From The Start
Difficulty Level: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Song: From The Start
Artist: Laufey
Genre: English/Jazz
Tuning: Standard (EADGBe)
Capo: Fret 1
BPM: 164
*arranged by MeloLe
Personal Take
Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir
loo-fy? law-fi?
The correct answer is here:
Icelandic Version:
English Version:
Today, we’re gonna talk about one of the hottest songs from Laufey, that blends modern jazz with vintage charm: “From The Start”.
For those who aren’t familiar with Laufey, she’s an Icelandic-Chinese artist whose music captures the essence of jazz, pop, and classical styles. (I Googled it for you guys 😎)
When I first heard this song, I was immediately drawn to its rhythmic feel. It incorporates a bossa nova pattern, giving it a unique groove that’s incredibly catchy and fun to sing along to. Here are the three main reasons why I decided to learn to play this song:
Bossa Nova Pattern: As mentioned earlier, it provides a unique groove with its syncopated beats and smooth transitions, making it catchy and memorable.
Soft Accompaniment: The gentle guitar accompaniment in the background plays a supportive role, allowing the vocals to take center stage.
Jazz Chords: The use of major 7ths and minor 7ths adds a sense of dissonance and tension to the music.
However, I noticed that the original studio version Laufey played can be quite challenging for beginners to learn. To make it more accessible, I’ve tweaked the arrangement using a capo, making it easier to play so everyone can learn it quickly and enjoy playing along.
Guitar Accompaniment
Rhythmic Pattern
The bossa nova pattern incorporates a lot of syncopated beats, making it very groovy but also challenging due to its irregular rhythm.
If this is your first time encountering this rhythm, I highly suggest practicing with a metronome at a much slower tempo. This helps you catch the groove. Once you feel it, playing becomes much easier.
*It’s hard to explain bossa nova in text, and this is my first bossa nova experience too! If you are interested in learning, there are many great videos online that explain the rhythm well!
Rest
You might wonder what this is, this is what we called "rest". In music theory, “rest” means silencing the sound, stopping the string from ringing for a particular note value. In the image above, no.1 is a quaver (eighth note) rest, while no.2 is a semibreve (whole note) rest.
To perform a rest, use your right/picking hand to place your fingers back on the strings after plucking. For example, after plucking the 1st string with your ring finger, immediately (since it is a quaver, the note value is very small) place it back to create the rest effect. This technique is suitable for this song. After plucking the first chord with your thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers, place them back on the strings you just plucked.
Other than that, the rest is pretty simple, with many open strings in the arrangement and finger positions around the first three frets (with the capo - 2nd to 4th fret). If you’re interested in bossa nova, let me know! Maybe I can try to make a video or write an article about it.
Happy playing, and feel free to share your thoughts!
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