What You Will Learn

I’m using this simple song to teach you how to see can be divided into sections. This will make learning songs much faster and help you to memorize them with less effort. Whether or not you like this song I’d encourage you to go to the lesson. I picked this song simply because most people know the melody and it’s a fairly simple and clear example of the sections I want to demonstrate.

In addition you’ll get a chance to practice:

1. Changing chords on time2. Following the melody of the song with the chord changes3. And most importantly… you’ll learn to recognize the patterns in songs — both visually and using your ears

This is no small success!

Kumbaya consists of four melodic phrases. Learn to recognize these phrases. It is easier to learn and memorize songs when you understand the structure. Notice which phrase repeats exactly twice, which phrases are similar, what the differences are, and which phrase is completely different.

Practice each phrase separately, starting with the last phrase and using it like a chord changing exercise. Then go back and practice the first and second phrase, then put it all together. Play the song slowly. It is more important to get the chord change in time with the rhythm than to play quickly.

To make it easier to see I’ve numbered the phrases 1 to 4.

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