We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift Tutorial/Lesson
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Cadd9, G, Em7, Dsus4
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Video transcript
I remember when we broke up. Hey everyone, my name is Ellen and today I'm going to be showing you guys how to play We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift. So keep watching if this is something that you want to learn. Baby, I miss you. And I swear. So, this song is going to be really great for beginners out there to play because number one, there's no cable needed because it's in standard tuning. And number two, there's only four chords in the entire song. And they're actually really easy to transition between. And then the other thing is also that these four chords repeat themselves over and over again through the entire song. So, it's really, really easy to learn. together. So, I'm going to go ahead and show you guys the four chords you need to know. The first one you need to know is C add9, which looks like this, and sounds like this. And remember, the X means not to play that string. So, in this case, you're not going to be playing the lowest E string. Okay. From there, you're going to go to G, which looks just like C add 9, except you're going to take your first two fingers and move them up one fret. Okay. So, it looks like this. And it sounds like this. All right. From there, you're going to need to know E minor 7. And again, you're just moving these first two fingers. So, it looks like this. And it sounds like this. Okay. And then the very last chord you need to know is D suspended, which looks like this. And sounds like this. So, the good thing about these four chords is that you'll notice you never have to move your ring or your pinky finger. They're always going to be in the same position on the same fret. The only thing you ever have to move are your first two fingers. So, I think that this makes it a little bit easier for those of you who find transitioning hard because uh it's just a lot easier to only move those two fingers instead of changing your entire chord around. So, why don't you go ahead and practice those four chords until you have them memorized and you can transition between them and then I'm going to go ahead and teach you a couple of different strumming patterns that you can use. So, I came up with a few different patterns when I was playing around with this song for strumming. Um, for the sake of this tutorial, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is going to be one round. So, C add 9, G, D suspended, E minor 7. That's going to be one round. Okay. So, the first strumming pattern I'm going to show you is the most basic and simplistic way of playing it. And that's how I always suggest all the beginners go ahead and start out like this. All you're going to be doing is strumming each chord once on the down beat on the first beat. So, in each round, you're just strumming each chord once. I remember when we broke up the first time, saying, "This is it. I've had enough cuz like we haven't seen each other in a month when you said you needed space. So for that all of it's just downstrokes and then I'm just kind of muting the strings with the palm of my right hand. Okay. If that's a little too simple for you, one way to really easily and quickly dress it up is instead of in one round just playing each chord once, you're going to be playing it twice. So it'll sound more like this. All downstrokes, same muting motion with my right hand. And each round, you're just going to play each chord in it twice. I remember when we broke up the first time, saying, "This is it. I've had enough." Cuz like we haven't seen each other in a month when you said you needed space. Okay. If neither of those strumming patterns suit your taste, you can dress it up however you want to. Um, the thing that I started naturally playing was this. So, I'll go ahead and show you guys how I play that. I'm going to be playing it down, down, up, up, down, down, up. That sounds so confusing, but it's just something that came naturally to me. So, with my C add 9 chord, I'm going to play down, down, up, and then switch to my G chord. Down, up, up, down, down, up. Then you go to D suspended. It's same thing. Down, down, up. And then you change to E minor 7. Down, up, up, down, up. And you can use this pattern through the whole song if you want to. I remember when we broke up the first time, saying, "This is it. I've had enough." Cuz like we haven't seen each other in a month. when you said you needed space. What? Of course, you don't have to play this. Um, this is just what I always play whenever I play Taylor Swift songs. Uh, because it matches pretty well. So, if you want to use that one, definitely go ahead. Or I suggest you just play around starting on the beat and then just seeing what your arms and your body naturally feels. And I think that'll be a great way for you to start playing more complex rhythms while also being able to sing the song. getting back together. If you're feeling a little more adventurous and you'd like to try out some of the pick picking that you hear in the official version, I have two ways that you can play that. And uh the first one I'm going to show you, I think, is a little bit easier. So, if you're new to picking patterns with your fingers, I suggest you try this one first. So, go ahead and put on your CAD 9 chord. And I like this because it's really simple, but it sounds kind of complicated. So, for this pattern, instead of strumming all the strings at once, I'm going to be picking each individual note with my fingers. Okay? So, the pattern is always going to be the same, no matter what chord you're playing, it's always going to be playing the bottom string with your thumb and then the top three strings with your pointer, middle, and ring fingers. Okay? So, if you go ahead and put your C add9 chord down, I'm going to go ahead and show you this pattern through once. So with my thumb, I'm going to pick the bottom string, which in this case is the fifth. Then with my other three fingers, I'm going to be picking the top three strings. 