“Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison

Intro Lick

Song Facts

• Tempo: It’s about 140 beats per minute. That’s very brisk
• Time Signature: Standard 4/4 time- each measure gets 4 beats
• Key Signature: It’s in G
• Chords: There are only 4 different chords in this song: G, C, D, and Em

Brown-Eyed-Girl

Intro

There’s a quick 4 measure lead guitar part that begins the song. As it turns out, it’s the hardest part of the song to play, so if you get through these first measures, you should be good to go.

A little slower…

Playing It…

Measure 1 introduces the main lead theme. Use your 1st finger on the 7th fret on the high E and your 2nd finger to fret the 8th fret on the B string. For the next series of notes using your 1st and 3rd fingers to fret until the end of the measure where we’ll end the measure with the same two notes, we started the measure with. Again, we’ll switch back to using our 1st and 2nd fingers. One thing to keep in mind is the rests that appear between the 2nd and 3rd note pairings and the 3rd and 4th note pairings.

In measure 2, we’ll take the whole pattern that was found in measure 1 and just move everything up 5 frets.

Measure 3 is the same as measure 1.

Measure 4 begins with a hybrid pick. Use your pick to get the note on the 7th fret of the G and use your middle finger on your picking hand to simultaneously pluck the note on the 5th fret of the high E. Using the hybrid picking technique allows us to skip the unwanted B string. Close out the measure by using your 3rd finger on the 7th fret of the B, your 4th finger for the 8th fret note, and finally your 1st finger for the very last note.

Overall it’s a little bit tough to play cleanly up to speed, so put in some practice time until you get it down. It sets the whole tone for the rest of the song; playful and nostalgic.

Strumming Pattern and Progressions

Verses

The verses all use the same chord progression as does the “sha, la, la” sections of the song. It’s just G, C, G, D. Each chord lasts 4 beats (or one measure).

The best way to strum the main rhythm is a down, down, up, up, down pattern.

To play the rhythm start by counting 1, &, 2, &, 3, &, 4, &. The downbeat is on 1, 2, 3, 4. The upbeat is on the &s. When strumming it, we’ll play on the downbeats with a down-stroke and the upbeats with an upstroke.

That’s a down strum on beat 1, another down strum on beat 2, then up on &

So, if you take a look the first verse below you’ll see that the progression is played through a total of 4 times.  If you broke the lyrics down you’d find 4 sentences, so the progression lasts the length of the sentence and then repeats for the next sentences/lines.

G             C
Hey where did we go,
G             D
Days when the rains came
G           C 
Down in the hollow,
G         D
Playin' a new game,
G              C 
Laughing and a running hey, hey
G              D 
Skipping and a jumping
G            C 
In the misty morning fog with
G            D             C    D
Our hearts a thumpin' and you

Chorus

As previously stated, the same G, C, G, D progression is used for much of the song. The only change is during the choruses where you’ll sing “my brown eyed girl”.  You can use the same exact strumming pattern as before.

While starting the phrase in D, we’ll switch to the G chord on “girl”, a transition to Em (no vocals over the Em). Then C, D, and G for the last line, “you my brown eyed girl”:

(D)            G    Em
My brown eyed girl,
C     D            G 
You my brown eyed girl.

Sha, la, la

We also have a  “sha, la, la” refrain that appears twice in the song. You’ll use the same exact progression and strum pattern that you used in the verse.

Vocals

Brown-Eyed-Girl (Chords And Lyrics)

Verse 1

G             C
Hey where did we go,
G             D
Days when the rains came
G           C 
Down in the hollow,
G         D
Playin' a new game,
G              C 
Laughing and a running hey, hey
G              D 
Skipping and a jumping
G            C 
In the misty morning fog with
G            D             C    D
Our hearts a thumpin' and you

Chorus

D              G    Em
My brown eyed girl,
C     D            G 
You my brown eyed girl.

Verse 2

G        C
Whatever happened 
G              D
To Tuesday and so slow 
G              C
Going down the old mine
G                 D 
With a transistor radio
G               C 
Standing in the sunlight laughing,
G               D 
Hiding behind a rainbow's wall,
G            C 
Slipping and sliding
G             D                C       D
All along the water fall, with you

Refrain

D                                  G
Do you remember when we used to sing,
G           C           G         D      
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da   
G           C           G         D      
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da   
       G
La te da

Verse 3

G        C
So hard to find my way,
G              D 
Now that I'm all on my own. 
G              C
I saw you just the other day,
G                 D  
My how you have grown,
G               C  
Cast my memory back there, Lord
G               D  
Sometime I'm overcome thinking 'bout 
G            C 
Making love in the green grass 
G             D             C       D
Behind the stadium with you