Skip to content
Courses/Stage 3

Play and Sing a Whole Song

Upper Intermediate10 minStrums, fingerpicking, and playing while you sing

Put the chord progression, the strum, and the singing all together and play-and-sing a complete song — you've graduated!

Video lessons are in production — follow the notes and practice checklist below and you'll learn it just fine.
Stage 3 · Strumming & Singing7 lessons

You're on lesson 7 / 7 in this stage

Show all 7 lessons
  1. The Classic Fingerpicking Pattern: 532313239 min
  2. Right-Hand Groove: Ghost Strums and Constant Motion8 min
  3. Common Strumming Patterns9 min
  4. How to Use a Capo7 min
  5. Pick a Key for Your Voice, Set the Capo9 min
  6. Coordinating Playing and Singing8 min
  7. Play and Sing a Whole Song10 min

The full workflow

① Set the key: pick a song that mainly uses chords like G, D, Em, C, and Am (use a capo if needed). ② Work the accompaniment through slowly. ③ Add the singing, section by section at first. ④ Record yourself once on your phone and play it back to spot problems. ⑤ Gradually bring it up to full speed.

With the “universal progression G–D–Em–C” and the “down, down-up, up, down-up” strum you've already learned, you can fully back a lot of songs.

Where to go from here

Congratulations on completing your first full loop, from zero to playing-and-singing! Stage 4 next will take you through conquering the big barre chord F, reading tablature, and just-enough theory — greatly expanding the songs you can play.

  • 💡 Copyright note: when practicing, favor chord charts and chord progressions, and avoid copying out full sheet music for copyrighted works.

Chords in this lesson

Tap the 🔊 under each diagram to match every chord's sound to its shape.

213
✕✕132
23
✕321
✕231
⏱️ Cycle this lesson's chords to a beatPractice switching without stopping (one-minute changes) — first learn each chord by ear and shape, then drill clean changes between them.Expand

Switch back and forth between this lesson's chords to the beat below.

Tap “Start” to play along with the beat
GDEmCAm
Speed80 BPM
Time

One bar of count-in first, then the chord changes automatically each bar. Get it smooth slowly, then speed up bit by bit.

Want to count how many changes you can do in 60 seconds? Head to the one-minute changes drill.

Go play these

Songs that fit this lesson's technique and chords — pick one and practice in the library:

See all songs →
Open the metronomeStart slow, and once it's steady, work up to the original song's tempo.→

Practice checklist

  • Play and sing a whole song (even just a verse plus a chorus), straight through without stopping.
  • Record and play it back, and note one thing to improve next time.