Families Can Be Together Forever 2

I like this version better, but it is harder to play. Maybe not as hard as it looks, though. You already know how to play D, E, Em, A, and Am, and they, with barred versions and/or very slight variations, account for seventeen of the eighteen chords in this piece. B9 is the ONLY uncommon chord, and it's dead EASY to play. Just lay your index finger across the first four strings in the second space, and the ring finger across the first three strings in the third space, and squeeze. You can be real sloppy about it, and it'll still work just fine.

The many barre chords lend the song a rich, full sound that works well with a slower, more deliberate delivery than is usual when singing as a hymn or a Primary song. As a guitar solo, it doesn't matter if the tempo is too slow for singing, of course, and it sounds nice. The G9, B9 and Am0 chords add harmonies and chord progressions more suited to adult listeners. Classical music uses the degree sign 0 to indicate a diminished chord. The abbreviation "dim" has already been taken-- it means diminuendo {"getting softer"). Similarly, the minus sign means to play a note flat, so we just have to live with the 0. It's standard musical notation.

I did take some liberties with the original score, especially right at the end. I hope you like it.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Public domain. This is a beautiful piece for classical guitar, but you don't have to be a classical guitarist to play it. There are a few advanced techniques, such as ligados (hammer-ons, pull-offs,), slides, and multiple ligados. When playing one of these double or triple ligados, you may have to hammer the last hammer-on very hard to make it sound as loud as the first one.

This piece does contain one relatively hard barre chord: Fv. It's a normal C chord, barred at the fifth fret. You'll need to practice it a bit if you're not used to playing this chord, as it uses all the fingers of the left hand, and stretches your hand, to boot. A good loosening-up exercise is to press all four fingers of the right hand between each pair of left-hand fingers, to stretch them. Hold the exercise just short of the point of pain, then go to the next pair of fingers.

There are a couple of other, easy chords you may not be familiar with. CIII / G is a normal C III chord. Read the name as, "C, with a G bass." Play it by barring an A chord in the third space, but fret the bass string in the third space and let it sound. G7add5, is really just a normal G7, with the fifth note of the scale (D) added on the second string, third fret, using the little finger. You should find it rather easy to do.

I included the grace notes shown in light face type, because they are in the hymnal, but I don't think they add much to the song, and they make it significantly harder to play. I don't play them when performing, and I have deliberately chosen chord inversions that are easiest to play without the grace notes. Consider them optional.

That's a lot of notations for a song that's really not that hard to play. Enjoy!