Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

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Hey everyone! In this lesson I’m going to show you how to play “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol. This song uses a simple, repetitive, 3-chord progression which makes it an excellent choice for beginners. It also has a very simple lead guitar part that is played throughout the song. It’s one of the better tunes I’ve found for those just getting started on guitar so I’m glad to finally be able to make a lesson for it.

The lesson begins with the chord shapes: G, D/F# and Cadd9. Two of these chords are very very simple, and D/F# isn’t too bad in this context. We go over the chord shapes and I give some tips and tricks that will help you make the switches easier. After that, we practice playing the chords in order using downstrokes only.

Once we can play through the chord progression, along to a simple beat, I show you how to play the strumming pattern, which is pretty straight-forward. The real trick here is to say “miss” on beat 3. Once you can play the strumming pattern a few times in a row, it’s time to put it together with the chords and play through the song. We do this together, at a much slower pace than the original, to give you plenty of time to think things through.

Once you’ve accomplished that, it’s time to learn the lead guitar part. It’s very simple and you’ll get it down in no time! We try it together, just to make sure you’re doing it right, and that’s it!

All-in-all, this one’s pretty basic and I hope you enjoy the lesson!

-James

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