Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter Tutorial/Lesson
Espresso
Dm9, Em7, Am9
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Video transcript
Hi, my name is Ellen and today I'm going to be showing you guys how to play Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter on the guitar. This is one of those super beginner friendly songs with just three chords and one strumming pattern to play the whole thing. So, with that being said, let's go ahead and get started. All right, guys. So, no capo needed today to keep this in the same key as the original song. And we only have three different chord shapes to play through the entire thing. We're going to start with our D minor 9, which looks like this and sounds like this. And by the way, if you don't know how to read these chord charts you're seeing on screen, I do cover how to do that my free beginner series right here on YouTube. So, make sure to check that out right here. From our D minor 9, you want to go to your E minor 7. And all you do is take off your first finger and move your middle finger up two strings. And then the last chord shape is our A minor 9, where you just take your middle finger and move it down one string. And those are the only three chords you need to know to play through this entire song. All right, guys. So, now that we've covered the chords, let's go ahead and jump into the strumming rhythm. I do think this is going to be slightly the more challenging part of learning this song, but once you get the rhythm down, you can apply it for the whole thing. So, basically, we're going to be counting this in a 16th note rhythm. So, we've got 1 e and a 2 e and a three e and a 4 e and a 1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a 1. A E and E A four and a down up up down up up down down down up. All right. So, this song does move pretty quickly. So, if you're already confused on, you know, getting the different strummings and the downs and the ups and all of that. If you're getting that confused already, I would definitely recommend checking out my practice with me strumming video. I actually go over this exact pattern and we break it down really slowly and then slowly build it up together in real time. So, if you're already struggling, I would definitely check that out. I will link it in the corner. But basically, once you have this rhythm down, you can apply it for the entire song. So, for the whole song, it follows the same order. We're starting with our D minor 9. You're going to play this entire pattern through once on D minor 9. So, we've got down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up. And then when we go from our E minor 7 to our A minor 9, we are going to split this measure with both of these chords. So, basically, I'm going to add a vertical line here kind of in the middle. And what this represents is where I want you to change chords. Okay? So, on our left half, we've got our E minor 7 for the first three arrows. Down, up, up. Switch quickly to your A minor 9. And finish out the pattern. Down, up, up, down, up. All right. And so, the whole song is going to follow this exact chord order and this exact way of playing it. So, we've got D minor 9 for the whole measure. and then E minor 7 split to a minor 9. Okay. So, one time through without stopping sounds like this. All right. And if you take that exact thing that we just played, you can play through the entire song right now and it would sound really great. However, I wanted to show you guys two little things that you could add in there to kind of dress up your cover if you want to. The first thing is called a palm mute. And basically what that is is I'm going to take the side of my hand that has my pick in it. And I'm going to gently lay like the side of my palm against the strings of my guitar as I strum. And you want to have your hand pretty far back here above like the bridge of your guitar. And if you have your hand gently lay on those strings whenever you strum, it'll kind of dampen the sound. All right. And the thing to remember about palm muting is you'll notice that the downstrums are muted, but the upstrums are going to still ring out. So on our E minor 7, we've got down, up, down, up, up, down, down, up. Hopefully, you can hear how the downstrums are muted, but the upstrums are ringing. All right, this will just give your cover a little bit more um depth to it if you can add this palm mute in. And the place that I would suggest doing that would be through the verses and the precoruses. So let's go ahead and go through an example of what that looks like. We're starting here in our D minor 9. And again, remember I'm using that palm mute. I can't relate to desperation. My give a dance are on vacation. And I got this one boy and he won't stop calling when they act this way. I know I got them. All right. And that goes into the pre chorus. And in the pre chorus again, I would also suggest using this palm mute as well. Too bad your eggs don't do it for you. Walked in and dream came true for you. Soft skin for you. For the second half of this precourse, the other thing I wanted to show you guys that you can add in is we're going to strategically mute our strings. So, with this strumming pattern, I'm going to add a little X here on the fourth beat. And basically what this means is I want you to kind of just stop your strings from ringing. And I like to use this right before every time she hits the chorus where she goes now he's, you know, so basically in the context of the chord progression, we've got D minor 9 down, up, up, down, up, up, down, down, up. E minor 7 down up up and then a minor 9 down up mute. All right. So, let me go ahead and put it in context with the pre chorus leading into the chorus so you can hear how it all comes together. And I now he's all right. So, see how I kind of mute the strings with the side of my hand. I just stop them from ringing. You can kind of tap the guitar if you want to as well to get a little bit of percussion in there. But basically, you do that on the fourth beat and you say, "Now he's" And then you go into the chorus. And the chorus is where I would take the palm mute out and just let it ring. Okay. One touch and I brand new for you. Now he's thinking about me every night. Oh, isn't that sweet? I guess so. say can't sleep. Maybe I know me espresso. All right, so that's how you can play through the entire song with just the strumming rhythm. So, I know there's kind of a lot of information, so I'm going to leave all of this on screen for you to pause and practice. Make sure you have those chords memorized and you can transition between them pretty quickly. And then this strumming rhythm, like I said, it might be a little more challenging if you're brand new to playing guitar, but the good news is once you have it under your muscle memory, it works for the entire song. So, go ahead and pause and practice as much as you need all of the chords and strumming. And then once you come back, we can play through the song. One, two, ready, go. Now he's thinking about me every night. Oh, that's sweet. I guess so. Maybe I know. Want to have fun jam to the rest of the song with me? Yeah. >> So, make sure to check out my Patreon page where you can unlock access to this as well as all my other fast track and play along guitar tutorials. Over there, I also have a printable guide for this tutorial where I have all the chords and strumming and lyrics and everything on there so you can easily print it out and practice it at home. So, if you're interested in either of these perks, definitely check out my Patreon page. I will link it down in the description box down below. But, um, anyways, that is the tutorial for today. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you had fun learning this song and I'll see you in the next one coming out soon. Bye.