American Pie Guitar Lesson

Learn how to play American Pie by Don McLean!

'American Pie' can be tricky to remember since the same chords seem to be repeated in lots of different ways.

To solve this problem; listen to what every chord feels like as a number and predict it by focusing on where the melody goes.

The aim of following the vocal like this is to get you deeper into the music.

As a performer it is essential to follow one another in order to sound musical, make sure you are as prepared as possible by getting to know the individual sound of every chord as a number.

Explore these numbers by listening to their sound when paired with different melodies. 

For example, between 2:07 where the progression goes VI - V - VI - V.

Compare this with 2:50 where the progression goes VI - IIx - VI - V.

The half tempo and the depressing lyrical theme gets a more positive striving feel over the IIx chord.

Go through the verse and make sure you connect the vocal with the chords as numbers.

Everything about playing this song should be about pairing the chords with the vocal melody, melodically and rhythmically.

In order to properly see the connection, play the vocal melody on the guitar, compare what notes are sung to what are in the chords.

As you go along notating all this in the DIY TAB, focus on what intervals the melody hit.

Guitar Conspiracy e Book

Am, Am shape

A7, A shape

C, C shape

D, D shape

Dsus2, D shape

Dsus4, D shape

Em, em shape

G, G shape