Yesterday

MoneyChords

Resources

Yesterday

Here is our "Unplugged" arrangement of The Beatles' 1965 standard Yesterday. Our unique "Unplugged" arrangements are created for one acoustic guitar and one voice.You will want to closely compare these changes to the original progression. The Beatles' opening A section chord progression [C-Bm-E7-Am-Am/G-F (F for Dm)-G7-C) is a great example of the use of a circle progression. Rich Scott in his book "Chord Progressions for Songwriters" explains the substitutions this way: "Comparing these two progressions you will notice that I replaced the "C" with the "Am7" chord (relative minor/major substitution), the "D7" with the "FMaj7/A" chord (common tone substitution), and the "G7" with the "G6/A" (chord quality change & embellishment. I also added an additional bar to the end of the progression to create a typical eight-bar A section." I play the song in a steady 4/4 timing faster than the slower ballad version of the Beatles' hit. This Lennon and McCartney tune is generally acknowledged to have been written by Paul McCartney alone. He plays the song on an acoustic guitar tuned down a whole step [D-G-C-F-A-D] so that the open "G" chord introduction sounds as an "F" chord.You can vamp on the Am7 chord until you're ready to start. The chord fingerings I use are shown below followed by the A and B sections chord progressions.

Chord Fingerings

            Am7      Bm7      E11    FMaj7/A    G/A  
E------------5--------7--------7--------5--------0------------
B------------5--------7--------7--------5--------3------------
G------------5--------7--------7--------5--------4------------
D------------5--------7--------7--------3--------5------------
A------------0-----------------7--------0--------0------------
E---------------------7--------0------------------------------

Chord Progression

A

|Am7 /   / /|Bm7 / E11     /|Am7     /    / /|FMaj7/A / G6/A /|

|Am7 /   / /|  / / FMaj7/A /|G6/A    /  Am7 /|      / /    / /||

B

|Bm7 / E11 /|Am7 /       / /|FMaj7/A / G6/A /|Am7   /      / /|

|Bm7 / E11 /|Am7 /       / /|FMaj7/A / G6/A /|Am7   /      / /||