kleberguitar
Verified buyer
04/12/26
Great lesson
Essentials: Acoustic Intros
Creative, Harmonic and Rhythmic Approaches for Crafting Compelling Intros
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About this course
One of the most critical elements of an original song or arrangement is the intro. A great intro draws your listeners in, hooks them with a memorable melodic phrase, and breathes life into the song right from the start.
In this Acoustic Intros edition of Essentials, highly acclaimed singer-songwriter Ellis Paul shares 10 of his own favorite intros along with the creative, harmonic and rhythmic approaches behind each of them.
”A great introduction pulls you into the personality of the song. It's also like an instant signature that helps the song be recognizable in its place on the radio or a playlist. Just think of "Sweet Home Alabama" and the instant mood it creates. A great intro drops you right into a song so the voice and lyrics can pop even more. The focus of this course is exploring ways we can win people over in the first ten seconds of a song, even before the vocal arrives.
All of these introductions were composed to pull the listener into the mood, tempo, and vibe of the song. Intros frame the arrival of the vocal and provide a recognizable fingerprint that is immediately appreciated when the song arrives on a playlist, CD or the radio. A great intro helps you stick out while pulling a listener in. Writing songs with intentional, thoughtful intros makes you sound more professional, and hooks the listener into your art right from the top.”
Ellis will perform each intro, and then break it down slowly for you, note for note. As you work through the performance studies, you’ll learn how to use lush open tunings, drop licks, quoted phrases from choruses and verse parts, tasteful embellishments, dynamic buildups, and many other effective intro construction strategies.
Ellis will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the key examples and performances.
Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tool to sync the tab and notation to the video and can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let's pull listeners in with Ellis Paul!
In this Acoustic Intros edition of Essentials, highly acclaimed singer-songwriter Ellis Paul shares 10 of his own favorite intros along with the creative, harmonic and rhythmic approaches behind each of them.
”A great introduction pulls you into the personality of the song. It's also like an instant signature that helps the song be recognizable in its place on the radio or a playlist. Just think of "Sweet Home Alabama" and the instant mood it creates. A great intro drops you right into a song so the voice and lyrics can pop even more. The focus of this course is exploring ways we can win people over in the first ten seconds of a song, even before the vocal arrives.
All of these introductions were composed to pull the listener into the mood, tempo, and vibe of the song. Intros frame the arrival of the vocal and provide a recognizable fingerprint that is immediately appreciated when the song arrives on a playlist, CD or the radio. A great intro helps you stick out while pulling a listener in. Writing songs with intentional, thoughtful intros makes you sound more professional, and hooks the listener into your art right from the top.”
Ellis will perform each intro, and then break it down slowly for you, note for note. As you work through the performance studies, you’ll learn how to use lush open tunings, drop licks, quoted phrases from choruses and verse parts, tasteful embellishments, dynamic buildups, and many other effective intro construction strategies.
Ellis will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the key examples and performances.
Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tool to sync the tab and notation to the video and can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let's pull listeners in with Ellis Paul!
What you'll learn
- Play octave melodies while maintaining drone strings
- Create tension and release through chord changes
- Apply the riff both as accompaniment and standalone instrumental section
- Create a band-like groove using integrated bass lines
- Coordinate thumb bass notes with fingerstyle chord work
Release date: 08/22/2019 • 1h 13m runtime
Sample lessons
Battle Begins
Overview
Battle Begins
Performance
Battle Begins
Breakdown
Sling Start
Overview
What's included
33 lessons • 10 charts • 10 Jam Tracks
Essentials: Acoustic Intros
Hi, I'm Ellis Paul and welcome to Essentials: Acoustic Intros!
A great introduction riff can pull people into the framework of a song immediately. It's the first building block to a great song, but many songwriters never apply intros to the arrangement of their guitar parts when they are composing.
In this course, we will examine several of the intros I've written with various rhythms, riffs, and tunings that will not only make you a better composer of songs, it will help to open up your playing and your own ideas.
