How to Play Landing in London by 3 Doors Down Part 1

Hey what’s up you guys? It’s Aaron. The next one that we’re going to teach is one my favorite songs to play for a really long time. And if you guys are “Three Doors Down” fans like I am, they're a prominent band. And you guys probably know this song, it's called “Landing in London.” And it’s another song called kind of like “Here Without You,” got a lot of picking. But it all stays within the same pattern for most of the song. So it’s also got a pretty easy solo. I consider it easy because I can play it and I’m not a good solo guy. I don’t focus on that much, but, all right so I guess we’re just going to dive head first into it. It would probably take two lessons. Maybe three, but really the whole song is only kind of two different patterns, so once you get to learn it, you know, you’re going to be able to play the whole song. But the first one is the intro. The intro sounds like this
[Demonstration]
I kind of messed at the very, very beginning. I played the second riff twice and then played it right the third riff. So the first and third riff should be the same, but basically there’s one chord, you’re going to be in the whole time. And the chord is actually, it’s an E minor, but it’s going to have a little variation. So what I want you to do is I want you to take your standard tuning, by the way, E-A-D-G-B-E. All right, take your middle finger put it on the second fret of your second string down, which is you’re A string. Second fret, middle finger, ring finger on the second fret, third D string and then you want to skip a string and put your pointer finger on your first fret of your B string, which is your second string up from the bottom. So this is your B. So from the top, take your string which is six. This is six, you have open, middle finger second, ring finger second, open, pointer finger first, and high E is open.
Ok, the picking pattern you’re going to play, you’re going to play your top threes strings. You’re going to play like E-A-D or if you’re numbering like you should one-two-three-four-five-six you’re’ going to play six-five-four. So you’re going to play six-five-four. Then you’re going to play two, then come back to six, the base note, and then you’re going to play two again, but this time your pointer finger is lifted up. You’re going to play the base note again-after that, ok. So put that pointer finger back down there on the first fret of your B string and let’s start from the top, ok.
Here we go, six-five-four-two0six, two again but this time it’s open, six, then you’re going to slide this pointer finger, the one on the G string, you’re going to slide up here to the second fret. And you’re going to play two, and then hammer on with your ring finger on the fourth fret… so I’m picking once… and that hammer on is just from my finger slamming down, see?
Ok, if you’re having trouble on that hammer on, just keep practicing. Basically you have to hit it. The more perfect you hit it, the harder, more volume it makes, plus I have big calluses so it’s like having little pieces of plastic on your fingers but, you’re going to play two in the G string… one pick hammer four… then you’re going to pick it open. Take both fingers off and pick it open, ok. So that together is like this.
[Demonstration]
I’m sorry… ok, so from beginning.
[Demonstration]
The second thing is going to be the exact same riff at the beginning, this whole part her [Demonstration] is the same. The only thing different, instead of playing two-hammer to the four, you play this the first time… to hammer to four… open. This time you’re going to play two… two hammer four. So you’re going to play the two, second fret G string by itself, let it ring. Then you’re going to play that second fret again and hammer on the fourth fret. So this is going to… so [Demonstration] ok. And then you’re going to play, to finish up the intro, you’re going to play the very first riff you played again to get it one more time, so—
[Demonstration]
So that’s the third riff. So basically, the whole intro together is this.
[Demonstration]
Okay, that’s the intro.
Now into the verse, the verse, you’re going to see in the tab has four lines, ok? The first two are the exact same. Well, the first two are the same with one small variation. And the last two are the same, ok. The first two, the chords you’re going to be playing are E minor… to a G… to an A minor… to an E minor… ok. That’s what you’re going to play basically. And when I say you’re going to play those, if you want to strum them you would just play E minor [Demonstration] to G [Demonstration] to A minor [Demonstration] back to E minor.
So the first—there's four lines in the verse. The first two lines go E minor,-G-A minor-E minor. In the strum pattern you use is just down, down, down, up, up, down, down, up, down, up, switch, down, down, down, up, up, down, down, up, down, up, switch, ok. And then the third and fourth line of the verse is E minor [Demonstration] same strum pattern to the C [Demonstration] to D [Demonstration] to E minor. So the last two lines are E minor-C-D-E minor, ok.
Now, I don’t think you guys want to learn the strum, if you want to learn to strum with it, that’s cool. I think you should try and pick this. So bear with me. We’re going to try and take you through the picking pattern. I’m going to teach you the first line. You can see in the tab, the very first E minor. So you’re going to play it four little riffs. One is an E minor… one’s in G… one’s in A minor… one’s in E minor… and then it starts over the second line. So first I want you to go back to your E minor, all right. This time you can use your pointer finger and the middle on the second fret. It’s going to be your A and D, which is your second and third down from the top. Or you can use your middle and your ring, it’s up to you. Basically, what you’re going to do the first time you start the verse, you’re just going to pick those top four strings. You’re going to pick the six, five, four, three, ok… ok. Then after you play it, you’re going to go to a G, and you’re going to play six-four-three-two-back to four-to six. So this is going to go [Demonstration]. So it’s six, four-three-two-four-six. That’s your G formation. Then you’re going to switch to an A minor, ok.
Now it says an A minor in actuality, I don’t know what it says. If you strum it, it would be an A minor. But I want you to do for the chord is once you’ve finished up with that G, ok [Demonstration] the next note you’re going to play is you’re going to play this A string, your second string down with your pointer finger on your second fret. And it’s already there from that G, so just leave it there. Play that second string down from the top your A string, and you’re going to pull it down. A bend, ok. If you want to play a bend, basically a bend is really… I’m pulling it down towards the D string…. So I’m going to play it on second fret… pull it down so I get that note, and you let it go back up. Then I’m going to play it open.
So from the beginning, you have the E minor-six-five-four-three, then leave that pointer finger where it is, on the second fret and that’s a common finger, go right into your G, play six-five- four-three-four- six. Then you go straight into that second fret. You play the second string down from the top your A string, second fret, play it bend… then play open… As soon as you pick up that pointer finger up off of the A string, I put it right down on the D. Ok, and then I put my middle finger right down the G, all on the same fret. So you play that too… then you’re going to play four-four-three-two is open, then three again. Then you’re going to play, then after that you’re transitioning into the E minor. So what that means is after you play this, I’ll start from the top.
[Demonstration]
Then you’re transitioning in the E minor.


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