If you are looking for a killer finger style tune to work on then check out How to Play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s from instructor Darrin Goodman. This is a modern classic and Darrin breaks it down step by step so that it is easy to follow along and pickup.
Introduction
Hey, how’s it going this is Darrin Goodman with Guitar Control, I want to show you How to Play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s. This is a great song for acoustic guitar for finger picking incorporates a bunch of different chords and variations on these chords and stuff so but it’s actually really easy to play once you get it down and play it for people.
Hey There Delilah Intro & Verse
So to start off How to Play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s we’ve got the little intro and it’s just a regular open D chord and we’re going to play this finger style but it’s not your typical finger style it’s got an alternating baseline. So we’ll be playing the bass notes with our thumb and then we’re going to be playing the melody notes of the chord with our first three fingers, so P-I-M-A. So on this D chord for instance when you play D, you just play the first four strings, so we’re going to be playing the 4th string with our thumb and then we’re going to be playing strings 1, 2, and 3, with our first three fingers; so the 3rd string with first finger, 2nd string second finger and 1st string with our third finger and this is in 8th notes. So we’re going to play our thumb 4th string and then follow it with the 1st three strings, so 1 and 2 and 3 and that’s the first measure.
Then we go to a F sharp minor and this is a different style, we’re not doing the full barre chord here, we’re just doing the barre across the 1st three strings on the 2nd fret with our first finger and then pick up the 4th fret of the 4th string with our third finger, it’s like the very 1st chord from stairway to heaven, you’re just moving it down instead of being on the 5th and the 7th fret we’re on the 2nd and 4th fret and it’s the same picking, so that’s the first two measures which is the intro and you repeat it twice.
From there we move on to the verse and the first two measures the verse are actually the exact same as the intro that we just played and it’s also repeated twice, so technically what we went over we will play that a total of four times, so the verse where the vocal would begin. Now we move to a B minor, so this is the B minor barre chord so I’m barring all the way across the 2nd fret of the 1st five strings with my first finger and then 3rd fret of the 2nd string with my second finger, 4th fret of the 4th string with my third finger and 4th fret of the 3rd string with my fourth finger and now we’re going to do the same picking, but we’re going to move from playing strings 4-3-2-1, we’re just going to simply move that up to 5-4-3-2, so we’ve got the same thing.
We’re going to play the bass note with our thumb, that’s just the 5th string and then the melody notes strings 4, 3, and 2, so for this one the first three beats we’ve got 1 and 2 and 3 and then for the fourth beat we’re just going to take our first finger off. So now we have the 5th string open, so pretty cool sound and I think for major number 6 we go to a G chord just regular open G and we’re going in this case you want to make sure that you’re using the variation that you’re getting the 3rd fret of the 2nd string and not where the 2nd string is open, now we’re going to keep our first three fingers on strings 4, 3, and 2, but we’re going to move our bass note from the 5th string to the 6th string. So one and two and then we switch to an A chord and then we again keep our melody notes the same strings 4, 3, and 2, and we move back to the 5th string.
So that measure you have 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and then back to the B minor picked the same way except this time we won’t be changing the bass note on the fourth beat, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and then back to an A and now we’re going 1 and 2 and then for 3 and 4 and we’re going to move our first three fingers up so we’re playing strings 3, 2, and 1, but the bass note stays the same. So that’s the entire intro and verse.
Hey There Delilah Chorus
The next section of How to Play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s we have is the chorus. Now for the chorus it starts off we’ve got just the open D chord that we did before and for the first three beats we’re going to play the same way so 1 and 2 and 3 and then for the fourth beat it’s just the 5th string open, but this is a quarter note, so it’s like 1, 2, 3, 4. That transitions us to B minor and for this we’re going to do it the same way we did before for the first three beats 1 and 2 and 3 and then we’re going to do A over C sharp. It’s that same chord we did before we’ve got the A actually I guess we didn’t do this A, but for this case you’re going to need to play with your first finger, barring across the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings with my first finger and then I’m picking up the 4th fret of the 5th string with my third finger.
So we’re going to be playing the same strings that we was with the B minor strings 5, 4, 3, and 2, we’re just changing to the other chord, so we start off with the B minor 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, and then repeat brings us back to the D, so we take those two measures and they’re played four times. Then it goes the third measure of this is just the D again and then it goes back and it plays another verse.
Hey There Delilah Bridge
The final section of How to Play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s we’re going to go over the bridge section. For the bridge section we start off with a G chord and it’s that same voicing we did before where you need to have the 3rd fret of the 2nd string and not the open 2nd string we’re starting off we got our thumb playing the bass note on the 6th string and then the melody notes on strings 4, 3, and 2, so it’s a whole measure of that 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and then to an A, so we’re still playing the same melody notes on strings 4, 3, and 2, but our bass note is switched to the 5th string with a whole measure of this 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 to a D.
Now we’re moving all of our fingers on our fretting hand up so we’re playing the bass note on the 4th string and the melody notes on strings 3, 2, and 1, so this is 1 and 2 and 3. Now this is one of the trickier transitions, for beat number four we’re going to do a quarter note on the 4th fret of the of the 5th string and then that’s going to transition us into a B minor chord, so that whole third measure, actually that’s measure 15 but it’s the third measure of the bridge section, so these two measures are probably the most difficult part of the whole song but it’s really not once you get used to it. So starting off with that D, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.
Now we switch to a B minor 1 and 2 and 3 and then the 5th string open for beat number four making that transition from playing this you know this C sharp on the 4th fret of the 5th string and then transitioning that to the B minor, that’s probably the hardest transition in the whole song, so you’re probably going to want to work on that separately.
I hope you enjoyed How to Play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s and you got something out of it if you liked this video give me a thumbs up and leave me a comment and be sure to subscribe on our YouTube Channel and we’ll see you in our next video lessons, thanks for watching.
