Let It Be

Firstly, as Jed mentions clearly at the beginning of the video, the song doesn't really have any guitar on it, that is until the guitar solo kicks in and blows people's minds! Our job then is to take the basic harmony of the song and show you how to play it on the guitar. We'll work through the beginner's version, as well as get some more intermediate and advanced detail in as we go, just in case you are ready to take that on board.

The Verse

So let's get started with the verse section. We're very much in the key of C major for this song, and using mainly normal open chord shapes. Our progression initially is | C G | Am F | C G | F C |. For those of you who know a bit of theory, or would like to start understanding theory, we can convert that into a | I V | vi IV | I V | IV I | progression.

So your first job is simply to get these chords together, and not to worry about any strumming pattern yet. The chords and chord progression look like this:

Next up we want to get the strumming pattern together for this section. This is a 16th note strumming pattern, and it basically runs through the entire track. It looks like this:

Whenever you learn a strumming pattern, think of it as the base of the groove, but don't be afraid to then adapt it and play around with it as the song moves forwards and you get more confident.

The Descending Melody

Right towards the end of each loop of the verse, we have that awesome melody section. This section is of course played on the piano, but we can do a nice beginner friendly version of that which will help you elevate the basic chord part. Jed walks you through it in the video, and we are using our C major scale to find the part. This can help you visualise it:

The Chorus

Let's now move into the chorus section, which rotates the same set of chords but now in a different order. We have | Am G | F C | C G | F C | which therefore means we have a | vi V | IV I | I V | IV I | progression. Starting now on the minor chord makes a huge difference to the sound of the track, and really separates the chorus from the verse.

As you can see above, we're even using the same strumming pattern here! Keep that strumming hand moving, and once again, don't be afraid to add in strums and remove strums where you feel it would be relevant.

The Interlude

For the cool interlude section, which is played first on a piano, then on a very cool organ sound, we can build this up on the guitar. Jed walks you through three versions of this, from beginner, to intermediate to more advanced. Let's go through those in stages:

Beginner version

The main harmony is | F C | G7 F C |. You may not quite be aware of the G7 chord at this stage, but here is a visual of how Jed plays that.

Even with the shell version this can be tricky for any beginner player. So if all else fails, just default to the G major chord and it will still sound good. Persevere though, you will get there in the end.

Intermediate version

The only difference with the intermediate version is the Bb major chord. This tricky barre chord pops up on the 4th beat of the 1st bar, and is only played for that single beat. It looks like this:

Advanced version

If you are still keen to push yourself further, and want to mimic the keyboard part more exactly, we need to delve into the higher parts of the fretboard. The keyboard is outlining the harmony shown above (with the Bb), but using 6th intervals to do so.

Here is how that section looks, with a little bit of tab to shine a clear light on what Jed is playing:

A little bit of fun!

Jed correctly points out that the song has a potential mistake in it, around the part later on in the track where Paul sings "Mother Mary". It's over the Am chord, but it seems Paul accidentally plays a Bb major or B diminished 7th. Easily done!

Now, my view on that is… How awesome! The Beatles are 4 humans playing and writing incredible songs, but they are humans, and humans make mistakes. I LOVE that this mistake stays in the track. Not only does it sound quite cool, but it proves the Beatles played and recorded live. We all know the technology wasn't there back in the day to do extensive cutting and pasting, like we can do now in DAWs, and perhaps this is an opportunity to reflect on how we seem to need the music to be perfect?

If the greatest band that ever lived, playing one of the greatest songs ever written, can allow a mistake like that to go into the final take… Well, I think we can all learn from that! ❤️