Ben E. King — Stand By Me

I would like to teach you the introduction to a beautiful song. I think everyone knows this wonderful old composition from 1961, associated with Ben E. King. There are said to be around 400 officially released cover versions, including recordings by John Lennon and Tracy Chapman.

In case the song does not immediately come to mind, here is the original:

And I simply have to show you Tracy Chapman's version as well — it is so good:

The entire song is built on a tried-and-tested chord progression: I–vi–IV–V is used under both the verses and the chorus, which in C major means C major–A minor–F major–G major. That is good news for beginners too, because the whole song can be played with just a handful of basic chords. The introduction to Stand By Me is extremely distinctive and instantly recognisable. Once you learn the intro, you can accompany the whole song simply by strumming the chords mentioned above. The lyrics with chords are available under Downloads . So here is the intro, which I can also recommend to patient and adventurous beginners: