Dead and Company Guitar Lesson – Brown Eyed Women Rhythm Technique

In this lesson, I'll show you how to play the rhythm guitar parts and a few lead fills for Brown Eyed Women, by the Grateful Dead.

We'll learn right from one John Mayer's live performances with Dead and company.

This lesson will feature Mayer's percussive approach to rhythm guitar. We'll start with a quick performance of the verse, then we'll dive right into the lesson.

Brown Eyed Women – Grateful Dead – Verse & Lead Fill # 1

Tips on Nailing John Mayer's Rhythm Guitar Technique

Let's talk about what's going on with the right hand. Mayer uses his thumb , and his index, middle and ring fingers to form a claw position and pluck the strings.

For the “pluck,” you bring your thumb downwards, and your other three fingers go into your palm.

It sounds and looks like he's using the nail of his fingers to do this, you can use your fingertips instead of your nails if you'd like. I do think it sounds better with just a bit of nail.

For the second beat of the bar, he does a light slap against the strings with his hands still in the claw position. He takes the pressure off of his left, so there aren't any tones produced, just a muted sound.

Those are the two fundamentals of his claw rhythm technique – we've got the pluck, and the mute.

We have three plucks that are the foundation of the rhythm.

He then adds mutes in-between the plucks to get this,

If this rhythm doesn't feel natural yet, don't worry. It takes a bit of practice. You should play through the rest of the verse, and the more chords you play using this rhythm, the easier it will get.