New song: idontwannabeyouanymore for ukulele, piano, and more

Let’s learn to play this jazzy ballad! This song features a rhythm that’s very common in jazz and blues – each main beat is divided into 3 notes, called triplets. You can count these along with the song by saying 1-2-3 over and over. “idontwannabeyouanymore”, made famous by Billie Eilish, is now available in Yousician for Guitar, Bass, Piano, Ukulele, and Singing.

idontwannabeyouanymore for Guitar
by: James Neilson, Music Education Designer for Guitar

In the basic riff exercise (level 1) you’ll follow along with the bass part – it’s a great way to get to know the underlying building blocks of the song. There are some tricky rhythms in there towards the end, so listen carefully to the song to get a feel for it.

In the main melody exercise (level 4) you’ll play along with the main vocal melody, as well as some instrumental melodies. The chorus jumps pretty far up the fretboard, so take your time to get used to those higher fret numbers – your fretboard markers (dots) will help, they’re usually on frets 3-5-7-9-12.

In the fancy chords exercise (level 6) you’ll play along with the main chords of the song, which have a beautiful jazzy sound. You’ll notice the “major 7” chords (e.g. Cmaj7, Gmaj7) in particular add to this, with a characteristic pretty-but-moody sound.

The fingerpicking exercise (level 8) combines the piano and guitar parts in the recording, for a great solo arrangement. Look out for the tricky arpeggios higher up the fretboard – in most cases, you’ll want to hold the underlying barre chord with your fretting hand and pluck the appropriate string(s).

idontwannabeyouanymore for Bass
by: Vellu Halkosalmi, Music Education Designer for Bass and Ukulele

In the basic bassline exercise (level 2) you will be playing in the 2nd position, with your index finger playing notes on the 2nd fret and your middle finger playing notes on the 3rd fret. Focus on hitting the notes at the right time.

In the main bassline exercise (level 5) you will practice playing the root notes of chords in octaves. For a bass player, this is a basis of many bass grooves, so it is an important basic concept to master. On top of getting the octave shape to feel comfortable in your fretting hand, focus on listening to the backing track and relying more on your ears than to your eyes to know the exact moment when to play each note. It will help you if you imagine or say the triplet out loud with each beat.

Full bassline exercise (level 8): this full recorded bassline is a nice example of how to construct a beautiful bassline in a slow ballad-style song. Notice how during most bars have the bassline playing a long note on the one and on the three, and decorative figures leading up to the next bar usually are placed on the last beat of each bar. Notice how, during the chorus, you are actually playing like the drummer – the low notes on one and three are like the kick drum, and the higher short notes on the two and four are like the backbeat on the snare drum. The slow tempo can be challenging to lock in perfectly with the drums, so listen carefully for the triplet feel in the hi-hat, piano part, or lead vocals whenever you play those long notes.

idontwannabeyouanymore for Piano
by: Arttu Juntunen, Music Education Designer for Piano and Singing

Melody exercise (level 4): Often a good pop song might have only a couple of different notes in the melody. This uses mostly 5 notes, so it’s nice to play with one hand. Try singing the melody while to play, it’ll help you get the rhythms right.

The solo piano exercise (level 6) works nicely as a solo piano version, which you can play to your friends. See if you can memorize parts of the song! For example, the chorus has such a memorable melody, I bet you can play it also without the app.

With the chords exercise (level 6) you can learn the chords in this song. There’s only a couple of them, so after learning the first two parts, you’ve played all of them. Once you’ve learned the chords you can try the accompaniment exercise, which uses these chords more elaborately.

In the accompaniment exercise (level 8) you can play exactly what the pianist plays in the record. This song is just a blast to play since all the parts have something new and interesting to play. This is a great arrangement to accompany a singer, or you can try to sing while you play. You can practice the vocals of this song by switching your instrument to “singing” in the settings.

idontwannabeyouanymore for Ukulele
by: Vellu Halkosalmi, Music Education Designer for Bass and Ukulele

In the basic melody exercise (level 2) you will be playing along with the most important melody notes of the piano and lead vocal parts on three strings. Use the index finger for notes on the 2nd fret, and middle finger for the notes on the 3rd fret.

In the chords exercise (level 4) you will be strumming simplified versions of the chords and playing a few melody notes where the chord is not introduced yet in this level. Focus on getting all the strings ringing out nice and clean with each strum!

In the melody exercise (level 5) you will play along with the lead vocal melody and important instrumental melodies where the lead vocal part rests. The exercise focuses on 2nd and 5th fretting positions, with a little stretch during the very last notes. Where there is no gap (called rest in music) between the notes, try to connect the notes. It means letting the previous note sound until the very moment you play the next note. This way of playing is called ‘legato’ (Italian for ‘connected’) and is an important skill when playing melodies.

The fingerpicking exercise (level 8) combines various elements from the piano and guitar parts. You get to play some nice melodic lines inside the chords and a few different arpeggio patterns (arpeggio means that the chord notes are not played at the same time, but in a series one at a time). Try to keep the legato-feeling (notes are connected) throughout the exercise, it enhances the beauty of the part!

idontwannabeyouanymore for Singing
by: Sonja Patrikainen, Music Education Designer for Singing

This song is good for practicing a slightly breathy voice, so you can add a whispery quality to your voice. This might be actually quite tiring at first, so remember to take breaks. Also, focus on the lyrics when you sing this. Imagine there’s a person in front of you, to whom you’re telling this story.