How To Play Take it Easy by Eagles on Guitar

Hey, how’s it going this is Jon McLennan with Guitar Control, today’s lesson is on a song called “Take it Easy” by the Eagles. Such a great classic song and it’s really going to kick start our strumming so don’t forget to check the image above to follow the chords and tabs that I’ve put together for this lesson it’s going to have all the shapes written out and for each section of the song I’m going to zoom in and break the whole thing down for you so get your pick tune up and let’s get started.

<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><a href="https://guitarcontrol.com/images/blog/take-it-easy-1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://guitarcontrol.com/images/blog/take-it-easy-1.jpg" alt="pic" class="wp-image-12011" /></a></figure></div>  <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><a href="https://guitarcontrol.com/images/blog/take-it-easy-2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://guitarcontrol.com/images/blog/take-it-easy-2.jpg" alt="pic" class="wp-image-12011" /></a></figure></div>  <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><a href="https://guitarcontrol.com/images/blog/take-it-easy-3.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://guitarcontrol.com/images/blog/take-it-easy-3.jpg" alt="pic" class="wp-image-12011" /></a></figure></div>  <p></p>  <p>The intro has three chords it’s got a G, C over G, and then a D7 sus4 and of course I’ve played this song for years you know it’s come up in cover bands and things and one of the things that I did not realize at the beginning the first few times playing it was that the intro actually starts and it’s like one two three so it has this emphasis on the upbeat for just for the first eight so for anyone and for the most part throughout this entire song my hand is just going back and forth but then I’ll accent certain beats so at the beginning it’s the end of four one and two and three and four before it’s actually switched on as well it’s not just the accent and then you’re here that’s where that lick comes in it’s got to be brutal dude on it you know that that you know country kind of sounding tell you what at that point you’re just on the G and you’re going in the verse.</p>  <p>So what I’m really doing is one and two and three and four and I’m just going back and forth but I’m kind of keeping the one and you know just one hand here almost on the lower strings and then on two and four I accent the other string so that’s the groove and then I’m going to keep that going and just move through the changes which again you can click the link and you can get the tab and the chords that I have written out of written them out in tab and then also just a chord chart you can see the names G-E-D, so it I’ll just go through these chords for the first strum is like G, D, C, then again G, D, C, G, but the timing on them is like this you’ve got two and a half bars of G and then two beats of D, C, G, you’ll hear it here we go.</p>  <p>Let’s do that again that’s the verse one again 8th note it’s just plowing away with the right hand now we got the melody we’re back to the verse. So that is the chorus section which is because that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 bars and then a 2 bar re-intro. So let me go over the chords for the chorus, now on the chart there’s a chord in the parentheses in the second measure and that happens the second time we play the chorus it does not happen the first time so the first time goes like this A minor twice C, G, A minor C, let’s do it again this is the first half of the chorus.</p>  <p>So those chords in the second half are C, G, C, G, A minor, C, G, okay let’s try it one two so I don’t really know the words but I am trying to hum along and get the melody so that’s a good thing for you to do too because the song kind of whines and goes in and the melody really guides us through all those changes so let’s play the entire chorus now one two, then right there we go back and we repeat you’ll see the repeat sign which takes you back to the verse and we’re going to do everything all over again we’re going to do the verse again and do a sort of a chorus prime which has that second chord in parentheses being played so again you’re really going to want to get the get the chart on this one but here is here’s the second time through this is the second verse into the second chorus one two and right there we’re into the guitar solo so what I did was I repeated the verse again and I played the chorus the only difference was on the second chorus I played a D in the second measure which is that chord in parenthesis nice work you’ve got that first section down now we’re going to get into the rhythm that’s played behind the guitar solo and we’re going to take it out through the end of the tune there we go all right so let’s go through the solo section it starts like this same as the verse basically okay so what I did there was I basically just played a verse and when you got to the chorus I played these changes I play E minor, D, C, G, A minor, C, E minor, and then a quick push on the D, so if I play from basically where the chorus is during the solo beat. So that’s the and a 2-1 and then we’re into the last verse which you’ll see this on page 2 of the chart this is the now again the last verse is different these are the songs that are really kind of tricky and the fact that I mean it’s not a lot of chords but each section is actually different it’s not just like a pop thing where you repeat four chords over and over so the last verse has these chords to it normally we’re going to see here but it’s a minor this time so okay so that’s the last verse then we get into the last chorus which is basically so after you and that last chorus you play a G and you push it on the end for almost like the very beginning of the song for all.</p>  <p>So I go and then this air drummers then we’re on the outro and these got to take it ease at part so here’s the very end of the tune. I hope you’re able to follow along, don’t get too frustrated remember keep working on it this is the outro section, I’ll just break it down so I had a C therefore two bars and then repeats then I go G over F then again C over what that is I’ve got my G chord here just two fingers and put in a thin the base you really could just play you know keep it on your sheet if you wanted to but it sounds good.</p>  <p>Thank you so much for watching I really hope this lesson helps you doubt and inspires you makes you want to keep learning more and practicing guitar be sure to visit some of the links here you’re going to see some links on the screen and don’t forget to subscribe on our <strong>You Tube Channel</strong> and we’ll see you in our next video lessons, thanks for watching.</p>  <p>[ninja-popup ID=715]</p>  <p><strong>GET Jon Maclennan’s courses by clicking in the links below – GO!!! ➜</strong></p>  <div class="postPDFLink"><strong><a class="btn btn-sm red" href="https://goo.gl/Y53WwZ">1970s Song Collection Course – GO!!!</a></strong></div>  <div class="postPDFLink"><strong><a class="btn btn-sm red" href="https://goo.gl/AXLNQx">Americana Guitar Course – GO!!!</a></strong></div>  <div class="postPDFLink"><strong><a class="btn btn-sm red" href="https://goo.gl/ghWCSs">Blues Power Course – GO!!!</a></strong></div>  <div class="postPDFLink"><strong> <a class="btn btn-sm red" href="https://goo.gl/cGkZh4">Rockin’ Acoustic Fingerstyle Course – GO!!!</a></strong></div>  <div class="postPDFLink"><strong><a class="btn btn-sm red" href="https://goo.gl/ad1EW4">Play From The Heart Course – GO!!!</a></strong></div>  <div class="postPDFLink"><strong><a class="btn btn-sm red" href="https://goo.gl/HwjuYc">Fast Track Guitar System Course – GO!!!</a></strong></div>