Summer of 69 Guitar Lesson – Bryan Adams

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Length: 13:16

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• Chord changes
• Open chords
• Strumming patterns

Who doesn’t recognize the intro strumming pattern to Summer of ‘69?!? Everyone does! This Bryan Adams classic is what got a lot of guitarists started playing the guitar, it’s just one of those feel-good, nostalgic songs that people of all ages love listening to. Even if we weren’t even born in ’69 😉

Learning to play Summer of ’69 is an absolute must for all guitarists, as this song is on the repertoire of pretty much every band regardless of size. If you aspire of playing in a band one day, this song is pretty much compulsory (just like Sweet Home Alabama 😉 ).

So let’s have a look inside our guitar lesson on Summer of ’69. The song is played in the key of D, and it revolves around the D major and A major chords. We’ll start the tutorial by learning the intro-verse chord progression and strumming pattern, which is a series of palm-muted strums on the D and A chords. Staying on beat while correctly palm muting and changing between the chords at the correct time will be a little difficult at first, but playing along with the original song or the backing track really helps in learning this, and it will also develop your rhythm and timing.

After the intro-verse, we’ll learn the chorus, which consists of a progression of 4 chords. We’ll learn a strumming pattern which you can use during the chorus, and also how the 2nd guitarist arpeggiates these chords on the album.

We’ll also learn that characteristic Summer of ’69 interlude which people instantly recognize whenever they hear it. It is also centered around the D and A chords, but venturing into a little sus 2 and sus 4 territory as well.

And towards the end of the lesson, we’ll learn another interlude, which is made up of 3 more chords, barre chords to be exact.

Summer of '69 is mostly a rhythm guitar song, so it'll give you a great chance to work on your strumming skills and rhythm. This is very important for guitarists, as most of us weren't blessed with the best sense of rhythm. If we were, maybe we'd be playing drums 😉

There are some embellishments here and there, but in essence, it is very straightforward. As I mentioned, you might find keeping pace and rhythm somewhat challenging at first, but the more you practice, the easier it will get. Make sure you play along with the backing track to Summer of '69, and download the tabs as well after logging in.

Summer of ’69 song details

Summer of ’69 was released in 1984 by Bryan Adams on the album titled Reckless.

Summer of ’69 awards and chart rankings

The song never reached the top position on the charts, but it is was a commercial success all across the world. It peaked at #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

If you want to refine the skills you learned in Summer of 69, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Chord changes / Open chords / 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).