Learn "Angeles" by Elliott Smith On Guitar!

Hey, how you doing? Today we’ll check out Angeles by Elliott Smith. What an incredible song. It’s just beautiful in every way and is a real challenge! There are some pretty unusual elements in it.

💡 DIY TAB: It's best you write your own TAB for this song. It will really help you digest all its wonderful complexity. But If you want to check it’s accurate, head to JustinGuitar TABs. :)

When you try to play this song, you’ll likely notice it’s way faster than it sounds! I definitely suggest you use some software to slow it down to 60-70% of the original speed and play along with it. Before you do that, play the parts really slowly and make sure the notes are in the right order.

We’ll need a capo on fret 5. I’m going to describe everything relative to the capo: fret 2 means two frets up from the capo, meaning I'm actually referring to fret 7. The same thing goes for Em: 022000 with a capo on 5 is really an Am, but I’ll call it Em. It’s way easier to describe everything relative to the capo. Enough talking – let’s check it out!

Angeles by Elliott Smith: Picking Pattern

The picking pattern we want for most of this tune is:

Beat     1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
String   6   4   6   4   6   4   6   4
             1     2       2 1 1   2
Finger   T   T   T   T   T   T   T   T  
             2     1       1 2 2   1

That’s the version with string 6 as a bass note. For chords with the bass note on string 5, we’ll play this:

Beat     1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
String   5   4   5   4   5   4   5   4
             1     2       2 1 1   2
Finger   T   T   T   T   T   T   T   T  
             2     1       1 2 2   1

Practice this pattern a lot – we’ll use it several times! Take it nice and slow to begin with, making sure you avoid mistakes. Then speed it up. Your goal is to be able to talk while you pick it – if you can do that, you’ve pretty much mastered the pattern. :)

Angeles by Elliott Smith – Intro Chords

The song starts with an Em9 chord: 0X4032. Use finger 1 for 1:2 (string 1, fret 2), finger 2 for 2:3, and finger 4 for 4:4, and pick the string 6 pattern.

After one bar of Em9, we switch to A: X02X20. Remember to use the string 5 pattern. On 4 e + a, we play 4:4 (with finger 4), then 2:0.

Then we switch to a Bm: X24030 (not technically a Bm, but the real name is pretty complicated!). Use finger 1 on 5:2, 4 on 4:4, and 2 on 2:3.

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Here the picking pattern varies from the usual string 5 pattern: we move fingers 1 and 2 up one string, meaning we pick string 3 instead of 2, and string 2 instead of 1. On beat 3, lift off finger 1 to reveal 5:0 and continue picking.

Now we move to G (3X003X). Use finger 1 on 6:3 and finger 2 on 2:3. The picking pattern changes:

Beat     1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
String   6   4   6   4   6   4   6*  4         (6* means 6:2)   
             2     3   2   3   2   3   2
Finger   T   T   T   T   T   T   T   T  
             2     1   2   1   2   1   2

Keep finger 2 in place to move back to Em9 for the next repetition. This chord sequence (Em9, A Bm, G) repeats twice. On 4 e + a of the final G, we play strings 6, 0, and 4. Time to check out the second section of the intro. :)

Angeles by Elliott Smith: Intro – Second Section

We start with an F# barre chord (244322) for two beats with the usual string 6 picking pattern. Then we switch to an A (X02X20) for beats 3 and 4, using the second part of the string 5 pattern.

Then it’s G for half a bar, D for half a bar (use bars 1 and 2 of the string 5 pattern, picking strings 4 and 3 instead of 5 and 3). One slight difference: On the “+” after 4, add 1:0.

Now it’s time for some strumming! The music changes to a regular open E chord. We pick the bass note with the thumb and strum with finger 1. On beat 4, we switch to D/F# (200200; the real name is pretty complex.)

The rhythm is:

E                      D/F#
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
B   D   B U D U B   D U B   D U

The TD TUDU pattern appears throughout the song, so make sure you practice it loads. Here’s the next part.

G                       A 
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
B   D U     B*  B   D   B   D       (B* means 4:0)

That’s pretty fiddly. Took me ages to learn! Repeat the first two beats of G, then we play a fill. Put finger 2 on 4:2, slide up to 4:4, hit the open G string, pick 4:4, slide back to 4:2, then play 5:0.

💡 Add upstrums when it sounds good. Elliott varied the rhythm a lot for this tune, and so should we. :)

That fill leads into Bm. He often plays a regular Bm here (X24432), but sometimes he uses Bm add11 (X24430). On beat 3, we switch to A. The rhythm is:

Bm              A
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
B   D U   U B   B   D U   U B

Then the strumming gets looser, but the basic pattern will serve you well. Play the G-A bar again, then stay on G for three bars. There are also little bass runs between the bars of G (5:0, 6:2, 6:3).

Phew! You’ll be glad to know the verses are real similar to the intro. :)

Angeles by Elliott Smith: Verses

The verse chords are the same as those in the intro. We move away from the fingerstyle pattern and strum instead. The basic strumming pattern is:

1  e  +  a  2  e  +  a 
B     D        U  D  U

Nail this, then start experimenting. The rhythm moves around a lot, so don’t rigidly stick to this pattern.

Elliott Smith Tips

I’m a huge fan of Elliott’s music and get really geeky when figuring out what he plays. I make sure the rhythm is spot on, the notes are correct, and the open strings accidentally ring out at the right time!

🚨 Transcribing: if there was only one thing you could practice on the guitar, I’d suggest you practice transcribing. Transcribing is so crucial for igniting your guitar potential that I dedicated the most important guitar lesson ever to it!

But I’m a guitar teacher. If you just like the song and want to expand your repertoire, there’s no need to be so pedantic about learning his music. Feel free to simplify it and come up with your own solutions.

Don’t worry about playing it perfectly. Even though I fret over every little note and beat, that really isn’t the point of music!

Anyways, we have one more section to cover: the bridge! :)

Angeles by Elliot Smith – How To Play The Bridge

Play all the chords in this section for half a bar. We start with an F# barre chord, then F#/G# (4X4322), A, then C# (X4664X).

Then it’s F#, A, G, D, followed by a full bar of E. We play a transition chord, D/F# (200200), then move into the verse again. That’s all there is to it! Let’s check out some performance tips.

Performance Tips for Angeles

This one is pretty tricky to sing and play simultaneously, but there’s a specific process that will take you there. The key is to automate the fingerstyle pattern before you try to sing. We can only focus on one thing at a time!

Once the guitar is automated, practice singing it with the original recording first, paying attention to the phrasing, melody, and rhythm. Once you’re comfortable with that, you can then try guitar and singing together on your own. :)

🎵 Singing and Playing At The Same Time: check out my 10-step method for singing as you play guitar.

Elliott Smith is a top, top musician. He’s up there with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and The Beatles as a songwriter and is an incredible guitarist. Definitely check out his music to absorb all the genius. Was loads of fun making this lesson! See you for more guitar real soon. :)

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