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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
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!FREEBIES - HAPPY
Pharrell Williams
!Level: Beginner-Intermediate
Jan 2014
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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
Happy !This lively tune was released in November 2013 as part of the soundtrack to the
hit film Despicable Me 2 and has sat high in the charts consistently since. Having
been asked by many students if I could arrange a version I came up with several
versions to suit various difficulties. I’ve focussed on the sole piece of harmony in
the song: the organ. Like most popular music these days (Gosh I sound old!)
harmony can be scarce, with many songs being based around the rhythm track
alone, and the shift away from guitar driven popular music means if we want to get
involved we often have to interpret parts played on other instruments. I cover this
in more detail elsewhere. I’ve taken a two speed approach on this tune providing an accurate transcription of
the organ part for more accomplished players and a nice basic stripped back
version for beginners who are keen to join in the fun. There are lots of people on
youtube already covering a strumming approach of large chord shapes. Some are
good, some less so, but I thought I’d provide you with something that sounds as
close to the song as possible.
!!INTRO The intro is a simple affair, just four stabs on an F7 chord on the 8th fret of the A
string (bottom left). I have arranged the Easy version (bottom right) by simply
removing the root note on the A string. !
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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
VERSE- BEGINNER !The Verse is thankfully a little more interesting. Up first is the simple version which
continues on from the intro with the same rootless F7 chord. After the first stab
you have a little while to wait (7 more beats to be precise) before you repeat the
chord twice more in bar 3.
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We then switch the second and third fingers around to move to a small fragment of
a Bb bar chord which rings out for slightly longer, throwing the next chord on to the
offbeat (the ‘and’ count in-between the beats). The chord in question is the same
shape as before but it has now moved up two frets to become a C which rings into
the final bar before returning to the Bb to finish.
Rhythmically the verse is quite straightforward but bear in mind the final two
chords of the verse are both on the offbeat giving the piece a ‘pushed’ feel. The
chords land on the ‘and’ of beat 4 ringing into the final bar with the last chord
coming on the ‘and’ of beat 2 like so:
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!If you’ve never dealt with these rhythms before it may seem confusing and
unfortunately this piece is full of them. Some people will find the rhythm easy to
pick up by ear but if you’d like to see how it looks laid out on paper read on……
1 2 3 (4)+ (1) (2)+ (3) (4)
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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
VERSE- PUSHED RHYTHMS Pushed (or displaced as they can also be called) rhythms are a rhythmic trick that
gives the listener a feeling of motion in a piece, as if the music was leaping ahead,
dragging the beat along behind it.
I feel the easiest way to understand pushed rhythms is to think about where the
beats would naturally fall without the pushed feel. If you look below I’ve written
out the same rhythm without the pushed feel. You can see below that the natural
position for the final two chords is actually beat 1 and 3 of the final bar.
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What has happened is we have dragged the chords forward in time by half a beat
(see arrows above). This means the first chord is now stuck right on the end of the
previous bar now. But what happens to the time we took away?
All bars have to add up so the time we have displaced from the chord at the end of
the first bar has to be added to the final chord ringing out at the end of the second
(see Arrow above).
Pushed rhythms are most common in Jazz and especially Latin styles but as we see
with Pharrell they can make cheeky appearances elsewhere. Its important to note
that you don't have to always push a rhythm before the beat (bringing it forward in
time like above) but can also push a rhythm slightly after a beat which gives a
slightly different feeling to a listener.
The technical word for pushed rhythms falls under the umbrella term
syncopation which is roughly defined as any music that puts emphasis on the
weaker beat. I say umbrella term because weaker beat doesn't need to mean
offbeat, in fact the context changes depending on which subdivision is being used,
but thats a story for another pdf…..
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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
VERSE-INTERMEDIATE !Ok so next up is the intermediate approach to the verse. Surprisingly its not much
different: with the simplified verse providing the core harmony we only need to
flesh it out slightly.
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!It is rhythmically identical to the Beginner approach explained previously so I
won’t cover the same ground there. At an intermediate level you probably have a
good natural feel for picking up rhythms (pushed or not).
!The only major difference to the chords in this harder version is the final one,
rather than returning to a standard C triad it moves to a C7. This is played with a
bar so in order to build speed as you move between positions try and keep a low
profile with your hand, lock the shape in, and be ready to drop the first finger down
into the bar.
!This is an organ part so try and keep the part nice and bouncy with a slight staccato (this is an italian term which translates as ‘detached’ and means to shorten the duration of a note without affecting when it and the notes around it are played). If you watch my video you should get an idea of the feel. I play it clean and finger style for maximum control as the harsh sound and attack of a pick and the fact that you can never truly strike multiple strings simultaneously make a plectrum approach ill advised to get the sound right. !!!!
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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
CHORUS-BEGINNER !Here we have the simplified chorus. I have had to strip back the chords far more
for this section as unfortunately the full harmony is a little too complex to remain
playable at a beginner level. The version I have settled for though is a good trade
off and does a good job of representing the original.
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The chords themselves aren't too hard though you may find the stretch in the
second chord troubling if you haven’t developed a good finger span yet. I would
recommend you use fingers 1 3 and 4 (below left) and use the natural distance
your hand covers to your advantage rather than stretch to use 1 2 and 3 (below
right) as many students tend to try in order to use more dominant fingers. The
sooner you start using that useless little finger the sooner it starts to become
useful!
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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
Here is the full fat version of the chorus. Compared to the beginner version we are
dealing with a lot more complexity. We start off with a C#Δ7 played with your
thumb over the top of the neck holding the root note on the 6th string. This then
moves to a Cm7 bar chord, a nasty change which will require isolated practice to
make smooth.
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We then move to a voicing of Eb7, arpeggiating two of the notes before playing the
chord then repeating the same arpeggiation before moving to an F7. It is
important you let the chords ring for as long as possible here so change as quickly
as possible.
I find finger choice is imperative here but rather than set it out here I have included
a slowed down video showing you exactly the finger choices I’ve made. As with the
students I teach one on one I tend not to make a habit of forcing people to adopt
the exact details I choose. The guitar is a wonderful instrument and very diverse,
with people finding myriad ways of playing the same things. What I would say is I
tend to take my time choosing fingering and it would be well worth your time
trying my fingerings first and trying to understand the reasoning behind them
before discarding them.
Will
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Will Hay!WILLHAYGUITAR.COM
NEED SOME HELP? !Not sure about some of the chords, scales or techniques in this lesson?
Please check out my website where there are products and courses to help. I will
be adding more as time allows but if you have any specific requests of topics you
would like me to cover, or any other feedback then get in touch via the contact
page of my website willhayguitar.com or email me at [email protected].
!!!!!!!
Will Hay Guitar Tuition !
WILLHAYGUITAR.COM - [email protected] !!!!!!!!!
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