring out more. So I start the same way as before with the bass note strum but then just let it ring. 1 2 3 4 then hit a C chord. [music] Let it ring back to G.

[00:10:41]And then move that G two frets down for F.

[00:10:45]Okay. [music] Those are all one bar per chord. So 1 2 3 4. I'm a belief.

[00:10:56]>> [music] >> And that's just the same part that we tied in from the beginning there, which is the blues riff. So there you have it.

[00:11:05]Those are some insider tips on how to play I'm a believer as recorded by the monkeys. Such a cool song. And really those guitar riffs and organ riffs, like I said, are based in the blues. So, if you don't know how to play your blues scales anywhere on the neck, then go to john mcclennen.com/bluescales and grab my free blues scale PDF guide.

[00:11:29]This is going to show you the easiest and fastest ways to learn the blues scale up and down the neck. And it's going to help you out in your rhythm and lead for so many songs just like this.

[00:11:40]Then when you see a riff like this or you'll be able to recognize [music] the scale that that comes from. So go to john mcclennen.com/bluescales and grab that now as my gift to you. As always, hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, you might like this one next.