I’m Yours Guitar Lesson – Jason Mraz

Genre:

Difficulty:
Length: 16:59

---

Wikipedia page
Artist website
Music video

• Barre chords
• Double stops
• Multiple string slides
• Muted strumming
• Strumming patterns

I’m Yours is Jason Mraz’s most famous song, it’s the song that brought him true fame and fortune. And for good reason I believe, there are few songs that hit such a sweet balance of everything you need to create such a laid-back super hit.

In today’s guitar lesson on I’m Yours, we’ll be learning an intermediate version of the song. It is not for early beginners, since we’ll be using barre chords all the way through the song, and it is not for advanced players, since we’re playing 1 octave lower than the original to make things a bit easier. We'll be learning the entire song, so you'll be able to play along with the original.

We’ll start the tutorial by learning to play the small solo bit you can hear several times during I’m Yours. They use it as the intro as well. It involves playing double-stops and sliding them. Sliding 2 notes at the same time is something you definitely want to master, it will give your playing an extra something in the future, so spend time with them. Make sure your slides are accurate and ring true even after the slide.

We’ll continue on to learn the guitar chords in I’m Yours. As I mentioned, we’ll be using a few barre chords in this cover of the song, so get your barre grip ready. The song uses a popular chord progression, the I-V-vi-IV chord sequence. We’ll be in the key of B, so your chords will be B, F#, G#m, E. Of course if you want to sound like the original, just find the barre chords 1 octave higher, and play everything there.

Once we practice changing in between the chords, we’ll learn a reggae-style strumming pattern which goes nicely with I’m Yours. While strumming, aim for the higher strings, you don't really want the lower strings ringing. Our reggae strumming pattern will emphasize the backbeats, so beats 2 and 4 of each bar, using abrupt, yet soft stabs, and muting all other strums. You’ll see what I’m talking about in the video, it’s hard to describe in writing.

You’ll be using these chords and strumming patterns for the verse, and for the bridge as well. There will be slight variations, and we’ll even throw in an extra chord for good measure.

I'm Yours song details

I’m Yours was the first single released by Jason Mraz on his 3^rd album titled We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. The song was first performed in 2004, so the song was already a hit by the time it was released a few years later.

The song’s music video is also a treat, it was filmed at several locations in Hawaii, adding to that cool, laid-back attitude the song conveys so successfully.

I'm Yours charts and nominations

I’m Yours was a hugely successful song, staying for 76 weeks on the US Hot 100 chart. It actually held the record for most weeks spent on the chart. This is a very interesting trait of the song, the length of time it managed to remain popular. It was topping charts even 1 year after it’s initial release (Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks).

The song reached the coveted number 1 chart position in several countries and broke the top 10 pretty much everywhere. I’m Yours is the 10^th best-selling digital song of all time.

If you want to refine the skills you learned in I’m Yours, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Barre chords / Double stops / Multiple string slides / Muted strumming / Strumming patterns

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