Isn't She Lovely Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar Lesson

Behind every single successful musician is thousands of hours of extremely hard and dedicated work to their craft. Some, however, are born with music flowing through each and every vein. Stevie Wonder is without a doubt one of those artists, as his passion for music has lead to countless timeless hits. I would argue that 'Isn't She Lovely' is probably his best known track, and it's very easy to understand why!

Join Thomas as he arranges this iconic song to be played on just one acoustic guitar! Take on the challenge of learning how to piece the melody, chords and percussive elements together to create a beautiful fingerstyle arrangement.

Just a quick disclaimer before we get into all the details - there won't be any tabs of Thomas' arrangement. Use the video as well as the various visual learning aids to understand how to piece everything together. And with that said, let's get into it!

Right-hand technique

Before we jump into all things harmony, let's look at how to get the right groove with the right-hand. As this is a fingerstyle arrangement, we're going to ditch the pick and make use of our thumb, index, middle and ring finger.

As we're going to be holding barre chords in our left-hand for most of the track, we can be more free with the right-hand - we don't need to target any exact strings. However, the thumb is always responsible for playing the lowest note of the chord shape.

Let's take a look at the general groove pattern using a C#min7 chord as an example.

It's very important to follow the video to see exactly how Thomas is approaching the groove once we introduce the chords and the melody. Really become confident with this right-hand technique before tackling the next sections!

Section A

This arrangement can be divided into two main sections, with the addition of a quick outro to finish the loop. Let's take a look at what chords and scale boxes are needed for section A!

We're going to be playing in the key of C# minor throughout, so we're going to have to rely on plenty of barre chord shapes.

If you're incredibly theory savvy, you would have caught that the F#7 chord is actually not fully in C# minor. We would typically have an F#minor7 to fit diatonically within C# minor. But, by adding the A# - the major third of the F#7 chord - we're passing through the C# dorian mode, as we're raising the 6th degree from the natural minor scale.

Thomas mentions at the very end of the video that he visualises this arrangement in layers - the bass on the bottom, the chords and percussion in the middle, and the melody on top. This is a great way to think of it, as it allows you to practice each element separately and really understand how the piece is crafted.

With this in mind, the melody stays within C# minor, so let's take a look at the scale shapes that Thomas is using over the chords. You'll notice in the diagram below that I've combined a few different boxes of the C# minor scale - this is because we're having to move around the various chord shapes being played.

Thomas makes a great point that it can often be challenging to play every single note of the melody whilst simultaneously holding the chords and keeping the groove. Use your own judgement to find the best compromise between replicating the melody and while keeping the rhythm.

Once you're confident with all of the pieces of the puzzle, try putting them all together to complete section A!

Section B

This second section relies on the same principles as section A - we're using the same groove in the right-hand, just with slightly different, and more chords. As there's quite a handful of new chords, let's divide section B into two - let's call it the 'refrain' and the 'climb'.

Section B - the refrain

I'll provide chord charts for all the various voicings below. Some of the chord names look incredibly jazzy and complex, so we'll take a quick moment to talk about how to understand of these crazy chord names below!

/ chords: Using A6/B from section A as an example - the A6 on the left side of the '/' indicates that we need to play an A6 chord. The B on the right side tells us that we need to play B as our bass note. Therefore, A/B means we need to play an A major with a B as the root.

maj9 chords: If you've made it this far, I'm going to assume that you're comfortable with 7th chords. If that is indeed the case, you'll know that the '7' dictates that we need to add the 7th degree of the scale to the chord. The '9' represents the same, but with the 9th degree - think of it as an octave + 1, or, the 2nd degree. Therefore, a major9 chord is built from the following intervals - 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.

Now that we've cleared that up, let's take a closer look at the chord progression for this section. The harmonic rhythm changes slightly, and we're not just playing one chord per bar. This makes it a bit trickier to play, as we need to continue to play the melody while switching chords.

Section B - the climb

This penultimate section is the build-up before we play the ever-so iconic pentatonic lick. We once again see a couple new chords, which I'll provide chord charts for below. One thing to really watch out for is the swap between the F#7 to the F#m7 chord. They're very similar on paper, but that major third has a huge impact on the sound.

We have yet another type of chord - the add9. Let's take a look at how we properly read them.

add9 chords: It's very easy to confuse major9 chords with add9 chords - as there's only one subtle difference. Major9 chords need the 7th degree in them, whereas an add9 chord simply adds the 9th degree to the major triad - 1, 3, 5 and 9.

Once again, make sure that you continue to refer to the video for the melody over each chord. And once you're comfortable with all the chord voicings, put them together in the following progression:

Outro

Firstly, a huge congratulations for making it this far - this arrangement is one heck of a challenge! All that's left to do to finish up the loop is add the lovely pentatonic run. The run is entirely made from notes of the E major pentatonic scale.

If it seems random at first that we're playing E major all of a sudden, it's because it is the relative major of C# minor. There are varied opinions on whether the track is in C# minor or E major, but I would say either would be correct.

We're passing through a few scale shapes to copy how Thomas plays this run, so I've highlighted the frets that he's playing in pink.