Our first “Fingerstlye” arrangement is Leonard Cohen’s masterpiece Hallelujah. Our version, Hallelujah Fingerstyle Guitar, is playable on Classical or Acoustic Guitar, this arrangement is of intermediate difficulty. Below you will find links to the licensed sheet music, available via MusicNotes.com. Also included are a complete lesson with tips and strategies as well as a play-along version with close ups of both the left and right hand. Enjoy!
Hallelujah Fingerstyle Guitar Sheet Music
We love posting free PDFs, and pride ourselves that most of the music on our site is available for free. (Our Solo Classical music for instance) But…we also want to be fair to the artists who create this great music! Thus all pop / modern music is licensed and available through a partner website. Please go to MusicNotes.com to view the sheet music for Hallelujah Fingerstyle Guitar
Hallelujah Fingerstyle Guitar Lesson
Our video includes step by step instructions on how to play Hallelujah by the transcriber, William Wilson. Tips on both left and right hand fingerings as well as chord analysis will help you learn fast and retain what you have learned longer. The tab and a guitar chart is shown throughout making it easy to follow along. We chose to show the guitar from the perspective of a student in a lesson, rather than from the player’s perspective. Both views have their advantages, but we felt matching the video was the clearest presentation for the diagrams.
Hallelujah Fingerstyle Guitar Play-Along
This video is designed to show close-ups of both the left and right hand as well as serve as a play-along for practice. If the video is going too fast, remember that you can slow it down by clicking on the gear and choosing a slower speed. We recommend setting the speed to 50% first, then 75%, and finally 100%. If you really want a challenge set the speed to 125% or faster! That will make it feel super easy to play at 100%. Also just listening and following along with the music / TAB is a great way to introduce yourself to the song before you start learning it.
Need a Capo?
Although a capo is not 100% necessary, one is suggested and used in the videos above. We like the Shubb Nickel Capo for Steel String Guitar and Shubb Nickel Classical for Nylon string, wider guitar necks. (NB these are affiliate links, how else would we make our millions!)
About the Transcription
William’s transcription of Hallelujah is driven by the strong melody and harmonic movemebt of the original song. The melody naturally creates tension and movement at the conclusion of the verse moving into the chorus. At the chorus larger strummed chords are used to set the chorus apart and imitates the additional voices used in the original version of the song. On the repeat of the verse and the chorus the texture of the song is thicker, filling out the chords and providing variety from the first presentation. Also, the interlude between the chorus and the second verse was inspired by the Jeff Buckley version (as mentioned in the Lesson video)
Send Us Your Recording!
We love hearing people play our transcriptions. Send us a link if you have uploaded a video of yourself playing it. We’ll be sure to share it with our fans and visitors. Doesn’t have to be perfect, and no fancy lighting necessary. Fire up your phone and rock on!
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