Learn to play Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison on JustinGuitar!
View the full lesson at Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison | JustinGuitar
Could we get this song on the app please?
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Ryan @Ryan239
First of all welcome to the community 
This song was on the the app but was removed recently for copyright reasons as were a number of others. I understand Musopia are trying to get them back but no news on this yet.
Michael
Relative beginner here! In case it helps anyone else: I finally cracked singing and playing together for song with a small
mod to the lesson:
1 - Note that each line of the verse starts on the second upbeat (1&2& hey where did we go), not on a downbeat.
2 - This made it hard for me to use the 4 downstroke strum pattern, since singing doesn’t begin on any strum.
What made the difference for me was switching to DDUUD strum pattern.
Once I got enough muscle memory on it, I was able to start singing in sync with the first up G strum, which lines everything else up nicely.
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Paul @lefthandedlatte
Are you comparing with the original recorded version as the play along in App has been removed.
If I look at the song in the book and on the tabs app not sure I see what you mean.
However I think Justin intended it to be very much a beginners song and does not really give instructions on how to combine it with singing. When I learnt to play and sing this song, to be able to just do it in a reasonable fashion was good enough for me at that stage of the journey, was not really looking for perfection.
If what you say works for you then that is great…
Michael
PS hopefully if I look back in the future on some of my recorded versions and think I could now do that better then I will have made progress.
Right Paul @lefthandedlatte
Now had a look at the lesson and slowed it right down and I think I can see what you mean.
There are other aspects of the songs singing phrasing, in the book there is four lines to the verse but the tabs app has eight as in the original version and the book there is a slight gap in the middle of the four lines version.
Don’t know what stage you are at but this was the first song I learnt to play and sing from memory, no backing track or metronome. I was delighted with myself as beginner to be able to do. I keep going back to it to get the tempo and the singing in sync, always room for improvement.
Michael
Finally got round to learning the intro to this today after watching a group of primary aged kids playing it today. For some reason adding the intro made all the difference to my timing on this song. Now sounds so much better.
I used Brown eyed girl to get some speed into my chord changes a while back but never bothered with the intro. I always meant to come back to it though. Feels good to finally put it all together.
Now if I can figure out how to do a recording I’ll post it up soon.
This might relate to some of the other posts, but I struggle to play this alongside the original. The number of measures doesnt seem the same, particularly around the end of each verse. Feels like there is an extra bar of D in the bridge. Anyone had more luck following the original than I have? Like I can manage the tempo and chord changes, but if I follow the chords here it just goes off the tune of the original.
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It’s been a while since I’ve played this along to the original, but having just checked the full TAB, there is a double bar of D at the bridge, and depending on what version you look at, some show a D followed by D7.
What might also throw you off a bit, is the original only uses old faithful for the G chord during the verses. The strumming pattern varies for each chord, and section of the song.
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Thanks yes, listening more I can hear the different strum patterns - that’s been one of the harder things I’ve found to learn and recognising that helps a bit. I think I was also over complicating it for myself trying to do the 16th note strums into the bridge, if I just stick to some form of 4 beat strum I find I come out at the right place! 
Thanks for the reply.
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Are there any tips on singing whilst playing? I can play this song just fine, but when i try to hum along, i loose all focus. 
Meaning i can only do one or the other. sing or play. I also struggle with getting the timing right (although that is much less frustrating).
i am wondering if there is anything i can do about it??
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Welcome to the community Rosa.
You need to first get the playing automatic. Check out this lesson: https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/singing-playing-at-the-same-time-bg-2003
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I’m a RANK beginner.
The tempo in the lesson seems to be slower than the original recording. Is this to ease learning or is it simply stylistic ?
Thanks !
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Joe @JoeStagner
I have the tempo of 149 in my personal song book. I don’t have the app anymore but I think I recall it was about this figure.
Checked the original version I have and that’s around the 149. Justin’s lesson I get about 130, so if that is correct it is a bit slower. The 149 is quite fast for a beginner especially if you are doing Old Faithful strumming pattern, that’s perhaps why it is a bit slower.
By the way welcome to the community. 
Michael
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Thanks so much for your answer. That makes perfect sense. (It’s all a bit confusing for me at this point !)
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Joe @JoeStagner
Glad to be of help, I am not that far ahead of you and remember that some things confused me but those in the community answered my questions and still do, so don’t be afraid to ask.
Brown Eyed Girl has fond memories for me as it was the first song that I could play and sing from memory.
Michael
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