Bob Dylan – Every Grain of Sand Guitar Lesson Info
Learn how to play Bob Dylan – Every Grain of Sand note-for-note on guitar with our detailed step-by-step guitar lesson.
This lesson teaches the guitar part from Every Grain of Sand by Bob Dylan note-for-note from the original recording, focusing on the delicate fingerpicked accompaniment that gives the song its reflective, hymn-like feel. It’s played on an electric (by Andrew Gold, I think) on the original, but here I teach it on acoustic.The arrangement is played in 6/8 time using flowing arpeggio patterns, but what makes the part especially interesting is the choice of chord voicings. Rather than simply holding basic open chords and repeating a fixed picking pattern, the accompaniment shifts colour and texture through subtle chord voicing choices.
The song is played with a capo at the 8th fret, which creates the bright, chiming tone heard on the recording. If you’re not used to playing with a capo that high up the neck it can feel a little unusual at first, but the sound is well worth it.
The lesson is fingerpicked throughout and contains no barre chords or thumb-over chords. Most of the arrangement is pretty easy, although there is one more unusual chord voicing that may feel awkward initially. For that section, an easier alternative fingering is also explained for players who prefer a simpler option.
This is a great study in how subtle chord voicing choices can transform a relatively simple picking pattern into something far more expressive and atmospheric. The download includes the full video lesson, a play-through performance, and detailed tab and chords so you can learn the arrangement exactly as demonstrated.
- Difficulty level: Intermediate (most is easy but there’s one tricky chord voicing)
- Barre chords: No
- Thumb over chords: No
- Playing Style: Fingerpicked
- Tuning: Standard
- Separate Solo: No
- Separate Bass Part: No
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Bob Dylan – Every Grain of Sand Download Details
The complete lesson contains a lesson video and a performance-standard play-thru video. It also contains the guitar tabs as PDF files and a songsheet with the chords and the lyrics of the lesson (if applicable), also as PDF files.
The videos are MP4 format and will play on PC’s, Macs and most mobile devices.
You’ll receive an email with a Zip file containing a total of 4 files as follows:
- Part 1: Guitar Video Lesson
- Part 2: Performance-standard Playthru Video
- Part 3: Songsheet with tabs & lyrics
- Part 4: Guitar Tab
Total Download size: 247.9 Mb
You’ll need to extract the MP4 and PDF files from the Zip file/s to be able to use them and you’ll need software to do so. If you don’t have a Zip program on your PC you’ll need to install one to open the file. I use Peazip which you can get free, here.
If you want to download to an iPad or iPhone you’ll need an app to do so, please read here to know more about it.
Bob Dylan – Every Grain of Sand Lesson Previews
Playthru & Intro
Tab Preview
Chords & Songsheet Preview
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