If you haven’t seen the movie Pitch Perfect (see above photo), or heard the song Cups, check out this link. At about a minute into the video Anna Kendrick does this fancy little percussive/drumming thing with a cup – that is evidently so addictive among girls aged 5-10 it’s almost an epidemic. Hence, this tweet from Anna’s twitter a few months ago…
Dear parents that I meet, I know that sigh, and before you even say it, I’m very very sorry that your child won’t stop doing Cups.
Two things I got from this quote:
1. Anna Kendrick is awesome.
2. I have to learn how to play (and teach) Cups on the guitar.
So I did. It’s super easy and awesome.
The original song is in the key of C (I think)… which can be tough to learn on the guitar if you’re an absolute beginner. Solution: Transpose it into an easier key (I like the key of G). The strumming pattern can be simplified as well – just one strum per chord and you’re good to go.
If you play the guitar and want to learn it, check out this link (note: I changed the key to G to make it easier to play, but you get the gist).
Using the key of G, and the one-strum-per-chord strumming technique, I have been able to teach this song to students in their first lesson (without any prior experience). It works easily on both the acoustic and electric guitar as well.
So thank you Anna Kendrick (and to a lesser extent, Taylor Swift).
If you agree (either that Anna Kendrick is awesome, or Taylor Swift is less-awesome), please Like Us On Facebook!!
Image Credit: screeninvasion.com
