Yesterday

How to play Yesterday by The Beatles on guitar

You get a classic, mellow song that feels smooth and reflective under your fingers. The slow, steady pace gives you room to focus on clean changes and let the melody breathe, so it is a great tune for building control and confidence.

Most of the shapes are open, with A# as the harder barre chord. The main change to watch is the move from F to Dm to A# and then G, since that shift can expose any hesitation in your fretting hand. Keep your fingers close to the strings and aim for relaxed, even changes.

Start by looping F and Dm until they feel easy, then add A# and G one at a time. Once the opening progression feels solid, play through the full song slowly, then raise the tempo in small steps until you can stay smooth at performance speed.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.