Jenny's Tale Guitar Tutorial (part 1)

I've got like three guitars in my home - my dad and brother are playing but I've never learnt. Here's my chance :D

my delulu ass bought a guitar so I could try to learn these, here goes nothing!

I’ve nearly got this down. Tree monthsss lateryrrr lol 😂

Debbie

Dude the way you do things like this to connect with your fans is awesome. You’re a real one bro. Much respect.

Woohoo! I'm glad I'm not alone haha. I'll keep at it 😊

Totally! LOL I've just been repeating a small phrase of pull offs over and over and it's picking up some speed.

Lizz Wainwright

Does anyone else completely suck at the speed of the pull offs?? Any tips? 🤔

Thank you x I'm gonna have a go not sure the guitar we got is in tune 😂

cool can't wait to pck up guitar...not a picker/plucker but watching this i feel confident i can give it a go.

Thank you so much for these tutorials. That's really kind of you ❤️

Please could you do a tutorial on how to play hold on? It’s one of my favourite songs ever

Me too))

just upgraded... country road to jennys tale...mmmm...a strummer not picker, maybe Ill just listen.

I’ve finally practiced this enough to get it right most of the time!! Finally moving in to the next section.

Love this!! Thank you for the tutorial

Lizz Wainwright

Thank you for taking time to produce these tutorials, Ren! I'm approaching 60 and picked up acoustic guitar about 5 years ago, just because my soul needed a creative outlet it was missing. I've been in a John Fahey (godfather of American Primitive) rabbit hole for most of that time. I will definitely take advantage of your walk-throughs.

There is me, I don't know anything about playing guitar but I watched the whole video😂

Julita Piotrowska

Also ... the insights into playing music, music as a conversation ... And if nothing else, listening to you sing 5 4 6 7 9!

Man, I don't even play guitar , but I enjoy watching you teach

So I made sounds that sound relatively good. OMG am so bloody happy. Yayyy!!! Thanks Ren!!

haha that was quite therapeutic to watch. think you should have a side hustle for sure, but please keeping making music . - you can clip my woofer's hair - but flying out to Canada, not sure that's cost effective ;)

Exactly what I was hoping for. Perfect song to practice the thumb technique. Thanks bro.👍🎸🙂

I just love this.... l can watch it over and over.. if l was 40 years younger.. l could easily fall in love...lol

YAY!! That was so wholesome to watch! Cannot wait to try this! Appreciate the linking to Frusciante too! Ha sick!

Debbie

Thanks for this . I have a guitar with nylon strings another with steel strings and a resonater guitar so going to enjoy what difference it makes also have a bass so might attempt a version of this . Would love to see other people playing this and there progress xx

Yeah, something goofy happens when I paste them here from my text editor. I wrote out tabs for all of Murderer (Live,) including the solo, but I've never checked the online tabs to see if someone already made tabs for that, but will share if I can figure out how to post it without the format going bonkers.

Actually I wasn't sure how to write "pull-offs" so not that serious 😜

I also did, love playing songs by ear. Had to admit, the thumb technique I never used it. 40 years man, that's a lot of years, do you mind if I ask what genre you play the most? I brought my guitar from another continent (sentimental value) and it's just sitting there. I'm afraid I will just quit so this was a nice pick me up.

That's some serious guitar-speak right there!

You're not the only one! I've been playing for over 40 years, and although I had already worked out how to play this from watching the original video, I still watched this since it's still just so cool. I imagine you're right that people who DON'T play might still enjoy it... and even get inspired to start!

Alright... I got it! ☺️ My pull-offs aren't clean enough but I'll work on it. Thanks so much for sharing this Ren... much appreciated ☺️💕

The cords that James send are great! But it’s kinda hard to read because of the max with of the chat. So for anyone interested in the tabs, you can find them on this side: https://www.chords-and-tabs.net/song/name/ren-jennys-tale

Sam van Remortel

I am practicing for 2 hours now and I’m only half thru the video 😅😂♥️

Sam van Remortel

This video has a good explanation on how to do pull offs: https://youtu.be/dYaeIXXyy1Y?si=i5ikjk32FI5az-Bx

Sam van Remortel

OK, just had my guitar setup as the action was way too high... I'm ready to tackle this intro! 😬💕

You're a star.. thanks for this! 😊💕

Ren played that song on a Twitch stream which is on his YouTube channel. Search "Ren & Ruby J Live on Twitch". From memory, I think it's near the end of the stream 😊

Perfect, thanks!

