I'm not sure I'd ever have thought of writing an article about a guitar part in a Justin Bieber song. And yet, after taking the elegantly clickbait of a video by Paul Davids (YouTube channel) about a hit played on a $99 guitar, that's what happened.
So, ever since I discovered Justin Bieber's song ETA, I've been literally entranced by this guitar part composed by musician Tom Strahle (tomstrahle.com)), whom I discovered on this occasion.
Come on, I'll take you on a journey of initiation!
The Paul Davids video that started it all
Dutch YouTuber Paul Davids' videos are always excellent. The content is interesting, it's superbly shot, the editing is top-notch and Paul is an outstanding guitarist with an incredible touch. In short, we always have a good time.
The video below features the song ETA, on which the musician played a Squier Strat bought second-hand for $99 at a Guitar Center!
Tom Strahle's analysis of his guitar part
A few days later, through the magic of YouTube's algorithm, I discovered that guitarist Tom Strahle had released a video for Bieber's Changes album in 2020.
I heartily recommend this video too, as Tom explains what it was like to create the song.
And as a bonus, at the end he shows how he plays this superb guitar part on the original instrument. It's a gem, because there's a lot of finesse in this guitar part, which is actually much more complex than it looks.
The guitar part played by yours truly
There's no better way to understand a guitar part than to try playing it. That's what I've done and documented in the video below, recorded very quickly on my sofa, without waiting to get to the showroom.
I'm still a long way from the groove at the bottom of the bet, but the spirit is there.
The chords are:
- Am7, B7, Em7
- CM7, B7, C#dim m 6, Em7
Around these chords there are many embellishments that may or may not be repeated throughout the song. Tom shows some of them in this video.
Moral: whatever your preferred style of music, keep an ear on what's going on elsewhere, because interesting things are happening there too!
I'm off to work some more on that guitar part…
Pierre Journel.
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