Follow these links to go to Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4 of this lesson.

Alright, moving on to Lesson 2 of the Christmas classic, “Auld Lang Syne.” Assuming you’ve got the first two bars down, let’s take a look at the next six bars.

In bars 3 and 4, you’re starting off with a C chord, but then shifting up to an F chord. To do this, you can use your little finger as a sort of anchor finger. This means you can use it to help guide you from one chord to the next. Sometimes anchor fingers will stay put between two chords, helping you to move the other fingers around it relatively. In this case, you’re moving your little finger up two frets, so it helps you find the correct hand placement on your guitar’s neck. Once you’ve got your little finger in place, you’ll know exactly where to place your other fingers.

Bars 5 and 6 aren’t too bad. In the fifth bar, you’re using a C chord, and then bar 6 is exactly the same as bar 2 from the previous lesson. Easy!

Bars 7 and 8 introduce an A minor chord and a different F chord, and then it goes right back to C.

On your picking hand, pay close attention to which fingers and plucking which strings. They switch up a bit depending on which chord you’re playing and what the melody line is doing between the chords. As with anything, if it feels a little awkward at first, it just takes some practice. Also, you can take some liberties with the fingerings if you find something that feels more comfortable for you.

TAB and Notes

Download the TAB for Auld Lang Syne here.