Guitar Theory For Dummies with Online Practice
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The first measure "Kumbaya" (the ultimate campfire song) is known as a pickup measure, which is incomplete; it starts the song with one or more beats missing — in this case, the first two. During the pickup measure, the guitar part shows a rest, or a musical silence. Don’t play during the rest; begin playing on the syllable “ya” on beat 1. Notice, too, that the last bar is missing two beats — beats 3 and 4. The missing beats in the last measure enable you to repeat the pickup measure in repeated playings of the song, and to make that measure, combined with the first incomplete measure, total the requisite four beats.

To play “Kumbaya”, you need to know how to play A, D, and E chords; how to strum by using all downstrokes; and how to start a fire by using only two sticks and some dried leaves.

Kumbaya
Kumbaya

Click here to download and print this guitar tab.

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