Moonshadow by Cat Stevens | acoustic
An acoustic guitar lesson on how to play "Moonshadow" by Cat Stevens from his 1971 album "Teaser and the Firecat."
I had a request to do a lesson on Moonshadow and The Wind, both in the same week! I did The Wind already so as promised in that video, here's my lesson on Moonshadow.
Many of Cat Stevens' songs seem simple when you watch him play them, but they're a lot more complex than they appear. Moonshadow is a great example of this. The fingerpicking section is intricate and there are several variations on the main riff. I go over this in detail in the lesson.
The strumming sections are easier, but strumming evenly and in time—without rushing or dragging—is a skill that takes practice to develop.
On the original recording the strumming is done with the thumb and first finger, but on most of the live videos I watched, Cat tucks the pick during the fingerpicking sections and uses it for the strumming parts.
There's a lick at the end of the strumming sections that most lessons miss, but to me it's essential. I go over that in detail in the video and explain how that lick is modified in the live versions because of the pick.
There’s a lot to this song and it took me longer than I thought it would to nail it down.
I also covered Alun Davies' part. It's not as substantive as his part in The Wind, but playing it in C shapes with the capo on the 2nd fret adds different tones and voicings and fleshes out the sound.
While my lesson is mostly on the original recording, I learned a lot from
this video (very bad quality!) on Alun Davies' part as well as the differences from the original recording.
I loved working this one out so I hope that you get something from the video. Cheers
Andy
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