The verdict is out Paul McCartney's the one who plays the song wrong

50 years ago, way before KZfaq, people used to play along with the actual recording to learn a song or part. It yielded different interpretations also because people listen with varying degrees of depth. Sometimes, when comparing the results to a songbook I would find discrepancies. The ear can be tricked by hearing other instruments in the track that are doing something similar. This happens all the time with lead vocal parts crossing with backup vocals. People often incorporate the two. I still think trusting your ear in a deep listening is the most accurate way to learn. I have several instructional videos and have had people occasionally tell me that the tab is wrong in places. They are correct too! They guy who did the takedown got some stuff wrong. It happens. The ear is still the best instrument for unlocking what’s in the music even though it can be wrong. In this Blackbird example, Paul’s accompaniment is being somewhat dictated by his technique using P I (thumb and index finger). This is not uncommon for self taught players (like me) to use that technique. It’s very interesting to see in these examples and you did a GREAT job at showing it.

I learned to play it "by ear" in 1970. You definitely have the "all your life" section correct. As a side note, however, I have seen Sir Paul play *MANY* different versions of his own composition, and rightly so. I learned the version from the White Album. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing. I actually learned it with the finger sweeps. Back in the day, there was a very accurate tab in an old issue of Guitar magazine circa 1988.

I watched the Justin tutorial video too and thought it was pretty spot on in revealing the whole strumming versus picking thing. What gets me is (a) it’s just as hard to get the feel right doing the little strummy thing as it is picking it, if not harder, and (b) it’s also surprisingly hard to sing over it because of the tiny bit of syncopation between the vocal and guitar parts at times and the way the melody in the “ blackbird fly” part doesn’t always follow the chord tones of what you’re playing. It’s a testy little beast and he makes it sound like it’s easy as a nursery rhyme to play and sing.

It’s called clawhammer or frailing, it’s more common on banjo. I saw recently read that Donovan had demonstrated this technique to Paul and John. John used his version of it on Dear Prudence.

2 points... first, who says that the way he plays it today is how he played it back then? Musicians often slightly improvise, and never play songs the way they were recorded, mostly because they never learnt the song (if that makes sense). They just did it. The 2nd point is there is a video of Paul playing Blackbird in the Apple studios back during the White Album sessions. I remember seeing it, though I can't find it now. He was tapping his hard shoes to the beat. So that's the video I would go to, to learn how to play it, although there's no guarantee that even then he played it exactly the same.

The Songsterr tab now has the strum instead of the individual notes. And it also shows that the pattern isn't just a fixed 8th-16th-16th, but rather alternating between that and 16th-16th-8th. However, it also now has that A7 chord as using fret 4 on the A string and fret 8 on the B string.

Nice job. I agree with you 100%. Thanks for clearing that up!

I'm glad you did this. I thought I was going crazy looking at the 100% consensus across tabs that didn't match the song as recorded (white album). One thing I'd point out is that the bass line is straight 1/4's and doesn't syncopate like the pick/strum pattern. It looks like you tabbed it that way, but then while playing it you sometimes change the bass rhythm. 👍

What a magnificent post... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

I learned to play it by ear a LONG time ago, and then more recently by watching Sir Paul on You tube, and have been using the thumb and finger strum for many years. I'm glad to see someone else who caught this technique.

Thank you for getting the right notes and strumming/picking on this song, it’s one of the most beautiful songs out there.

Thanks! Well thought out. Refreshing change.

I learned by ear and got it pretty much right as far as the strumming goes. It took years before I got the correct chord shapes, even though the chords I was playing had the correct notes. I was playing the right notes and the right strumming pattern but the wrong chord shapes until a few years ago.

Hey Man, thank you for the tabs , great video!

Such an amazing video, you're very talented. I'm only recently growing fonder and fonder of guitar playing and I would love to find the time to learn how to play this magnificent instrument 😍And I love the Beatles 😍 So thank you very much, and keep up the good... playing!

Great video! As a generally classically informed style guitar player, I've always played that open G with my index finger like everyone else, and never realized he flicks downward with his index finger! Trying it, you realize how weird that is because of the orientation of the finger Strokes versus the beat. It's like playing at a completely different way.

Great tutorial and fabulous investigative work 🕵️‍♀️ I think you’ve cracked the code 🎸 👍

It doesn't matter how you play it, it's how it sounds. I never worry about looking right, just sounding right. It's all about sound.

you are spot on --exactly my sentiments ---well done!