Jenny's Tale (T) = left thumb e|-0----------------------------------------------| B|--5--6-5-4-5----------------------------------| G|-----------------5-4-2-1-2-4-5-7-9~~-9~\--| D|-------------------------------------------------| A|--0----------------------------------------------| E|-5-(T)-----------3--------1-(T)-----0-----------| e|--8p0-7p0-5p0------------------------------------| B|-------------------8-6-5-4-6-5-3-1-0-3/6-5-3-1-| G|-------------------------------------------------| D|--------------------------------------------------| A|--0----------------------------------------------| E|--5-(T)----------------------3-(T)-------------| e|-------------------------------------------------------------------| B|-------------------------------------------------------------------| G|--2-1-2-4-5-4-5-7-8/9~-9~-9~10-9~~7--------9~~7---------| D|----------------------------------------------10-9---------10--9--| A|--------------------------------------------------------------------| E|--1-(T)------------------0-------------0------------0-------------| faster...... rall e|-[----------------------] B|-[----------------------] G|-[-9-7------9-7-------] 2x D|-[-----10-9-----10-9-] A|-[----------------------] E|-[-0--------0----------]

Note to self: Purchase a guitar, along with a record player for LPs, lol 🌈ᥫ᭡

ᗰιડડɣཐིꨄ︎ཋྀᘜαιℓ

Okay...after a couple days, I was encouraged by my progress but then came the pulloffs and subsequent runs....I think I'll need to draw up some tabs for this piece to remember all of the details...still fun though, even for a novice...but I am glad that i bought a classical guitar a couple of weeks ago...

Thanks Ren, very relaxing to just listen.

Okay! - I'm Buying a guitar 😆 💛 💫

Face fuzz! Lol sorry. Such a good song ♥️

Mush you are Quality. Apart from my son I have never wanted anyone to make it as much as you, PEACE BRO

Am I the only one that although I do play guitar I just watch it because it's so cool and actually pretty smart seeing you him teach? I wished you were mine back then, almost gave up because he was awful. Anyway, keep it up my man, they are entertaining even for the ones who do not play the instrument!

Thanks a lot for the tutorial!!! I'm working on it little by little, and hopefully one day it won't sound like i'm killing a cat. Btw, while revisiting this video for the 9th time or so to check the chords I just realized... If you don't know the notes/chords, how do you play so many songs without writing them down? You just learn them all by heart? What kinda memory is that? 🤯

meiwai94

This video is reversed so this is how it looks playing left handed (I'm left handed).

Yay, thanks for the tutorial. I only played guitar for a few months, but I know I can do this! Have to slow down the video a few places, and have loads of practicing to do before it resembles music, but I am so stoked to play this beautiful intro of Jenny's tale. Love your way of teaching.

The day you uploaded Jennys Tale to YouTube, I discovered your music. I was already convinced before you started singing. And when you added your voice I was blown away. Thank you for making this tutorial. That's great.

The most important lesson I heard in this tutorial: "[...] so there's no real right or wrong you can do it, [...] whatever feels right [...]" <3

Just love the music, in this song... l have just realised that l will be using my monthly data.. on just this site.. and l am smiling.. and l am nearly 70..lol.. much love

Thanks so much for this. It's cool that you do this, but more than that, it is cool to pick up on your playing philosophy. That means more than tabs ever could.

I got to the point of the pulloffs and I can't reach the 8th fret while holding the 1st string with my thumb on the 3rd fret...even if I try to use my pinky...Fortunately, I don't have to since I can just use the open A string instead of my thumb on the 5th fret. of the low E string...

Love that you talk about the overall feely feels right from the start 😁

Yup the thumb reaching over was a stretch for me, deffo new muscles to be built and a joint to be stretched!

Yep that was ace!!! It’ll take loads more run through but enjoyed theat so bloody much, Diolch 🙏 the pull offs were surprisingly excellent!

People with long fingers make playing those bass notes with their thumb look so easy. Sigh!

