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Groovin’ on a Sunday Afternoon

I’ve always loved the laid back groove in The Rascals hit song “Groovin'” and decided to have some fun fooling around with some harmonics and fret tapping.

It’s a very basic song in structure and chords. But it’s a great melody. I’ve come up with a pretty simple set of changes that allows you to play the melody with chords and bass backing up.

Here’s the set up for the song:

If you watch closely for the introduction, I’m doing a very simple bit of harmonics/fret tapping. For the open G chord, I’m using my thumb on the sixth string, third fret, and then tapping at the 12th fret over the top four strings (essentially a G6 chord). For the Am chord, I’m barring at the fifth fret and then tapping all six strings at the 17th fret to achieve the harmonics there.

For the actual song structure, I’m included a second video with chord charts. I do not repeat any chords I’ve already played, so once I’ve shown a chord, you’ll just have to remember where it is in the sequence. For this version of the tutorial, I strongly suggest putting the video on half speed.

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Music to My Ears

It started when I was four years old. One day, my Dad handed me a little harmonica. He taught me how to play “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” and from that moment I was hooked on making music.

I soon learned guitar and piano and have been playing — and experimenting — every since.

I actually studied piano, meaning I took private lessons and even majored in music for awhile in college.

But on guitar I am entirely self-taught. What I know is from observing others, jamming with others, and good old fashioned trial and error.

I compose original songs and look for ways to “reimagine” covers of popular songs.

I’m going to try to share via this blog some of the things that work for me: my finger picking technique, my chord voicings etc.

If you have questions or ideas for topics you’d like to see covered, follow this blog by clicking below and send me a note in the “comments” section.

I will do my best to answer the questions and/or respond to the suggestions.