My good friend Leslie taught me how to play this song years ago. The way he described the picking was with the thumb and the first finger. The way he showed me, when you hear the strumming, you do it with the one first finger back and forth. This song was an introduction to finger picking for me. In the years since, i usually play with all my fingers with the exception of this song.

You are a guitar god. Thank you. This song has always been a perplex to me.

THANK YOU I WAS SEARCHING FOR THISSSS

Thanks so much! Perfect analysis.

After all these years playing and I thought I was doing it right. Thanks for the great post!

This is hilarious because I've been having this argument with other guitarists for years. Every guitarist I know insists that he finger picks it. Vindication! I learned it strumming like Paul does from day one. I'm guessing that everyone that swears he fingerpicks it only learned it from tablature. I learned it from the record by ear. Just goes to show it pays to put in the time and figure things out by ear. You'll become a better musician if you do, and I honestly think it helped me appreciate music better.

Thanks for your investigative work, sir.

No joke, this is the first time in my 9 years playing guitar that I've seen someone actually figure out the proper technique. I haven't found a single cover on KZfaq where they play it correctly, even when it says "accurate" in the title! I never realised the technique was so simple, only using 1 finger. I just learnt the whole thing today using that technique and I can finally say I am satisfied with Blackbird! Thanks man

nice! glad i found this. thanks!

It doesn't matter if it's not EXACTLY the same,,,, so long as it sounds ok then it is. It's music,, 🇬🇧

In a band in 67-68 we always tried to duplicate the sound of the record as closely as we could. Ruined a number of records by picking up the stylus and dropping it back a bit to keep replaying that tough to figure out part! Now I mainly try to show my respect for a song by working out an arrangement that I can play well enough not to embarrass the song. If it's not exactly like the original version, who cares - it's my version.

Oh my, thanks for the research on this very lovely song.

Thank you for deciding the song, It has actually saved me a little of time from learning this song incorrectly so I thank you for putting the time and effort into putting the more correct version out there!

Yup! I’ll practice it this way for a while. It feels right! Also, perhaps not enough emphasis is placed on the idea that the finger sweep/brush is always down/up, which gives that brightness you talk about.

VERY NICELY DONE !!

Excellent research

I liked you video. Steve Krenz had a tutorial on Blackbird. And Steve had it exactly correct. You are right with the index finger strum. For me it will take practice to get the rhythm

Thank you...I heard Paul tell me (the crowd) this at a San Diego show almost a decade ago. It irked me...and I looked into it enough to know I had the general notes correct and suspected some simple fingering/strumming difference, but never finished the leg work. I appreciate your time and explanation.

I learned this song about two years ago and back then I just couldn't get the finger pick right and smooth so I just did the finger sweep/strum thing so that's how I was unintentionally playing the song correctly

The "All your life" A7/C# does sound better than how I'm used to playing it. I learned it by ear decades ago. Now I have to change a few details. Thanks.

Awesome guitar color

Your guitar sounds awesome. Great sustain.

I think you are all correct. Musicians play their own songs differently sometimes. I have never heard Lindsey Buckingham play Never Going Back Again in concert the way it was played on the Rumours album. And the concert version of Band on the Run, the guitar intro for the part for 'Mama' is different from the album version.

Very accurate video, thanks

i saw mcartney live as well, and when he said that i went thru the same motions as you, but me i never learned from a tab book, yes i learned a tab but i listened to the song so many times i improvised to match the song.. and in doing so i play exactly as mcartney does minus 1 strum.

I learned this song watching Paul McCartney playing it in the Mtv Unplugged video. No tabs or anything, only watching my VHS tape.

I like your left hand fingering! I do that first bit the same way, with my pinky and middle finger playing that G/B chord! and then during the slide up, just like you, I replace the middle finger with my index finger. My reasoning for using fingers 2 and 4 is to prevent the open B string from ringing out as I switch from the Am7(2nd chord) to the G/B(3rd chord), and I wonder if it was the same for you?

I learned it at Eddie Simon's Guitar Study Center in Greenwich Village 1000 years ago tuning the A-string a step down to G. It works fine.

Thanks, nice detective work! Good point about the "mini strum" with the index finger, I just assumed that Paul didn't know how to finger pick with individual fingers, But the real revelation was in the "all Your Life" part - there's definitely a chromaticism in the bass that no one plays, and it's not in most tabs. I just watched a couple of other tutorials on this song, and they didn't get it either. As I listened to the recording again, I can hear it. Thanks again for pointing this out - I'll have to go back and re-learn it. BTW - I'm working it out in OpenG, and it fits nicely in that tuning.