Thanks for sharing. Super informative. 😉❤️

My kid’s gramma was a very small lady her guitar was half her size YOU CAN DO IT!!! She was a dynamo on that guitar and sang like Wanda Jackson! She was my hero growing up! My kid’s dad and I were kids together our parents played music folk and bluegrass, all kinds! Music was our home still is.

Cool, I was inspired to get my guitar out of its case after probably 2 years. Such a great tutorial...I can only aspire to this level , but having a go. Thankyou

Angie

I've been learning songs from tabs for 20+ years, but there's something magical about learning from the artist himself. Even better was realising you subscribe to the school of "whatever works" - seeing that pinky finger hovering there, eschewed in preference of an unnaturally stretched ring finger... I was like "Fuck yes, Ren!"

YESSSS 🤘🏼

You are amazing.

Second the production tutorials idea. My recordings sound like hot garbage even if the songs are okay. Would also love to hear Ren talk about his songwriting process.

God damn, Ren. Before this tutorial I knew 4 chords. Just picked up my dusty guitar and almost cried just playing the first few notes. Thank you for this. I can’t wait to learn more.

Repetition is key. Your fingers get used to it after a while. It took me a good year or two to start playing "well."

Watching a wondering if I could translate this to piano 🤔 If anyone figured that out please share! I’m terrible at playing by ear so I doubt I’d have any luck myself.

😁

That's amazing and very kind but we spoke today and he's going to sign up too. 🎉

We'll see just how far my stubby fingers reach when I use my thumb on the 1st string... Edit: Well…I figured it out. I can reach the strings with my fingers, however, I cannot reach them with the tips of my fingers like normal so the strings are again digging into my fingers until I develop calluses on those parts of the finger too…

I'm honestly about to look for a guitar 🎸 A LOT of my friends are musicians and we're old af as early Gen Xers 😆 They've been playing since junior high school!! When you are a worldwide legend, because it's coming, I want to say that I learned even one thing that vaguely resembles a song. I'll be back!!! And I'm watching them anyway! ❤️

So...I learned the intro with your tutorial today and I had a lot of fun with it. Just changed the fingerings a bit to make them more "classical" for me. 🤭 (A hint for beginners: when you struggle with your thumb on the E-string at the pull off part, you can play the empty A-string instead. 🤫) Thank you for doing this, I'm looking forward to part 2.❤️

This is so awesome! Thank you! My Dad passed away in February. He was a musician and I tell ya' he would've loved you! I inherited his guitar- one he'd had since I was very young. It's a beautiful acoustic/electric Ovation. This will be the first song I learn to play on it. I'm so excited!

What if you play the guitar from the opposite side? It would be a good demonstration to show the clefs, notes, plucking, etc.

Send him your log in it should work!

Thanks for posting this Ren! Thought I had the intro to this picked out a couple months ago, but forgot about it--how to play it--while ADHD told me to pick out the parts to Murderer acoustic, haha. Now I find I need to go back to Jenny's Tale and relearn it. :)

U`re a good teacher. feeling comfortable to go back and forth with the video. no one gets impatient ;-))

Feels like strongly intoxicated Ren 😄 so funny but also really helps, thx for the tip :)

RenTeachesMusic 🤎

My hands are small, too. So I've noticed that the neck widths of the guitars are different. My classical guitar has a broader beck but nylon strings and my western guitar has a smaller neck which is easier to play for me but the finger tips hurt more in the beginning because of the metal strings.

Claudia E.

Awesome, love this, this is what I've signed up for and to obviously keep you independent, cant wait for the next lesson :)

Maybe take a video editing tool to mirror the video? (Assuming you have a left handed guitar as well)

Playback speed 0.5 is a game changer for me. Squeeeee!! :)

Great tutorial thanks🤗. Please can you do piano tutorials as well?

This is a cool way to teach, very simple basic teaching fire what is actually quite a complex bit of guitar playing.

Thank you thank you thank you! All the guitar tutorials you can throw at me!!!!! I’ve been thrashing through various of your songs but not dared to try this one yet! Day off tomorrow so I’m on it!

