Hey There Delilah Guitar Lesson

Learn how to play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's!

The intro and verse of 'Hey There Delilah' move between chord I and III, giving us an uncertain feel.

Compare to 'Whistle For The Choir' where the progression moves on.

Make sure you get the same feeling over chord III.

The chorus with its very clever bass line between chord VI and I is usually only heard in the key of C.

Such a movement between Am and C, or its reversed version: C and Am has been played many times before.

The key to a successful guitar part lies within how you vary simple concepts.

Because 'Hey There Delilah' use a D and an Am shaped Bm, we get the phenomenon of "new, but still feel as if we heard it before". 

Familiarity, with a twist

Again we can see how familiarity with a twist is a winning concept for world wide success, the twist is in the chord shape.

A 'D shaped chord' sounds different to a 'C shaped chord'.

I am completely convinced that had the guitar been played with a capo on fret 2.

Strumming C and Am for the chorus and C and Em for the verse, 'Hey There Delilah' would never have made it.

The twist is the chord shape

So if you want to write an Anthem:

Take a progression that has been used a million times, change one significant thing, make it fit.

Guitar Conspiracy e Book

A, A shape

A, G shape

Bm, Am shape

D, C shape

D, D shape

F#m, Em shape

G, G shape