my future by Billie Eilish Tutorial/Lesson
my future
Cmaj7, C7, F, Dm7-5, Fm, E7, Am, Am7, D, Fmaj7
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Video transcript
Hey everyone. My name is Ellen and today I'm going to be showing you guys how to play my future by Billie Eilish on the guitar. So stay tuned if this is something you want to learn. Make sure to subscribe to my channel that way you never miss out on another new tutorial and follow me on Instagram for your chance to win a free lesson with me. All right, so really quick I want to point out that I will be playing this on my electric guitar just to spice things up. However, if all you have is an acoustic, you can follow this tutorial through and it'll still be exactly the same. It'll just be on an acoustic guitar. With that being said, I would say this is kind of a beginner to intermediate level guitar song. Um if you want to play in the original key, go ahead and make sure your guitar is in standard tuning and put your capo on the third fret to sing it in the same key as Billie Eilish's original. Um we are going to go through 10 different chords and unfortunately two of them are bar chords which are F and F minor. So if bar chords are something that you're currently struggling with, make sure to check out my TMT on how to get better at those. And on top of that, I wanted to show you one strumming pattern and one picking pattern to play this through the song and I think both sound really good with the song. So let's go ahead and jump into an overview of what I'll be showing you in this tutorial. So like I said a second ago, this is going to have quite a few chords in it. As you can see, there are 10 chords. Those are C major 7, C 7, F, D minor 7 5, F minor, E 7, A minor, A minor 7, D, and F major 7. So remember that F chord and that F minor chord, those are going to be our two bar chords in this song. So again, check out my T M T if that's something that you're struggling with. But besides that, the rest of the chords are not too bad. They're mostly open. So, if you want to go over what these chords look like, if you're not familiar with them or anything like that, go ahead and jump to this time here and I will break down and show you how to play each of these chords. However, if you're already familiar with them, then that's great. We can move on to the strumming pattern. So, the strumming pattern I wanted to show you for this song is really super simple. All it is is just one down strum on the beat for every chord change. This is normally what I call my practice pattern, but since this song is so vocal focused, I feel like this one down strum pattern is really appropriate for most of the song. So, it's really simple. If you want to go over an example of what this would sound like in the song, make sure to skip to this time here where I will break this down and give you an example of how you can use it. However, if you feel like you don't really need to practice the one down strum and you want to venture into the picking pattern that I have to show you, then let's go ahead and move on to the picking. So, as you can see, the picking pattern I want to show you for this song is pretty simple. It's going to be the bass note of each chord plus the third, second, and first string, and it's going to sound a little something like this. So, you're basically going to play this pattern through four times for every chord. If you want me to break this down for you and show you a little bit more up close how to play this and go through examples and things like that, make sure to skip to this time here where I will break that down. However, if you feel like you already got it just by watching me do it just now, you can always go to the play through here at the end and that's where I will have the lyrics and chords and everything you need to know on screen in front of you so you can play through the song together. But uh with that being said, let's go ahead and jump into the more in-depth part of this tutorial and we'll start with the chords. All right, so I've zoomed in a little bit so we can take a closer all at these chords. Like I said, there are 10 to play this song. So, let's go ahead and start with our first chord, which is C major 7. That looks like this and sounds like this. After that, we've got C7, which looks like this and sounds like this. Next, we have our F chord, which is one of our bar chords. That looks like this and sounds like this. Then, we have D minor 7 5, and that looks like this and sounds like this. After that, we've got F minor, which is our other bar chord. That looks like this and sounds like this. All right. Moving on, we've got our E7 chord, which looks like this and sounds like this. After that, we've got A minor, which looks like this and sounds like this. Then, we have A minor 7, which looks like this and sounds like this. Almost done. We've got our D chord, which looks like this and sounds like this. And then, the last chord you need to know is our F major 7 chord, which looks like this and sounds like this. All right, and those are all the chords you need to know how to play the song. All right, so after you have these chords memorized, go ahead and take a few moments to practice transitioning between them. If that's something that you're having trouble with right now, go ahead and check out my TMT right here on how to transition between chords faster. Hopefully that'll help you and you'll be able to do some of these picking patterns a little bit more easily after that. But yeah, with that being said, let's go ahead and jump into the strumming pattern that I like to use for this song. Do you understand? I've changed my plan cuz I So as you can see, the strumming pattern for this song is just a really simple one down strum on the beat for every chord change. Like I said earlier in the video, this song is very um vocal focused and so I feel like this one simple down strum on the beat for every chord change is really going to kind of highlight the vocals, which is kind of how the song is. Um so let's go ahead and just go through an example of how you would use this and what it would sound like. I have my C major 7 chord on and all you want to do is strum down once. Then you go to your next chord, which is C7 and strum down once. Then we have F, strum down once. Then we have D minor 7 5, strum down once. All right, and that's basically the gist of this pattern. You can use it for the entire song if you wanted to. Um but I do like to use it for just the beginning part, so let me go ahead and show you an example of how you would use this in the song. So again, I have my C major 7 chord on. I can't seem to focus. You don't seem to notice I'm not here. I'm just a mirror. All right. So, you can see and you can take that through basically the entire song and all you want to do is one simple down strum on the beat for every chord change and I already think that sounds beautiful because again, the song is very vocal heavy and so the guitar is kind of going to be just more of an accompaniment to the vocals. So, if you want to just do the one simple down strum for the entire song, I think that would sound really great. However, there is a portion of this song where it speeds up a little bit and I like to put a picking pattern there. So, let me go ahead and zoom in