Bob Dylan - Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Bob Dylan - Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Knockin' On Heaven's Door is classic Bob Dylan from the soundtrack to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Easy guitar chords and harmonica melody make this a great song to get your feet wet with the whole Harp N Guitar thang.

Knockin' On Heaven's Door Lesson on Guitar and Harmonica

Knockin' On Heaven's Door is a great song for getting started on Harp N Guitar.

We'll start off with some easy chords and strumming, then get the right key harmonica and add some tasty parts before playing a complete run through.

Lesson Info

Difficulty: A Great Place To Start

Lesson Length: 14:28

Instructor: George Goodman

The chords are basic. The strumming is nice and simple. The harmonica melody is easy to play without bending. Single notes are nice but some bleed is good too.

Help File: The following link supplies the chords, lyrics and the harmonica tabs for Knockin' On Heaven's Door.
Knockin' On Heaven's Door Chords, Lyrics and Tabs download pdf link - for educational purposes only.

Gear Used

takamine-eg541sc acoustic guitar

Takamine EG541SC
I am playing my black tak in this one.

This is a Takamine G Series EG541SC bought in North Carolina when I was playing in a band called Double Take.
Specs:
Top - Solid Spruce
Back - Nato
Sides - Nato
Finger Board - Rosewood
Electronics - TK40
Finish - Gloss Black
Check out more Takamine G Series Guitars

Hohner Harmonica HolderHohner Harmonica Holder

The Hohner Harmonica Neck Holder fits harmonicas up to 7-1/2" long. With a long-lasting nickel-plated finish, this harmonica rack is adjustable and fits any neck shape.
Get a Harp Rack Of Your Own Here

 

Hohner Special 20Hohner Special 20 Diatonic Harmonica in G

A G harmonica played in first position works great on this.
I am playing a Hohner Special 20 in this one.
On Sale Here

Musical Challenges

There isn't too much here to give you a lot of troubles. If you have a good handle on the basics, then you'll be sounding great on this one in no time.

For Harmonica - Single Notes: Single notes sound great on this but if you bleed some notes together, that's ok as well. Bob never really played things too clean.
Everything you need to get up to speed including single notes is covered in the membership video series Harp N Guitar Harmonica Essentials

Guitar - Basic Guitar Chords: We just need some basic chords and easy strumming.
If you need help here, check out the membership video series Harp N Guitar Guitar Essentials, Guitar Chords and Rhythm Guitar and Strumming.

Video Timeline

00:47 - Guitar Chords

Dead easy chords for this one - G D Am and C

1:14 - Guitar Rhythm

A simple quarter note rhythm will work for this song.
You can also add embellishments to spice it up a bit.

3:37 - Harmonica Solos - Key of G

Here you will learn the harmonica tabs for the intro, verse and chorus.

The song is in the key of G and I'm going to play in 1st position so you need a G harmonica.
Here's the best place I know of to get one on the internet - G Hohner Special 20
And here's the neck rack - Hohner Harmonica Holder

7:25 - Jam Through

Play through the entire song with me including harmonica and vocals.

That covers Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.
Thoughts? Questions? Recommendations? Let me know, leave a comment below.

Stay In Tune. Peace.
George

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