Fleetwood Mac Guitar lessons

One of my favorite songs is Landslide, which was written by Stevie Nicks when she was with Fleetwood Mac. When I first got the Guild, I bought a Fleetwood Mac songbook and attempted to learn the song. I was discouraged by the chords that were written out, and was unsuccessful at deciphering the box code. The first few lines looked like this:

Further Reading

At that point in my life I was more a pianist than a guitarist and when I saw Eb, Bb, Cm in the notation, I thought, “Forget this!” So I tucked the song in the back of my head, and when I began to take lessons, I begged my teacher to help me with the song. It turns out that this is a very simply song…if you use a capo! For those of you who don’t know what a capo is, it is a wonderful device that let’s you change the key without changing the chords (see The Underappreciated Art Of Using A Capo). The chords are really quite simple; they are C, G/B, Am, G/B, with that pattern repeating over and over again throughout the “verses.” Then there is this little bridge where she sings, “Well, I’ve been afraid of changing”. Luckily, it’s a very little bridge and the chords are mostly simple, thanks to our friend Mr. Capo. G, D/F#, Em and then you plunge right back into the C, G/B, Am, G/B pattern. So here it is:

In addition to learning the chords for Landslide, I was challenged to learn a picking pattern for my right hand. Over time, I’ve found that I have modified the pattern I was taught (which mimics the album). I was pleased to discover that the song still is true, even with a slightly different pattern. It’s evolved into something easy to play, and great to sing with.