You would be an amazing teacher ren well done. I always wanted to learn guitar but I'm no good at coordination lol

As a complete beginner, this is the first tutorial I’ve ever watched which didn’t immediately leave me discouraged and going “never mind” because it was missing the easy to follow explanations and going too fast and not repeating enough for me to keep up. So thank you! I’ll actually be trying this. 😀

I've recently bought a guitar and I'm struggling, I'm just practicing hitting clean notes at the moment but I'll get there , it's great seeing this break down 👍

Bro, I'm so happy ren doesn't know the name of chords only the number of fret and strings, this is the only way I know how to play/learn. Picked this up easy, bring on part 2 🤙🤙

Haven't used either of my guitars in probably 10 years or so.. broken strings on both. Lol. Guess I'm about to go buy some new strings. 🥰

I am going to pick up my guitar and learn it.

Rita

Would be awesome to also get some of the production side of the music. Tried to put this into sheet music, but so bad with MuseScore I couldn't so instead im just puting it into Ableton.

Jake Sigal

Ren this is great, can’t wait for more. Any chance you can do the intro to diazepam? Thanks!

Can't play music to save myself. But weirdly watching you be great with instruments makes me want to goo draw haha

Seven nation army YES!!! I LOVE JACK WHITE!!

Thank you so freaking much!!!!

So cool! Now I really need to get a guitar 😂❤️

Do I own a guitar? Also no. Will my ADHD let me? Absolutely it will. I’ve been down this road before.. Impulsively I could even buy one today! Would it likely end up dusty in a corner? No way says hyper focus me! (Hell yeah says experience!)

This deserved acknowledgment! Not a true lesson without the cheeky ones present.

Damn. I have tiny hands... This is a problem on piano too. I can only reach 7 keys. I have to do a lot of mods to make it sound decent. I had to give up on flute in school. There is just no faking it on the flute. Lol

I‘ll try the thumb thing on my guitar. Not sure if my hands are big enough to reach around, but it would make life so much easier!

I'm really excited about this thank you for showing me!!! I've actually been wanting to learn how to play guitar and I'm going to start with you! This is awesome thank you! 🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

This will be fun to learn. I have played a lot of Spanish and classical pieces, so the fingerpicking should be alright. Not so great at improv though, so that’s a nice challenge 💪🏼

I don’t play but I enjoy watching

This is a fun one to learn, man. I think that might be the first time I’ve tried combining the Hendrix thumb with finger picking. With Ren, even your hands get schooled 🙌

As a child I couldn't even play the wooden flute at school. So I definitely won't come up with the idea of destroying a guitar and so I'm just enjoying these tutorials. 😂

I’ve tried to teach myself guitar no fewer than 11 times and always gave up because I have super small hands and it’s really frustrating. The reach around is a game changer (I never thought I’d utter that sentence lol). Thank you! This video is enough to make me try again. ❤️

Hey Valerie! 65 here, too! Until this past Spring, I haven't touched my guitar in 35 years. Bought a nylon string guitar, just for the purpose of starting back up, teaching myself Jenny's Tale. Haven't played the video yet, so I'll see if Ren can teach this old dog new tricks (after reading through the comments.) So, pick up that guitar and play, Val!

Yes!!! I need all the tutorials!!! Can’t listen to anything of yours without picking my guitar up and the getting to a ‘wtf’ moment 😂. Take all my money for the amazement your music has given me xxx

it may seem odd to feel nostalgia over the first tutorial premier, but it took me back to my youth when my father first showed me that very same thumb technique. it's been awhile since i've phoned him up so i'll take this a sign from the universe to give him a ring. ren, bringing families together one day at a time 🫶 on a more topical & technical note, i think you've mentioned you prefer the classical/spanish style guitar, but what’s your string preference?

Don’t play but enjoying watching ….. Great tutoral

If you use the Open Camera app, you can correct the mirror reverse issue :) Loving Patreon.

Yeah fretting on soft fingertips will soon harden them up

I shall have to look into this as the number theory is new to me, thanks ✌️✌️

PXNNY

Numbers are the way to go. Music theory is vastly better with numbers (Want a major chord? Play numbers 1, 3, and 5. Etc)

Damn my tiny hands, my thumb will never be my best friend. Great tutorial

My guitar has been sitting in my closet for years. You’ve inspired me to get the case out, open up and begin learning again. Thanks Ren!