and show you how to do that picking pattern. All right. So, I've zoomed in a little bit so we can take a closer look at this picking pattern. If you're not familiar with any of my other tutorials, I do like to refer to these strings as numbers. So, I'm just going to zoom in really quick and show you guys what I mean by that. So, like my low E string I refer to as six and that goes all the way up 5 4 3 2 1 to my high E string, which is one. Um so, for the rest of this picking portion of this tutorial, I will be referring to my strings as numbers. Um but with that being said, let's go ahead and jump into this. With your right picking hand, what I want you to do is take your pointer or first finger and put that on the third G string. Then, take your middle finger and put that on the second B string and then take your ring finger and put that on the high E string. So, during this entire picking pattern, these three fingers are never going to move off these three strings. What's going to move is your thumb. It's going to go back and forth between the sixth, fifth, and fourth string depending on the chord you're playing and which note is the bass note in that chord. So, um with that being said, let me go ahead and just jump into some of these chords. With our C major 7 chord, that's our very first chord in the song, and the bottom note here is going to be our fifth string. So, go ahead and put your thumb on the fifth string, and what I want you to do is pick your thumb, then pick your other three fingers, and then we're going to just slap the strings to mute them, okay? So, we've got 5 3 2 1 mute. And all you have to do to mute is just kind of you can do it with an open hand and just slap the strings. You could do it with a closed fist. I usually just come down with my fingers in place, and just kind of, I guess, use my palm a little bit. Um but anyways, you just want to basically mute the strings, okay? And so, we're going to do this four times for every chord. So, with our C major 7 chord, we've got 1 2 3 4. All right. Then let's go ahead and go through the other chords. With our C7 chord, it's still going to be the fifth string on the bottom. So, this is going to look just like our C major 7. Nice. Then we go to our F chord. Now, the bottom note in the F chord is going to be our low E string. So, move your thumb from the fifth to the low sixth E string, but the pattern is still going to be the same. So, we've got 6 3 2 1 mute. 3 4. Okay. Then our next chord is our D minor 7 5 chord, and for that, our lowest note is going to be our fourth D string. So, go ahead and move your thumb to the fourth string, and the pattern is the same. 3 4. All right. So, that's already the beginning of that part of the song. So, we've got C major 7, C7, F, D minor 7 5. Nice. And you already got kind of the rhythm and the pattern there with that part of the song. So, let me go ahead and show you the rest of the chords you need to know for this part. All right, so you're also going to need to know your E7 chord. This one's going to be like F, your thumb is going to be on the low E string or the sixth string cuz that's the lowest in this chord. And then you've got 6 3 2 1. And then for D, we got our thumb on the fourth string. All right, then we've got F, minor. And I think those are the only chords you need to know this picking pattern for. Um because the other chords in it, I'd like to go back to the single down strum. So, what I'm talking about specifically is the pre-chorus. So, we've got our E7 chord on. Um and it shall go like this. She'll go, "I know better." Then here on then to drive you home, I'd like to actually strum these chords. So, we've got A minor, "Then to drive you." And then here on D is when you go back to the picking pattern. "Home." All right. So, um yeah, let's go ahead and just go through this entire little picking pattern section just so you can kind of hear how it all goes together. So again, we're starting on our C C 7 and we're going to play each of these chords four times with this picking pattern. I know supposedly I'm lonely now. No, I'm supposed to be unhappy without someone. But aren't I someone? And I like to be your answer cuz you're so handsome. But I know better Go back to strumming. than to drive you Back to picking. home. Student invite me in and I'd be yours again. All right. So, we've covered all of the chords that are used in the little picking section or the section that kind of speeds up in the song. So, go ahead and make sure to pause the video and practice this below before you move on. But once you are ready to move on, we can actually put all of the stuff together that we've learned to play through the whole song. But not with anybody here. I'll see you in a couple years. This is my future by Billie Eilish. Good luck. I can't seem to focus. You don't seem to notice I'm not here. I'm just a mirror. You check your complexion to find your reflections all alone. I had to go. Can't you hear me? I'm not coming home. Do you understand? I've changed my plans. Cuz I'm in love with my future. Can't wait to meet her. And I I'm in love, but not with anybody else. Just want to get to know myself. I know supposedly I'm lonely now. No, I'm supposed to be unhappy with a someone. But aren't I someone? And I I'd like to be your answer, cuz you're so handsome. But I know better than to drive you home. Cuz you didn't invite me in. And I'd be yours again. But I, I'm in love with my future. And you don't know her. And I, I'm in love but not with anybody here. I'll see you in a couple years. All right, so that was my tutorial for how to play my future by Billie Eilish. I really hope that you liked it. If you did, make sure to give me a thumbs up down below as well as to subscribe to my channel. That way you never miss out on another new tutorial. Here are my social media sites in case you'd like to follow me on any of those. That's just where I do fun things like behind the scenes looks at things coming up. I'll poll you guys on things you want to see. And this is also where I go to find people to feature in my new segment forever features. This week we have Erin from Chicago performing Lover by Taylor Swift. Let's give it a listen. We can leave the Christmas lights up till January. This is our place. We make the rules. And there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear. Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years? So if you want to be featured in the next tutorial, make sure to follow me on Instagram at xforeveryfaithfulx. Post a short cover of you playing any song that you've learned from any of the tutorials on my channel. Use that hashtag foreverfeatures in the description so that I can find it and the next feature spot could be you. One last little plug, if you liked the shirt I was wearing in today's tutorial, this is my brand new guitar babe shirt and you can find this along with a lot of other different designs in my merch store linked down below as well as under this video. Every single purchase there really helps my channel to grow and allows me to continue making these free tutorials for you guys. So thank you guys so much for anyone who's ever supported me in that way and I think that ends this video. So thanks again so much for watching. I hope it helped and I will see you in the next one. Bye.