The first song we will play is "Good Night Irene". First listen to and practice the three chords shown above until you can play them clearly and then change from one chord to the other smoothly.

The song Good Night Irene will be played in 3/4 time or also known as Waltz time. It goes like this: 123-123-123- each count is a beat and for us it will be one full chord down stroke for each beat.

Listen to the .mp3 file of Good Night Irene--just listen at first, then when you can play the three chords, C-F-G, try to play along. The first half of the recording will have me counting along. Notice that each count gets a full down stroke. I accent each number 1 down stroke by playing it just a little louder then the 2 and 3 stroke.

On the second half of the recording I pick the 4th string on the number 1 stroke, then strokes 2 and 3 get a full chord, down stroke each. Listen to the difference! When the "F" chord is played I pick the 3rd string instead of the fourth. Also remember you can remove my voice by just playing only the right side of the recording by moving your "Balance" control to the RIGHT.