Come, Follow Me

This is a really pretty song, with lots of cool chords.  I love the lyrics, too, except for the second verse.  If anyone who reads this can define the word “effulgent” or use it in a sentence in such a way as to indicate the meaning, WITHOUT looking it up first, please email me or comment on this post.  The other five verses are wonderful, and can get along just fine without verse two.  Maybe even better.

This is intended as a guitar solo, but can be used to back up singers or a lead instrument.  I have arranged it as one verse of mostly chords, in 3/4 tempo, for an introduction or accompaniment, and a second verse of more lyrical playing in 6/8, which could be used as a bridge between sung verses.  [That’s an excuse.  I really just couldn’t decide which version I liked better.--Don]

Both versions use lots of barre chords, even some unusual ones.  The trick is to practice until you can make it sound easy.  The first verse is very straightforward.  Just strum the chords and pluck the individual notes as tabbed.  It may not be easy to hit all the chords as quickly as called for, but there is nothing complicated about the tab.  If you find it hard to play the descending chord progression   BVII - CVIII - GVII - AmV smoothly or rapidly enough, try substituting the 3-string version   Bvii* - CVIII* - GVII* - AmV*  from the second verse.  It’ll be much easier, and will sound nearly as good to the audience (because they won’t know what they are missing).

The second verse involves pattern picks, whic are a little more elaborate than strummed chords, but the chords are almost exactly the same.  The only differences are in the second line of each verse.  I have chosen to use the full, five- or six-string versions of the chords in the descending chord progression in the last line of the first verse, and the three- or four-string versions in the second verse, but they need not be played like that.  Either way will work just fine in either place. 
If you are playing this as a solo instrumental, two verses will likely not be enough, as they are very short.  You may want to create a third verse by combining the other two verses.  You can base it on the second verse, but with added chords.  One good way to do this is to play the chords as pinches, instead of strumming them, at least part of the time.  Or, you can base an extra verse on the first verse, but with some pattern picking added for variety.  Once you have mastered the two verses shown here, it’s not difficult to combine them.