Cold Water – Justin Bieber

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Hey everyone! In this lesson we’re going to learn “Cold Water” by Justin Bieber and Major Lazer. I referenced both the original recording and the BBC Live performance when making this tutorial. The only difference is in how the F chord is played (more on that later…)

If you’re just getting started you might need some extra help. I have 2 resources for that:

Interested in MASTERING THE BASICS?

You’ll want to check out my Beginner Guitar Course! More information here: https://goodguitarist.com/beginner-guitar-course/

And there’s my FREE eBOOK (which is free for all subscribers!) – You can use it to help you build a solid foundation: chords, switching, progressions, riffs, techniques… everything it takes to be a “good guitarist.” You can find it here: https://goodguitarist.com/learn-rhythm-guitar/

Depending on where you’re at with guitar this one can be quite simple or a little bit tricky. What makes it simple is the fact that it’s just the same four chords over and over again with a fairly simple finger picking pattern. Now, the tricky part is in the fact that two of those chords are barre chords and the finger picking pattern does need to be pretty tight, rhythmically.

The lesson begins with the chord shapes: Dm, F, Am, Bb. The one chord shape that’s a bit strange is the F chord but if you watch the live version his guitar player simplifies it. I give you both options so you could play it like the original recording or like the live performance. And before we get into the finger-picking we make sure to strum them all with downstrokes only and get used to the switches, as well as going over a couple tips for making the switches more efficient.

We move on into the fingerpicking pattern. This song is cool because the finger picking pattern simply ascends and is followed by a smack. You don’t have to mix up the order of your fingers or anything like that.. but you do need to be very precise rhythmically! With that in mind, I teach you how to count it out and practice picking the right strings at the exact right time.

Once we can play the song with chords and a picking pattern, we take a look at a strumming pattern. It is very helpful to be able to strum this tune especially during the parts where it gets a lot more intense, so I show you how to do that and we talk about when to use the fingerpicking vs strumming pattern.

I hope you enjoy the lesson and I’ll see you next time!
-James

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