Learn to Play the Beatles Ballad “And I Love Her” as Interpreted by Pat Metheny 

The music of John Lennon and Paul McCartney has long been a rich source of inspiration for jazz musicians. In the acoustic guitar realm, an excellent case in point is Pat Metheny’s interpretation of “And I Love Her,” as heard on his 2011 solo album What’s It All About. Metheny manages to capture the wistful vibe of this Beatles classic while casting it in a bossa nova–inspired setting and updating it with his intricate sense of harmony and phrasing. 

The original song is in the key of E major, with a modulation to F at the beginning of the guitar solo. In his arrangement for solo nylon-string guitar, transcribed here, Metheny plays the song entirely in the latter key. This allows him to use the open fourth and fifth strings, respectively, for the root notes of the vi (Dm7) and iii (Am7) chords—convenient for adding melodies and shifting chord shapes above.

Although the notation captures Metheny’s performance note for note, the best way to use it isn’t to learn the arrangement as such but to study the chord voicings the guitarist uses and how he works around them to create the impression of multiple instruments. The ultimate goal is to understand the concepts and apply them to your own interpretation of this or any other tune.

Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to post notation or tablature for this musical work. If you have a digital or physical copy of the November/December 2024 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, you will find the music on page 51.

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.