Guantanamera

Description

In this tutorial we are going to learn how to play "Guantanamera" as performed by The Sandpipers. This patriotic Cuban song has a great groove and features a simple chord progression, using two guitars, that goes a long way. While in the recording, there are lots of layers of different types of guitars we will be using one acoustic guitar and one nylon string. Guitar #1, our acoustic, will play all the melodies you hear all throughout the song. Guitar #2, our nylon string in Dropped D tuning, plays open string chords and guides the flow of the song.

I am using a pick with Guitar #1 to really nail the melodies and have them be heard. For Guitar #2, I will be using my fingers to emulate that style as well to help keep this guitar very transparent and in the supporting role. The nylon strings help retain the authenticity of the song as well as providing a nice addition to the rhythm section.

I am going to go through the entire song, and teach you the parts that both guitars are playing. After at the end we have heard the whole song with both guitars playing along, then we're going to have a version of the song that you can play with just a single guitar. I will guide you through which parts to play when, and then you will be able to see me playing single guitar version of the song using the nylon string.

"Guantanamera" is in the Key of D, at 105 BPM, and in 4/4 time.