Friends - it's been a while. (Got caught up in home-based pandemic learning, bla bla bla). Change in delivery - a series of videos.
I've been picking away at this piece for a while. Altho we all know it from the Toy Story movie, it's harder to adapt to guitar than you would think - for a cowboy-ish type of song.
I started with the basic Hal Leonard publishing Disney tunes book that's 4 pages of piano music with chords across top. My rule of thumb is 3 pages max is functional on a music stand.
Step 1: copy and splice into a hideous ( at left - egads) but useable format for me to lock down the picking to strum to.
Step 2: print out 2 column lyric sheet.
Step 3: whittle down the chords to functional finger positions that don't require rubber digits.
Step 4: find tempo that works - 70 bpm.
Result: I do think the chording here is solid intermediate. My chording sheet can be seen in a photo album of sheet music found HERE.
TIPS ON CHORDING
Intro chord run.
To move from Am > Aflat7, it's easier to just put pinky finger on the D note string 2, 3fr. Surprisingly effective hack. For the B, Bflat, A run - barre chord B, slide up to barre Bflat, slide up to A (no barre). For transition to C where lyrics start - it comes at you fast. You have 3 beats to land it. For quick transition to G7, play just F note & strum highest 4 strings.
Bridge (Some other folks...)
Prep starts line before. Play 1 C chord strum to give yourself time to switch gears. Set up Barre F chord. The reason for this: much of this section is variations on a barre chord.
Barre B.
For C6 hack, form partial barre across 4 high strings 5th fr and press ring finger on 4th string, 7th fret. Concentrate on higher/upper 4 strings. It helps to rotate hand, curling knuckle and pressing back and down toward outer edge of finger board. It's the highest string ringing clearly that makes the hacked chord sound right.
For the B that follows, just slide this exact finger formation up to 4th fret. Lock this shape. More sliding of it to come!
Slide back to C6, up to B, quick C6, B, C6. Now slide shape to 7th fret for 1 measure (or 2 long strums). Give yourself time to get back up to 1st position for the upcoming Dm.
Get Dm on in time for 'ever' in lyrics. Lift index to flick off the F note at the word 'love.' Hammer F note/index finger back on at word 'you.' Rest of chord sequence in bridge is straight forward.
To get in a little slide at end of bridge, form G chord that bridge ends with by sliding index finger down to 3rd fr, 1st st, then squeeze on middle finger at 3rd fret, 6th str for closing chord. (The slide was more distinct with nylon strings vs steel strings).
3rd Verse.
At the closing verse, i'm tempted to throw in some colour (to avoid total repetition of earlier but colour can be skipped). For the hacked F#m, easiest way is to move from partial barre F. Eyeball 5th fret. Grab notes E & C at 5th fret, str 2 & 3 with ring and middle fingers, let index finger follow to hit F# for this chord at 4th fret, 4th string. (You can even use a sort of slanted A chord formation starting at 4th position.) After that, some dramatic slowing helps with getting back up into 1st position.
Last line. I was tempted to half the tempo here. But don't - it throws you off sync with the melody as written. Use the G7sus as noted if you like. (It works to throw on that baby finger at D note again.)
Closing run.
If you're syncing up a dramatic slowdown with melody, hit the C chord and let it ring. The E7 comes in when melody hits the D# note. Then the rhythm flows naturally.
ON MELODY
Mostly guitar will strum along with a singer. If you want to pick the tune, start with the Hal Leonard.
Intro run. I found it easier to lock down the notes here starting with a barre at 5th fret. So G note on string 4, A at 7th fr, C on str 3, D# at 8th fr, E on str 2...
THE VIDEOS
Metronome can be heard in all videos at 70.
Video 1. Just focuses on the well known picked run at intro, going into Verse 2 and at end. Maybe because the frets are closer together further down, i found this run easier to hit reliably by starting with a barre across strings 1-4 at 5th fret.
Video 2. Shows fingers for the strum line for whole song. Might be simpler to follow than the tmi notations above.
Video 3. Picked melody line, whole song. Illustrates setups to runs. May also be used as a practice track to strum against. Not synced with Vid 2. Altho the metre is same speed for both.
I hope some of this is helpful. I do think younger or mid-beginner players can use the tips here to be able to play along with a singer and have it sound somewhat like the song we all know and love. Cheers!