I always played that A7 the way you're showing is correct. I figured out how to play by listening to it; not by googling it

quite honestly....any song should have your own vibe added to it whether or not you are 100% accurate when it comes to picking. . If it sounds beautiful and you can sing in key thats all that really counts in my humble opinion. This goes for blues, rock, metal etc. Thanks for the great content you post.

While only some of your picking rhythm seems somewhat stilted to me, your studious musical ear (and eye!) are indeed spot-on, and I found your video very informative. Thank you very much for sharing your research. Pedantic players/Beatlemaniacs like me are always striving to perform more faithfully to the original tracks. I too have been playing Blackbird for years-- about 24 of them incidentally, and this was actually one of the very first songs I ever learned, thanks to a VHS series put out by a very talented instructor, who I believe is named Curt Mitchell-- and while I did in recent years learn the accurate way to play the "all your life" bit, I now know that I've *never* gotten the two-finger strummy technique right. I most definitely played the very precise individual notes recorded in most online tabs (just as you showed us). From what I understand (see: tutorial for Calico Skies by KZfaqr "Shut Up & Play", as I recall), this "two-finger claw"* picking technique is allegedly a Rosetta Stone to Paul's picking songs. * Upon review, he never says "two-finger claw" (or it being any kind of Rosetta Stone), but I could still swear I heard that term coined by someone not me. Anyhow, Shut Up & Play does address Paul's two-finger technique at this point in his video: 04:30. I'll try to link it directly: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mLpldqmgmpbIpWw.html Thanks again! P. S. More corroborating evidence: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g5t5haposZ7dhqM.html (listen for about ten seconds.)

I forget when it was… maybe 7 years ago i remember switching from playing the first way to the second. The second is a lot harder for me and never got it right, so I went back to the first. Blackbird and over the hills and far away were the first two songs i ever learned.

Thanks for the video. Well see with "the nail"! It has clearly "fixed" the rythm problem I had, i was feeling it was not correct. As you said, all the tabs show mostly the same. On the last carod you show, you can also get the high G on the B sting, coming from the previous cord is a bit of a strech but you dont have to move your finger to a different string.

came here to learn the strumming pattern and that’s what i did - great educational video

McCartney wrote and started playing this 55 years ago. As the years passed and he played it hundreds of times, he probably added these little flourishes. I had to learn, unlearn, and learn it again, I probably still don't have it right. Good video.

Thanks for that analysis, I've thought the same as you since I learned this in college 50 yr ago! I am unable to reproduce McCartney's strum completely, he's got that magic index finger. IMHO, tab showing 10th D and 12th frets G should not have the the 10th fret D string being plucked the 3rd beat, just a quick straight up and down 4 times with the index finger and thumb and index pick 10th fret D and 12th fret G every 4th note -- but what would I know. I think partially muting high E string with little finger on 12th fret B hides accidentally hitting that string when doing the index finger strum. Also It seems like some chords you have high on the the fretboard could be duplicated lower down fretboard without so much moving around but I have to investigate this more, will post when I figure it out.

Thank you. 🤘🎸🎶

I learned jenny wren first, got the pluck and flick technique, then applied it to blackbird. Also John Mayer’s Neon uses the same technique i believe

Thank you Stevie for getting to the bottom of this. I'll sleep well tonight.

I learned it off the white album where you can easily here the bass walk down 5-4-3 on the A string but I never left the B string for a lower fret on the E string. I just used the B string 5 frets up. A lot of people I tried to show this to stuck to changing the shape back and forth but once you try it a few times my way you will see that keeping the same fingers (index and pinky) in roughly the same shape on the same strings is quite easy -just a bit of stretch -which you grow into. Now I have developed a triad version using AGB strings with some complimentary frets on the G. Sounds quite faithful but nicely different. ...And that finger strum ....yes that was also easily heard on the original so that alternating G was too many peoples imaginations.

There's an old interview where he explains how he wrote it. He doesn't explain it part by part but he does play it slowly then plays it at speed.

I taught myself the alternating middle finger open "G' string way to play Blackbird because that's what it sounded like to me on the record. I also hybrid pick it. I have recently come to understand that Paul actually played/plays it with an alternating open "G " chord strum instead of the single note. That's actually much easier, but less precise sounding to me. I should have sussed it. Given any guitar playing alternative, John, Paul and George always went for the simplest, easiest possible way to play, and why not? This is not a criticism, just an accurate observation. I remember when "Revolver" came out and I worked like mad to play the seemingly double-stop solo in "And Your Bird can Sing". After a lot of blood, toil, tears and sweat, I actually got it, pretty much. Much later on, I learned that it was not double-stopped at all but was two individual guitars (Paul and George) playing single note lines in harmony. Bloody hell! Well, anyone (or two) can do that, dammit!. Playing Blackbird is much the same. I'm sticking to the single "G" note way. I like it better. Cheers.

