How to Play California Dreamin by The Mamas and The Papas on Guitar – Made Easy on Video

Hey, this is Matias Rengel with Guitar Control, we’ll be learning this song called “California Dreaming” by The Mamas and Papas.

Click on the Tabs button to follow chords and tabs.

The first thing we’re going to be learning is the arpeggio of the song so for that we’re going to use an A minor chord and we’re going to be altering it a little bit so for the A minor chord we have the open 5th and the open 1st and we have the middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 4th and 2nd fret of the 3rd string then we have the index finger on the 1st fret of the 2nd string just like that.

Now what we’re going to play the 4th string and the 3rd string and then we’re going to play the 2nd string but we’re going to play it open after removing the index finger so and then we’re going to play once again the 3rd string then we’re going to bring down the pinky to the 3rd fret of the 2nd string and then you remove the pinky and play the 1st fret of the 2nd string and open fret open 2nd string so we repeat that part.

Basically that’s like what the main guitar is doing and then repeats that three times and then at the end you bring down the middle finger to the 2nd fret of the 5th string in that’s your E7 suspended 4. Now the second guitar is actually coming in in the recording coming in like a little bit later and he’s a  so right you got this one and then the chord starts, so I mean I guess you could potentially play both of them together if you can figure it out.

I mean original is they are playing it separately but from there we go into the chord part for the core part we have an A minor and then you’re going to a G for each each you place your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the six index finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th and ring on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string and pinky finger on the 3rd fret of the 1st string just like that.

Now from there you’re going to an F major you have the index finger on the 1st fret all the strings and then you got the ring finger on the 3rd fret of the 15 key finger on the 3rd fret of the fourth and middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd so then from there you’re going to repeat the G and you’re going to go into E7 suspended 4 that we learn at the beginning the one that had the middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th and ring finger on the 2nd fret of the third  you can remove the ring finger and leave the index on the 1st fret of the 3rd turning it into an E7 instead of E7 suspended 4, so we are G,  E7 suspended 4 from there we’re going to play an F so the F is going to be the final chord we’re going to say that that’s part of this group of chords that we just played.

Now for the next part were going into a C and then the feed you have a the ring finger on the 3rd fret of the 5th wheel pin on the 2nd fret of the 4th open third and index finger on the 1st fret of the 2nd and open first.

Going to E7 back to A minor going to 87 back to a minor then to an F7 suspended 4 and now is going to start repeating check what’s going to happen A minor, G,  F, G, E7 suspended 4, E7 and repeat again. Basically you have three different that are happening you have A minor, G, F, G, E7sus4, E7 and F. Now the 2nd progression comes E7, A minor, F, E7sus4, E7. Now the 3rd progression comes and repeats three times A minor, G, F, G, E7sus4, E7 and you repeat that one time.

Now for the rhythm, what I like to play this rhythm for this song so we got down, down, up down, down, up down. so basically the only one that changes in the E7sus4 you go down you keep going down upon the ground so we could say one against the one it’s only down and then to see for his down, up, down, up, so run down three four. Now from there you went to E7 and you play down, down, up, in a F in the same with the next one, now the second time we do the next progression I’m the other ones if we’re not going to do since we don’t have the F anymore whenever we go into the E7 suspended 4 and then were going to repeat the same way progression the same rhythm.

That’s your “California Dreamin” by the Mamas and the Papas, a super easy song I mean I think it’s really cool once you like what I would recommend is that you write down write this, you can download and tell which has the probably has the progression on the chords and their page that are playing but I would recommend you the that you download the tab and that you analyze what I’m doing and that you divide this in three different progressions in that C however you want to see it in your brain in your mind and just like and see it visually don’t try to like be like oh there’s the name and see it as a combination of chords okay what I like to do I like to see the roots of the course electricity a dis an a G Ness G so that helps me visually to see what is the next core and like a drawing of the different progressions that are happening but remember that this song is originally play on the 4h fret with the capo so if you want to follow along do that and I believe that it’s not in exactly in 440 in the tuning it’s not accepting 440 I think it’s different so I am not sure what it is maybe 436 437 you could tune it to exactly play along with the song but I would recommend that you find the key that works best for your voice and just playing that key I think that would be the best actually they chose that and it’s not you’re not less of a player if you don’t play an original T just find the key that works for you for singing and that’s it hey but anyways that’s it for today.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson there’s a link in the description make sure you download it to their what I just showed you remember to subscribe to our You Tube Channel and we’ll see you in our next video lessons, thanks for watching.

[ninja-popup ID=715]

How to play your favorite songs from the 60's & 70's on the guitar

image_3_edit_3

This free course expires in:

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

Get 2 hours of FREE Guitar Lessons.