How to Play When I'm Sixty-Four by The Beatles on Guitar

To learn to play the Beatles' song "When I'm Sixty-Four" on guitar, you will need to work on the intro, the chords and the clarinet (instrumental) portion. The song requires the use of a capo, which is attached to the  first fret.

The song "When I'm Sixty-Four" was first released on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album in 1967.  Other songs from that album include "Good Morning, Good Morning," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "With a Little Help from my Friends."  The song was originally recorded in C major, but Paul McCartney raised the pitch by one half-step in the recording studio by speeding up the tape to give it a "rooty-tooty" feel and to make his voice sound younger.http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/when-im-sixty-four 

After the introduction, the song goes directly into the main melody, starting with the lyrics "When I am older, losing my hair." 

Place the capo on the first fret to raise the key from C major to D flat major. Then play with the regular fingerings as for the key of C major.  The chords you will need to know are C major, G7, C7, G major, F Major, F minor, A Major and D major.  The full chord progression is as follows:

C G7 C C7 F Fm C A D G C

When you play the C chord, alternate plucking the root of the chord (C) and the fifth of the chord (G) with your thumb; then strum the chord in between each alternating bass note.

The interlude switches to a minor key.  It begins at the words, "You'll be older too."  The chords you will need to know for this section are A minor, G major,  E major,D minor, E minor, C major and F major. They are played in the following order:

Am G Am

Am E Am Dm Em F G C C (stop) G G (stop) G G

The "stops" are breaks in the rhythm where you lightly hit the guitar strings with your right hand for a rhythmic effect.

At the E major chord, your add the ninth (E#), hammering it on and off four times as demonstrated in the video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJCHaRfwhvc 

You can play the melodic introduction and coda, which is played by the clarinet on the recorded version.

Let's refer to the notes Julie plays in the video by the name of the string and the fret, rather than the actual pitch.  So the first note she plays for the clarinet part is D3 (her finger is at the third fret of the D string). The true pitch of this note is F (698 Hz).

Using this notation, the instrumental intro and "outro" is played as follows:

D3 D2 D3 G1 (capo)* D3 

G1 G3 G1 B2 

B1 (capo)* B2 B4  

E1 (capo)* B4 B2 B1 B2 B4 B2

E4 A4

*For E1, B1 and G1 you will leave the string open, as the capo is already on the first fret.