3 2 1. So together, it sounds like this. But of course, you don't want it to ring too much. So I'm going to go ahead and palm mute it after I'm done with the first string. So 5 3 2 1 mute. And the reason I say that this is kind of simple is because after this, the pattern with your right picking hand is always going to be the same except for whatever string you're picking with your thumb. So once you get this pattern down, the rest of the song's going to be really easy for you to play. So with the G chord, you're going to be picking the sixth string, the lowest string, but your other three fingers are still going to stay the same. 3 2 1. So 6 3 2 1 mute. Okay. From D suspended, same thing. So you're just going to take your thumb and pick the lowest string, which in this case is four. And then top three strings. 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 mute 4 3 2 1 mute. Okay. And then the very last one is E minor 7. So again, you're going to go to the six string with your thumb and then do the top three. It can be a little awkward at first, but definitely when you practice a lot more, it comes really easy to you. So the whole round with all the chords is going to sound like this. I remember when we broke up the first time saying this is it. I've had enough cuz like we haven't seen each other in a month when you said you needed space. What? Okay. Um and then pretty much with that pattern, you can repeat that through the entire song and it'll sound really great. The last pattern that I have to show you is the most difficult I would say definitely to sing and to play at the same time. Uh, but it is the most accurate sounding to the official song. So, it's actually going to look very similar to the picking pattern that I just showed you, except in this round, um, all you're going to be picking is the G chord and the E minor 7 chord. So, the C add 9 chord and the D suspended chord are just going to be strummed once. So, one round would sound like this. So, it's almost like you're mixing together the strumming pattern number one with the picking pattern number one. And if you don't like the muted sound and you want to continue with the P plucking, you're going to strum the C add9 chord once. And then when you pick the G chord, it's going to be just like the earlier picking pattern that I showed you. 6 3 2 1. Except this time, you're not going to stop and you're going to go back down the guitar. So 6 3 2 1 2 3 6 strum. 63 2 1 2 3 6 strum. 6 3 2 1 3 2 6 3 2 1 2 3 6. So al together the round sounds like this. I remember when we broke up the first time saying this is it. I've had enough. cuz like we haven't seen each other in a month when you said you needed space. So now that I've shown you three strumming patterns and two picking patterns that you can choose from, of course, in addition to anything that you may come up with yourself, um go ahead and practice the whole song using those strumming patterns. So for this tutorial, during all the verses, I'm going to be picking. Um, for the precoruses, I'm gonna be doing the complicated strumming. And then for the chorus, I'm gonna be doing the double strum. Okay? So, go ahead and practice through all of the chords, all the transitions, all the strumming, and all the picking. And it's definitely a great idea to come up with something that you just naturally feel. But whenever you're ready, go ahead and click continue and I'll take you through the entire song and I'll list all the chords right here for you guys. And um yeah, good luck. So hopefully you feel pretty comfortable with the chords and the transitions and the strumming and the picking. Um I'm going to go ahead and put all those elements together to play through the whole song. I'm also going to play it a little bit below tempo so it's easy for all of us to keep up. And um yeah, good luck. This is We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift. I remember when we broke up the first time saying, "This is it. I've had enough." Cuz like we haven't seen each other in a month. Then you said you needed space. Then you come around again and say, "Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change. Trust me. Remember how they lasted for a day? I say I hate you. Wake up, you call me. I love you. Ooh, we called it off again last night. But this time, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, we are never ever ever getting back together. We are never ever getting back together. You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me. But we are never ever ever ever getting back together. I'm really going to miss you picking fights and me falling forward screaming that I'm right. And you would hide away and find your peace of mind with some indie record that's much cooler than mine. Ooh. You call me up again tonight. But this time I'm telling you. I'm telling you. We are never ever ever getting back together. We are never ever getting back together. You go talk to your friends. Talk to my friends. Talk to me. But we are never ever ever getting back together. I used to think that we were forever ever. And I used to say never say never. We are never ever ever getting back together. We are never ever ever getting back together. You talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me. But we are never ever ever ever getting back together. You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me. We are never ever ever ever getting back together. All right, that was my tutorial. I hope it helped you even a little bit. Sorry if I messed up any of the lyrics or the tune or anything. This song came out less than 24 hours ago, so I really haven't had much time to listen to it. Um, but make sure that if you're going to do a cover to send it to me as a video response below because I would love to watch it. Um, yeah. Thanks again for watching. I hoped it helped and I'll see you guys next time. I are never ever ever getting back