LESSON #596
​Ozzy Osbourne, Fingerstyle? Yes!

​Click to watch free lesson »​

In today’s lesson I show a fun fingerstyle groove inspired by the intro to Ozzy Osbourne’s 1991 hit Mama I’m Coming Home.

Instead of teaching the full song, I take the beautiful intro sequence and show you my own spin on it using harmonized 6ths – which allow us to create a beautifully melodic sound with just two strings.

As per usual, I'll walk you through things step-by-step. Don't miss my print-friendly practice notes, which introduce the concepts at play one piece at a time — allowing you to get up to speed before adding the next piece of the puzzle.

​Watch video lesson & get my practice notes »​

🎸 Recommendations 🎸

Here's a handful of lessons that are also played in the Key of E major. Remember, every key has its own unique quirks! This allows us to reliably use predictable tricks & shortcuts whenever playing in that key.

​Melody + Strumming with "Lola" by The Kinks
​The iconic intro + verse instrumental uses some of the same Key of E harmonized sixths I use in the Ozzy lesson.

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​"Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl jam​
​This Hendrix-inspired song uses just three chords (E B A) — but there's plenty of wiggle room with how we play them. I show you a beginner-friendly approach that avoids the B major barre chord by leaving the thinnest two strings open.

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​Fingerstyle Fun with Wyclef Jean's "Gone Til November"​
​For my college roommates and I, this album was regularly on repeat — and this song in particular inspired this beautiful melodic fingerstyle. Notice how it also embraces the open first and second string — which is a hallmark when playing in the Key of E.

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​First Steps with Open E Tuning and "She Talks to Angels"
​A dive into the Black Crowes classic from 1990 — where I guide you through suggested first steps with Open E tuning.

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​Key of E Major Handbook​
​This new Ozzy lessons, plus all lessons above, are in the Key of E major — which allow us to use some fun tricks. Get my PDF handbook for this key, which gives you all the helpful-to-know info in one place.

...and last but not least...
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​Michael Palmisano's Ozzy Osbourne Tribute​
​The amazing founder of GuitarGate (Michael Palmisano) released a nice tribute to Ozzy, where he speaks from the heart about what Ozzy's always meant to him – and reacts in real-time to his recent farewell concert. Had to share!

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Odds and Ends

For those of you who have read this far – I just finished another around of tidying over on my Song Notes website. Specifically, I've finally given all my Major Key guides their own dedicated pages — which has been on my to-do list for far too long.

At the moment there's a bit of duplicate content between these Major Key Guides and KeyMaster, but I'll fix that in time... as this frees me up to finally turn KeyMaster into the true "tool" I've imagined since the beginning. But that too will have to wait... several songs are calling my name!

Catch you in the next one ✌️

David