If you're a Star Wars fan and you play guitar than you must learn the Imperial March! This theme (which plays like clockwork whenever Darth Vader enters the room) is super fun to play!
That's right, you know the tune: da, da, da, da-da-da, da-da-da..
The cool thing is, this theme is not that hard to play and everyone recognizes it. Nothing like a little Darth Vader music to liven' up the party!
Download (and print) the free tab below and use the accompanying lesson notes to get this theme under your fingers in no time at all. Good luck & have fun!!!
If you are a Kids Guitar Academy student enrolled in the Ultimate Beginner Guitar Course then this lesson is the perfect supplement to Beginner Level 2, lesson #1. For more information on the Kids Guitar Academy Ultimate Beginner Guitar Course click here.
Performance Notes
1.
The first thing to note is that (with the exception of bar #3) the entire theme is played in the first position. This means that you will set up your fingers so that any note played on the first fret will be played with the first finger, the second fret by the second finger, etc. In this way you will avoid unnecessary hand movements and be able to play with less mistakes.
2.
As mentioned, in bar #3 you will shift out of the 1st position and move into the 3rd position. Choosing to stay in the 1st position will make this bar really hard to play as you will have to rely primarily on your pinky to play the notes. On the contrary, shifting to the 3rd position will enable you to rely on your first two fingers which are much stronger:
3.
For the most part, the timing of the Imperial March is fairly straight forward. The tempo (speed) of the song is at 104 bpm (beats per minute) which is a medium-slow pace. However, there are a couple of three note groupings that are played at a faster pace. Make sure that when you arrive at these groups you play them fairly quickly:
Remember that in order to truly master any song you need to memorize it. As I emphasize in the Kids Guitar Academy Ultimate Beginner Guitar Course, the less attention you have to give to reading notes means the more attention you can give to actually playing them. Work toward memorizing this theme and you will find that you master it at a much quicker rate. Good luck--and most importantly... have fun!!!
(Epic Star Wars music begins playing..)
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