Not a bad lesson Ren, Ive played for years, & was able to follow along. Ive never heard if you took lessons, or self taught? I taught myself piano and guitar in highschool, but went for lessons to learn leads years later ( Hendrix Little Wing bout covered it. ) Your use of triads, & inversions in Hi Ren really blew me away, a true master at your craft. Cheers Mate, Adam

nyross

I feel inspired to learn the guitar now😁💕

Yup having watched I need to practice that a lot. Was never great on guitar just used to enjoy playing it. Something to strive for

Never thought of using numbers! I always forget which note is what in letters! Clever 👌

PXNNY

Omg I totally need to get my guitar out of the basement!

<3

Trashpanda Oli

Whoa is me. Time has ripped away my finger picking abilities, but I enjoyed your tutorial.

Kathleen Kristjansson

Numbers instead of notes I can get my head around: will be picking up the guitar i've not touched for 2 years

Loving the self expression part of the lesson. This might be worth borrowing a guitar to see if my hands could handle it. I had a guitar as a teen, but never really learned. Never developed the hand strength. Now I have the strength but maybe not the flexibility. Very cool watching this though!

I've spent months trying to learn this from tab. Couldn't figure it out. Know I have to train my thumb haha

Thanks Ren. Looking forward to working on this. I'm kind of a mid-level beginner so there are some new techniques that will be fun to try.

I don't play guitar but I love watching, maybe i should learn a new skill at 65 lol

I love the way you use your guitar and many other instruments to tell us the stories of your music even when you haven't spoken a word yet, the depth and richness of your music is amazing!!! You're special, the music, how you perform and then doing it all while remaining humble as well. it's been a wild ride and I can't wait to keep seeing you go to the top and beyond.

Ohh i thought it was gonna be something for people that already know a little bit about the guitar...you're really starting at the START for everyone...you're so cool. thank you. Im no considering getting a guitar i'm not gonna lie

Kira

I have 'only' two of those, but both with ruptured strings and no calloused skin, ouch!

Claudia E.

Me too. And first I have to buy a new string which ruptured when I last used it about 2 years ago.

Claudia E.

Awesome! Thanks to you I picked up my guitar again after 30 years!!! I also bought a classical guitar and have been learning slowly…. I am so excited for this!!!! Thank you REN!

I don’t play guitar, but I love seeing your technique. Hoping to learn piano though, so would love to see some piano tutorials 🎹

Elizabeth J

i love ren's reach around

Great. Now I only have to buy a guitar. :D

Harry Haller

This is making me want to dust off my guitar and try again

Donna Baker

Looks like I'm buying myself a guitar for Christmas this year..can't wait..❤️

We need a family membership next! My Son is the guitar player! He would love these tutorials! Any way I can send these to him remotely on my membership? No idea how these things work btw! 🥴

I don't play guitar but that doesn't mean I'm not going to watch every second of this video 🤣💜

FerretMom

This was cool and can’t wait for more! Do you ever make guitar pro tabs for your songs? They are another great way to learn without having to learn how to read sheet music - I know some great transcribers as well

Thanks Ren! Amazing to see you as the artist teaching your own song - will be spending hours learning this :)

Thank you, really admire your guitar work and bringing neo classical nylon strings back.

Sean Riley

🌈 I really enjoyed this...even tho I have no chance at learning guitar! Lol. I'll stick to writing lyrics/poetry and leave the music to you! You're a great teacher too!! Thanks for sharing your talents with us, Ren!! Much Love! Xo 💖 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜

XoIrishXo

this is awesome! I play ukulele though so too many strings for me to follow

Right this is a good excuse to pick one of my guitars back up. Not played for about 10 years now but I still have my 4 guitars

Love it! Makes me excited to pick up my instruments again 😍 will try it out over the weekend, we'll see how it goes 😃

I haven't played my guitar in over 8 years... it's sitting in the corner of my room. Maybe this will be the tutorial that makes me pick it back up

Ahhhh I am here for this. Guitar lessons not working for me so maybe this is the way 🤞

Do I own a guitar? No. Will my dyslexia even allow me? Hellz no. Is this still absolutely fascinating to see? F*CK yeah! Thanks Ren!

Allen Benedict