Hey, how’s it going this is Jon McLennan with Guitar Control, I’m bringing you this lesson and we’re working on a song called “Fields of Gold” by Sting. I’m going to show you how you can play the rhythm through the entire song and keep this back beat sort of slap going.
I’m in drop D make sure you’re in tune and let’s get started I like to start off the tuning like this, so the intro the song just vamps on a B minor and what I do is I play these harmonics right here which is like a D triad but if you put the B in the bass then it’s a B minor 7, so one thing you’ll notice is I’m in drop D so I’d like to play this tune in drop D so what I do is I take that low string and instead of tuning it to E, I’ll lower it down the tone matches my 4th string the D-string matches that note so then what I do is I’ll hold these harmonics with my first finger and then I’ll do this bass line 1 and 3 and that sets up the groove of the song, another thing about the technique is I like to keep this going on beats 2 and 4 and what it is really the sound of the strings just hitting the frets there so 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, now the verse is going to start like this, that’s halfway through the verse.
Let me take you through the chords first we’ve got a B minor which is a barre chord at the 2nd fret two, four, four, three, two, then I move to a G, now the way I’ll play the G with just one finger like this but because we’re in drop D, I move it up two frets so when you go to drop D any note on the low string if you want it to be the same as what you’re used to in standard tuning you got to move it up two frets so that’s I play G and then D sometimes I’ll play this D at 9, so like this and then sometimes even in this song I’ll play this chord like this is a nice move when he does the D to the G over D. So that is the 4th fret 2nd fret, 3rd fret, 2nd fret move to a G triad with a D in the base because I still got that low D and that’s 5, 4, 3, 3.
So in the verse I’ve got B minor, G, G, again then D then B minor now I’m going to go quick G to D so that’s a G with a B in the base so if you imagine your G chord like this and you just make the lowest note the 5th string we’ve got a G over B, so G over B, to A, to B minor, to D in the bass get back to same as before G over B. Now this time we resolve to D, so there’s kind of like two sections there to the verse the first one it resolves the phrase on a B minor and then the 2nd one resolves them on a D, so I’ll play them both for you one more time and then that leads us into the B section the bridge there so that’s how you play the verse.
With that first part let’s move on to the next section the bridge on this tune goes to the starts on the G. Let me play it for you first so I’m starting on the G chord and as sometimes I’ll use my pinky instead of my third finger and play that chord I’ve got one measure of G, D, G, D, G, and D, and then I do this twice
So let’s try it again gee I’ll just recap that G big, G big, G, things three times and then you do the tag twice ok let’s try together there ok now we’re into the guitar solo there’s like a nylon string that plays the melody and the changes that are happening in just like diverse but it’s like the 2nd half of the verse see that because it resolves my ear. So once for the solo then it does it two more times with singing last time now we’re going to take the ending and just go through that’s what’s called a tag G over B, A to D.
So what’s happening there is I’m doing this cord to A to D and that’s going three times, so it’s like I do this and I like to stretch this out kind of create a little outro and he end on the D. So what I was doing was a D with an F sharp here you know so I’ve got the 4th fret, 2nd fret, 3rd fret, 2nd and then I’m moving to this G shape here 5, 4, 3, 3, but peddling that low D so it’s G to a G over D, and then when you’re done 1 & 2, 3 you just take this shape and you move it all the way up to the 10th fret and you can play all 6 strings.
I’m now using a pick this is how I would play it if I was probably a company to sing up just so I can get that back beat in there so again the tag so I’ve always got that back beat going and the groove is one, two well that the back beat is 2 & 4, 1, 2, 3, flip up that feel just like at the beginning memory so we set it up with this so that’s how I would play rhythm on fields.
I hope this lesson helps you out and inspires you to pick up the guitar and play every single day this is such a great instrument for more information be sure to check out guitarcontrol.com and don’t forget to subscribe on our YouTube Channel and we’ll see you in our next video lessons, thanks for watching.
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