I'll first perform each intro, and then break it down slowly for you, note for note. As we work through the performance studies, you'll learn how to use lush open tunings, drop licks, quoted phrases from choruses and verse parts, tasteful embellishments, dynamic buildups, and many other effective intro construction strategies.
All the performances are tabbed and notated. You can loop and slow down the videos so that you can work through the lessons at your own pace.
Ready to dig in? Grab your guitar and your writing journal - let's get started!
A great introduction riff can pull people into the framework of a song immediately. It's the first building block to a great song, but many songwriters never apply intros to the arrangement of their guitar parts when they are composing.
In this course, we will examine several of the intros I've written with various rhythms, riffs, and tunings that will not only make you a better composer of songs, it will help to open up your playing and your own ideas.
I'll first perform each intro, and then break it down slowly for you, note for note. As we work through the performance studies, you'll learn how to use lush open tunings, drop licks, quoted phrases from choruses and verse parts, tasteful embellishments, dynamic buildups, and many other effective intro construction strategies.
All the performances are tabbed and notated. You can loop and slow down the videos so that you can work through the lessons at your own pace.
Ready to dig in? Grab your guitar and your writing journal - let's get started!
Song Introductions
A great introduction pulls you into the personality of the song. It's also like an instant signature that helps the song be recognizable in its place on the radio or a playlist. Just think of "Sweet Home Alabama" and the instant mood it creates. A great intro drops you right into a song so the voice and lyrics can pop even more. Let's try and win people over in the first ten seconds of a song, even before the vocal arrives.
Battle Begins
"The Battle of Charlottesville" is a social justice song that tells the story of the riots that happened in my hometown in 2017. I explain the subject matter and mission of the song so the tone of the introduction matches the intention of the song. Standard tuning is used, capo'd at the third fret. The song was meant to evoke a Civil War era guitar part - it begins with a falling down the neck lick that drops into an Am position chord and focuses the listeners ears on the riff that follows.
Battle Begins
Let's check out the intro to "The Battle of Charlottesville". I play the drop-in lick and the riff using an Am position walk down. Many hammer-ons ensue, but no one was injured.
Check out the accompanying jam for the full studio recording of "Battle Begins" to see how the intro sounds in context of the rest of the song.
Check out the accompanying jam for the full studio recording of "Battle Begins" to see how the intro sounds in context of the rest of the song.
Battle Begins
Here I show you how to play through the lick and riff with an easy-to-follow breakdown. Bend notes to add to the mojo!
Check out the accompanying jam for the full studio recording of "Battle Begins" to see how the intro sounds in context of the rest of the song.
Check out the accompanying jam for the full studio recording of "Battle Begins" to see how the intro sounds in context of the rest of the song.
The Start of Snow
"Snow in Austin" is in standard tuning. Again, the tone and mission of the song is made apparent in the intro, matching the intention of the song. It's a simple walk down pattern from a C chord position. The hammer-ons distinguish it from other similar walk downs with a little added melody.
The Start of Snow
Now I'll play the introduction to "Snow in Austin" for you.
Check out the accompanying jam for the full studio recording of "The Start of Snow" to see how the intro sounds in context of the rest of the song.
Check out the accompanying jam for the full studio recording of "The Start of Snow" to see how the intro sounds in context of the rest of the song.
+ 26 more lessons
Reviews
10 results
Greenwave
Verified buyer
09/17/25
Great insights here for starting and crafting a song!
rbroeg
Verified buyer
09/16/21
Must have for improvising
This is going to make improv time so much more fun. So many nice riffs and so well explained
donojazz62220
Verified buyer
05/28/21
Essentials: Acoustic
A very good video for working out acoustic song intros. A lot of capo and alternate tuning work, so songs definitely provides very different sounds.
wholmer
12/27/20
There are some good intros here
A lot of songs get you right from the intro. I give this class 5 stars because I have had trouble in the past trying to learn intros as well as turnarounds then trying to come up with my own. The structure is well planned and progress is from easy to not so easy but you are ready for it if you follow along and practice!
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