mr dave

there's only one way to make the chords flow well together and that's practice.

i find 'jane says' by jane's addiction is a great simple tune to get used to switching chords and working in a simple lick. it's really just two chords repeated over 2 basic patterns for the duration of the song. (i'm typing this from memory so the rhythm is probably not 100% accurate)

G--------A
*--*--*-^-^--*
---3-------------------------
---3-----2-2---2-------------
---0-----2-2---2--4-2--------
0--0---0-2-2---2-------4-2---
2--2---2-0-0---0-------------
3--3---3---------------------


G-------------A
*-*-^-*----*-^-^
---3-3-3----------------------
---3-3-3-------2-2------------
---0-0-0-------2-2--4-2-------
0--0-0-0----0--2-2------4-2---
2--2-2-2----2--0-0------------
3--3-3-3----3-----------------


i'm using * and ^ to designate the basic direction of the strum. * being a downstroke starting with the low E and ^ being an upstroke starting from the smaller strings. those top two lines would be a lot cleaner if the forum didn't auto delete multiple blank spaces.

the other trick to playing this tune is to use a simplified fingering to play the A chord. traditionally you're supposed to be using three fingertips to fret the A, but laying the top of your index finger across the three strings as if you were playing a bar chord works just as well. which also makes it a lot easier to do the single note lick by using your ring finger to hit the notes on the 4th fret while continuing to let the last A chord ring out over top.

using the index finger method also mutes the high E and sometimes the B string depending on how hard you're pressing. this is not necessarily a bad thing. so long as the bulk of the chord rings through the muted strings will add a nice percussive thickness to the sound.

if you don't already know the song give it a listen first and try focusing on the groove. don't worry if you can't get it sounding just right from the get go. navarro uses a fair amount of muting and overdubs to get a really nice thick acoustic sound going on that track. if you find you have a hard time getting the groove just forget about actually playing the chords for a bit and focus on getting the rhythm in your strumming hand. just mute everything with your fretting hand and try getting the 'chk chikkachikka chk chk chk' going.

you WILL learn to love left hand muting if you ever want to play anything by the chili peppers. speaking of which, 'breaking the girl' is another good song to practice basic chord changes with. the official tab book version is kind of lame though, lucky for me i had learned it from a magazine prior to getting the book. but let's see how you handle 'jane says' first hehe

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