Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

Free Lesson - November 2017

Auld Lang Syne

Arranged by Mickey Abraham

Download PDF | Download mp3

Hello and welcome once again to Flatpicking Magazine’s free lesson portion of our monthly newsletter. With the holiday season upon us it’s always great reflect on friends, family and holiday music! This month I am excited to offer you a cool chord melody version of the New Year’s Eve classic “Auld Lang Syne.”

This lesson arrangement is designed to play solo. It is fun to play it slowly and really let each chord speak. The melody is so classic and recognizable that it allows for lots of space while playing this arrangement. Although some of the chord names look advanced one could also play the song with this simple chord pattern:

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G G D D

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G G C C

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G G D D

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Em C D G G

When playing this type of chord melody it is important to separate the notes of the chord from the melody notes. This means to play the melody note a little louder than the rest of the chord. People usually hear the highest note of a chord as the melody note. In order to accent the melody notes properly try strumming each chord and letting your scrape over the strings — when you get to the highest note try to pick that one a little louder. Make sure to click on the included lesson mp3 to hear the arrangement in action.

I hope you enjoy playing this chord melody arrangement of “Auld Lang Syne.” If it were up to me I’d play it ALL year long but people seem to like it best around New Years. As always should you have any questions or comments on this e-lesson just drop me a line at [email protected]