Thanks, a great lesson and discussion. I will experiment a little and decide which finger placement and strum/picking patter works best for me. There is no correct way to play an acoustic song in performance guitar. Even the original players will play the same song with different fingering. When playing a classical guitar performances. There is a right and wrong. The performance must be precise in tone, accent, timing, and finger placement.

Pete Thorn did a video on the finger strum years ago, I went off that. He also did a very good Paranoid Android tutorial, that guy has some ear on him.

In reference to something you said in the video: yup. I used to LIVE by internet tabs and now that I am older I realized that 99.99999% of them are guesses or copies of other wrong guesses. Videos of the actual performers and ear for the win!

He plays it differently now than on the recording, a video from 1968 in the studio shows him.playing a little and improvising on the song!

Interesting, thanks for posting I learned something about Sir McCartney's right hand technique. Also thanks for mentioning the chords. Most just accept the common tabs which are wrong ... (explanation with block chords, understand many are 2 or 3 note chords ...) E-, E-/D#, D add G, Db add G, C, C-, G/B, A7, Asus, etc. I want to add my 2 cents about the ascending section C, C# dim, D, D# dim (similar thing here no sevenths ... 3 note chords). That said there so MANY WAYS to play this wonderful piece of music. After 50+ years of trying to play it right, one thing I am quite certain of THERE IS MUCH more for me to learn. Thanks in advance for your corrections/comments.

It doesn't matter if most play it wrong, but what matters is that some can spot it and thats what makes this tune really endearing. Many casual listeners of those days skipped this track and years later couldn't recall the tune! Doing this video certifies your good tastes. The part "all your life", played wrongly as highlighted by you could be expected from those not seriously involved. There is a definite pattern or logic in the making of this song which leads one correctly. Using the back of the fingernails is not better or worse and for this even some of his admirers called him un othordox! It certainly has snob value! Hope that in the future you won't have to rely on tabs and trust your ears. Though tabs can help increase your repertoire. It's a great feeling once you have completed a project yourself.

I always knew he was doing that, just by hearing it. But it's very difficult to do, as you're showing.

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I don't think its been a secret that Paul has always played not only Blackbird but other songs he fingerpicks just using his thumb and index finger. It's just how he plays. Personally, I have trouble playing Blackbird the way Paul plays as I can't get my index finger to strum property so I revert to using thumb, index and middle finger.

Noticed it was a toggle like mini strum movement. Thumb consistently hitting base note on the downbeat followed by flick of index finger down on DG and B strings then quickly up and down again on same strings. If you do this you’ll notice your wrist toggling like when you take a shot of vodka :-) prior to this I was picking it but just didn’t sound right

This is a great video, the only thing I would change is that he is consistently doing the pointer finger "flick" strum on beats 2 and 4.

Feels so good the way paul does it. I’ve dabbled with flamenco guitar and so, more natural.

People talk about looking for videos of Paul playing the song live, but just go back and listen to the original recording on 'The Beatles' and you can hear clear as day that he's strumming those high chords not finger-picking!

You know what.. I’ll add another note that I stumbled on just now. I saw a clip of Paul McCartney on a talk show where he plays black bird with the finger plucking style. So even he jumps to different styles it would seem

My first guitar teacher taught me the flamenco sweep with my pointer finger for this song. always sounded right to me, now I know why. I will say though, I don't recall ever seeing a standardized "flamenco sweep" notation. it's "technically" 3 notes (since you're sweeping the open G on the way up, striking the B at the 12th, then striking the G on the way back down) but the way you notated it certainly sounds much closer than the typical way the tab sites notate it.

Yeah I found out when I saw him in concert too but I had been playing it with full fingerpicking for song long I can’t unlearn it. There’s only 5 people in the tri-state area who can notice anyway lol

fascinating!

I was in one of those concerts where he said that. Or is it that once that he did at the dodger stadium?

I learned by ear on tape when I was a kid before internet. I always played 57 48 35 on that bit. Changing the high note to 43, I never considered it, but it does not sound the same since the E string is thinner. Though easier to play than 48, I give you that. As for 78, if people used their ears they would clearly hear the bass going down 5-4-3, on "all your life". The chromatic down progression on bass is a Macartney typical bass signature in many songs (Let it Be, A Day in Life, Hey Jude ...) The right hand, after decades playing fingerpicking, I instinctively developped a unconscious rhythmic 2fingers downstrumming. Mark Knopfler used that on Money for Nothing as recently explained by a famous KZfaqr (Paul something). I uploaded that song on my channel with that strumming. I will upload Blackbird someday soon. One can imagine that P.Mc picking technique bettered over time, and he might not play Blackbird nowadays as he did 50+ years ago.

