The Scientist by Coldplay | rhythm
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An acoustic guitar lesson on how to play "The Scientist" by Coldplay from their 2002 album A Rush Of Blood To the Head.
This is another great Coldplay song that's based around just four chords. Similar to "Viva La Vida" it doesn't start on the one chord but instead the six chord making the main progression is 6-4-1. It's in the key of F so the chords are Dm-Bb-F. But the whole trick to playing this one and having it sound good is that it's in an alternate tuning. The B string is tuned up to C and the high E string up to F. This allows you to lift your first finger and get some pretty awesome sounding chords. When I was looking into this tune I found this video of Chris Martin doing a live performance on acoustic guitar. He winds up in a bit of a mess. It's pretty funny but it's also a great example of how to handle screwups like a pro and how things can go south pretty quick when you're dealing with multiple guitars and tunings!
The inspiration for this song came from "Isn't It A Pity" from George Harrison's 1970 album All Things Must Pass. Here's a quote from Chris Martin from a 2014 Rolling Stone article: "On the second album I was thinking there was something missing. I was in this really dark room in Liverpool, and there was a piano so old and out of tune. I really wanted to try and work out the George Harrison song 'Isn't It A Pity,' but I couldn't. Then this song came out at once. I said, 'Can you turn on the recorder?' The first time I sung it is what's out there." I hope you get something from the videos. Cheers Andy |
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