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Hey everyone! In this lesson, I’m going to show you a SUPER easy way to play “State of Grace” by Taylor Swift. This lesson is designed for people who are just getting started and want some real songs that they can play right away! Normally this song has barre chords and some other advanced things – I’ve reduced it down and simplified it so it still sounds a LOT like the song, but is MUCH more approachable for beginners.
The lesson starts with the chord shapes: E and Asus2. These are the first 2 chords that I teach all my students because there’s just 1 step involved when switching between them. We spend some time going over the shapes and then practice switching between them using downstrokes only (let’s not worry about rhythm yet…)
Once we’ve taken care of that, it’s time to learn the strumming pattern. This is one of the simplest ones ever. All you need to do is keep playing downstrokes! It helps if you count along: simply say “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and” as you strum and you’re all set! (By the way, this is the actual strumming pattern used in a lot of this song, so believe it or not, this part isn’t simplified!)
Once we’ve learned the strumming pattern, it’s time to put it all together! I overdubbed this section with some INCREDIBLE vocals by yours truly! (The sarcasm doesn’t really come through via text, eh? Well, I’ve spent about 10,000 hours practicing guitar and about 30 minutes practicing vocals, so please go easy on me!)
I hope you enjoy the lesson and I’ll see you soon!
-James
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