Hey Jude Guitar Lesson – The Beatles

Genre:

Difficulty:
Length: 10:04

---

Wikipedia page
Artist website
Music video

• Accented strumming
• Barre chords

Hey Jude is a great song, that originally had a 36 piece orchestra for the song's refrain. This means that playing it on the guitar will not give the original sound, but in my opinion, this guitar lesson will show you a pretty good cover of the song.

The lesson is based on barre chords, so if you are looking to practice them then this is a terrific lesson for you. You’ll be learning both E and A-shaped bar chords, and you’ll also be practicing changing in between them, which is a very important guitar skill.

You’ll also be learning the strumming pattern of the song, which will allow you to practice accented strumming, which is a style of strumming where every given beat, you’ll strum the given chord harder, thereby creating a nice rhythm. Lots of songs use accented strumming, so practice it a lot. It’ll improve your rhythm and timing as well.

Al in all, learning how to play Hey Jude on your guitar will improve your strumming skills, and give you a chance to practice bar chords and chord changes. It’s not a difficult song once you get used to the chords, and as you know, being able to play bar chords well is a must if you want to become a good guitarist. If you're not that comfortable with barre chords yet, you may find this song harder than our other beginner guitar lessons, so you might want to check out some more of our easy guitar songs.

Hey Jude song details

Hey Jude was released as a single by The Beatles in 1968. The song was written by Paul McCartney to John Lennon’s son to comfort him while his parents were getting a divorce due to John Lennon’s affair with Yoko Ono. The song's original title was Hey Jules since John Lennon’s son’s name is Julian.

The song was composed for a huge orchestra. The original recording features ten violins, three violas, three cellos, two flutes, one contra bassoon, one bassoon, two clarinets, one contrabass clarinet, four trumpets, four trombones, two horns, percussion, and two string basses.

The single was an immediate hit, nominated for several Grammy awards in ’69, and spent nine weeks at the top of the charts in the United States (the longest for a Beatles single).

Hey Jude awards and chart rankings

• U.S. Billboard Hot 100: #1
• UK Singles Chart: #1
• Norwegian Singles Chart: #1
• Austrian Singles Chart: #1
• Swiss Singles Chart: #1
• Rolling Stone magazine -  500 Greatest Songs of all Time: #8
• The Amusement & Music Operators Association - Best Jukebox Single of all Time: #11
• Channel 4's list of 100 Greatest Singles: #3

If you want to refine the skills you learned in Hey Jude, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Accented strumming / Barre chords

Please log in and revisit this page to download this song's tabs and backing track (along with hundreds more on the site).