Greensleeves is a song whose origins go back to the Elizabethan period even though most people think it was composed by Henry VIII. It is a very pleasant tune and a great start for a beginner guitarist who wants to learn a classical guitar piece.
Of all classical guitar pieces, Greensleeves is the most recognizable to the greatest number of people. This makes it a great piece for beginner guitarists to learn to play because, to friends and family, the measure of your progress as a guitar player is how good a job you do on a familiar piece of music.
The other advantage to Greensleeves is that it is extremely easy to play. As with many classical guitar pieces, Greensleeves is a simple arrangement of four chords with a repetitive bass line. For an experienced guitar player the simplicity of this piece lends itself to unlimited possibilities for variations on the original theme. For the beginner it means your mistakes can be dismissed as attempts at improvisation.
Greensleeves is a pleasant melody which has lyrics telling of the dejection and rejection felt by a powerful man who fails in his attempts to attract a lady. If you ask anybody about Greensleeves they will tell you that it was written by King Henry VIII of England when he was trying to attract the romantic attentions of Anne Boleyn.
Anne apparently did not take kindly to Henry's overtures, so he wrote the song expressing his utter despondency. Some experts say that Henry merely built upon an already existing song. Others say he did not compose the song in any way, shape or form, and the whole Greensleeves thing is a myth.
If you want to go the whole hog and learn the words to Greensleeves here are a few verses. Of course, there are other verses and other songs set to the same tune. If the sentiments in Greensleeves do not appeal to you, you can learn the words to What Child s
Alas my love you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously;
And I have loved you oh so long
Delighting in your company.
CHORUS:
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves my heart of gold
Greensleeves was my heart of joy
And who but my Lady Greensleeves.
I have been ready at your hand
To grant whatever thou wouldst crave;
I have waged both life and land
Your love and goodwill for to have.
CHORUS
Thy petticoat of sendle white
With gold embroidered gorgeously;
Thy petticoat of silk and white
And these I bought thee gladly.
CHORUS
So if you are looking to learn some classical guitar pieces, Greensleeves would be an easy start. The chords you use to play Greensleeves are A minor, C, G and E. Even if you don't have any classical guitar skills you could experiment with strumming the full or partial open chords.
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