James Taylor – Yesterday Guitar Lesson Info
Learn how to play James Taylor – Yesterday note-for-note on guitar with our James Taylor – Yesterday Guitar Lesson.
Here’s something truly special: James Taylor’s rarely-heard cover of the Beatles’ Yesterday, which he performed in concert around 1970.
Instead of playing it in Paul McCartney’s original key, James downtuned his guitar by a half step and worked it out in the key of C — something highly unusual (possibly unique) in his catalog. The result is a version that feels both familiar and unmistakably James, with his signature fingerpicked style wrapped around one of the most famous melodies ever written.
In this lesson, we’ll break down exactly how James approached the song, step by step. You’ll learn the precise fingerpicking patterns, the chord shapes he used in C (with the guitar tuned down), and how he brought his own musical voice to a Beatles classic.
If you’re a fan of James Taylor, or simply looking to expand your fingerstyle repertoire with a unique twist on a timeless song, this lesson will be a treat.
Here’s the version you’ll be learning:
- Difficulty level: Intermediate
- Barre chords: No
- Thumb over chords: Yes
- Playing Style: Fingerpicked
- Tuning: Downtuned by a half step
- Separate Solo: No
- Separate Bass Part: No
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James Taylor – Yesterday 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 5 files as follows:
- Part 1: Guitar Video Lesson – Verse
- Part 2: Guitar Video Lesson – Bridge, etc.
- Part 3: Performance-standard Playthru Video
- Part 4: Songsheet with tabs & lyrics
- Part 5: Guitar Tab
Total Download size: 295.7 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.
James Taylor – Yesterday Lesson Previews
Playthru & Intro
Tab Preview
Chords & Songsheet Preview
Return to Individual Songs page
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