Whatever Guitar Lesson – Oasis

Genre:

Difficulty:
Length: 12:54

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Wikipedia page
Artist website
Music video

• Fast strumming
• Open chords
• Strumming patterns
• Syncopated strumming

If you want to advance your strumming skills (and learn a terrific song in the process), you’re definitely in the right place.

Whatever is a very characteristic Oasis song. It uses lots of chords, strumming, and if you’re up to it, you can even learn the lyrics. It is played at 100 bpm and is played in the key of G.

You’ll find that the chords of Whatever are relatively easy since your ring finger and little finger are anchored to the same fret for almost the entire song. This actually makes things a bit difficult though. Your fingertips will hurt because you’re holding the same strings down for such a long time. No worries though, this really builds your calluses.

The song is well structured, so I have split the lesson into several parts, to make learning each section easier. We’ll start our guitar lesson on Whatever by learning the chords you’ll play during the intro and part 1 of the song. These chords form the backbone of the song, so learn them well, we’ll be using them throughout the lesson.

Watch those chord changes, your B string might buzz. Make sure you’re holding it with enough force.

Next, we’ll learn the strumming pattern to Whatever. It’s a syncopated pattern, so pay attention to the timing of those chord changes. The strumming pattern we’ll use will accent the backbeat (the first strum of beats 2 and 4), you’ll see that it sounds great once you get a hang of it.

We’ll also have a look at a really nice trick they use, where they do a hammer on during a chord change. You’ll see that it sounds great, and of course, it’s a trick you’ll be able to use in other songs as well.

Following the strumming pattern, we’ll learn to play part 2 of the song.

Next, we’ll learn part 3 of the song. Things start sounding different, as the cheerful melody becomes a bit gloomy all of a sudden. It goes from that major feel to the dissonant B7, which is the minor 3^rd in the key of G. They don’t play a B minor though, they play B7.

And finally, we’ll learn to play the interlude. This might actually be the hardest part of Whatever. Not because of complex chords or solos, but because it requires really quick chord changes. If you master this section, you can go to bed tonight knowing that you are a better guitarist, than when you woke up in the morning.

Whatever song details

Whatever was released by Oasis in 1994 as a single.

The song was written by Noel Gallagher (lead guitarist), but Neill Innes was added as a co-writer after an authorship dispute. Innes’s song “How to be an idiot” was said to resemble a portion of the melodic line in Whatever.

The music video of Whatever was filmed in a white and black room with members of the London Session Orchestra.

Whatever charts and rankings

The song was not one of the band’s biggest hits. It peaked on the UK singles chart in 1994 at position #3, and in Ireland at #5. It re-entered the charts in 2010 at #64, since Oasis released a compilation album, “Time Flies”.

If you want to refine the skills you learned in Whatever, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Fast strumming / Open chords / Strumming patterns / Syncopated strumming

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