I find myself rolling it almost as a Merle Travis style. It is just helps me more with the timing. I just like the continual drone of the open G string. All wrong I'm, sure but I am not playing it out to critical audiences, I just use it as a fingerpicking etude. That being said, I love the song and the way he plays it. After all, it is his creation.

My problem is that I taught myself how to do it incorrectly (as you sat you did it) and I've been doing that for SO LONG I can't seem to get the "finger flicking" down...sigh.

Thanks - the tab is great! Sounds good on a nylon string guitar, too…

A fun thing to tries to use your second finger on all of the chromatically ascending bass notes on the a string... it keeps you from having to hop around, and gives your left hand this smooth gliding finger as you come up the fretboard... I saw him one time in 2005, and before playing Blackbird he told a little story about how he learned classical guitar when he was a teenager and then proceeded to play the first section of that famous Bouree by Bach in E Minor that all the classical guitar players play. I was really impressed when he played that! Then he said this next song was based on that Bach piece, and went on to play Blackbird. But the funny thing is, I found a piece by Carulli, another famous classical guitar composer that everybody who takes classical guitar lessons plays lots of pieces by, that has the EXACT same beginning notes as Blackbird!!! Boy, what a coincidence :-)

Obsessive, I can relate. Thank you.

congratulations

In the interested of full disclosure, I know I play it differently. I learned the chords probably 35 years ago and had always struggled with the picking / strumming. My dad was a Travis style finger picker and over the years, that style sank in. Eventually I adapted Blackbird to Travis style. It works like a charm, sounds awesome and is one of my favorite songs to play. I recall a while ago, somewhere on the tube, seeing Paul interviewed. He explained that when he initially wrote Blackbird, he was trying to emulate a finger style picking that he had heard and though he himself stated that he "didn't do it very well", what we hear now is what he came up with. It's timeless and beautiful, so in no way am I criticizing it. If anything, the fault is mine that I got tired of trying to copy what he did and opted for what came naturally to me. I often wondered if Paul had heard Travis or Chet Atkins playing somewhere and that was what he was referring to.

He plays the top strings with his index finger; with the back on the nail on the downstroke and flesh/nail on the upstroke (like a ukelele player would)

Bro it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a video of yours, we have the exact same guitar

And the tune was based on him playing Bach wrong.

I enjoyed your video. Good work. I've played it differently all my life (65 yrs) never quite doing it the same. Heck, I don't even know what I'm playing these days, my mind and fingers are on auto-pilot. If I think about what I'm playing, I will mess it up, lol. Only 1 person in all that time ever mentioned, or brought up, that it's not the correct way to play the song. If it's close and not completely off, that's all people want. Fingerpicking or mini chord sweeps, they don't care...just get the words right :) Oh, and the guy who mentioned I was playing it wrong...is my acoustic duo partner of 40 years. Damn musicians, lol.

Hey, THANKS for your reply :) Relying on ones ears (if they´re trained that is...) works best, although they might need some help now & then... ;) Your search for how Sir Paul plays it stays interesting, but I still think that the record, opposed to how he plays it live, stay 2 different things... I don´t mean the following negative, but it´s comparing apples with pears. At worst, somebody who played it wright his or her whole life could get uncertain now, and that would be too bad... I´m SURE he picked the G-string nicely with his indexfinger. Maybe because he´s a lot older now, his indexfinger got too thick to fit between the strings haha. At least I notice (getting old...) that my fingers are bigger and thicker as they used to be, so for instance: I can´t play a major chord with the root on the A-string with middle-,ring-finger +pinky in line anymore on an electric guitar... :/ ;) Musical greetings, JlaG

Having learned to play it recently i wondered if he adapted it for playing live 🤔

When I first learned it, I always learned it with the 7-8 fretting with 'All my life' and as I started to relearn it, saw people doing it the other way and I'm like, 'huh'?

I learned this by ear and play it this way. I read somewhere that Donovan was teaching Lennon and McCartney how to fingerpick and whilst John got it spot on Paul came up with this style instead.

Thanks

G, 4th string, open G, open B, B,1st string 7th fret, strum open strings, pluck the other two to emphasize the octave concerning the B's.