In this lesson we’re looking at a wonderful song from possibly my favourite Velvets album, their 3rd self-titled record from 1969. Part 1 focusses on Lou Reed’s rhythm guitar part. In Part 2, I’ll be checking out Sterling Morrisons lead guitar parts and the solo. This is great song to learn if you’re a beginner since both the strumming and the chords are nice and simple, but really it’s just a great song to learn full stop. I’ve written out a chord/lyric chart for the song below. Download the chart here. Remember you’ll need to tune your guitar down if you want to play along with the recording.
Getting the sound
The rhythm guitar sound on this song is a little bit puzzling. It almost sounds like an organ rather than a guitar at times. I’m pretty sure it is a guitar since you can hear the strumming and occasional open strings if you listen carefully, but the tone’s certainly unusual. It could well be that Doug Yule is playing along on an organ too, and the two sounds are blended together.
I’m not sure what either Lou or Sterling would have used on this song gear-wise. For the video, I just went for a warm, full kind of sound. I’m using my Vox Virage guitar, which is strung with flat-wounds. Amp is a 1980s Fender Super Champ. And a bit of mild drive comes from a Wampler Tumnus pedal.