Below is the lesson for “The 4/4 Waltz” by Rock Class 101.

Helpful Tips

This song, which draws inspiration from classical music, has a charming melody that’s reminiscent of a lullaby. From a fingerstyle perspective, this piece is perfect for the intermediate player.

The most challenging aspect of it is the chord work. There are a few tricky transitions; therefore, I’d recommend using the fingerings that Mika suggests in the lesson video. As you play through this piece, focus on keeping your tempo steady while sustaining each note/chord for its entire duration.

Note: We decided to call this composition “The 4/4 Waltz” because the melody falls on beats 1 and 4 in many of the measures. Therefore, if we accent those beats, it has a similar feel to 3/4. In 3/4, beat 1 is accented, and beats 2 and 3 are weak beats.

Time Signature	Metric Accents
3/4	1 (strong) 2 (weak) 3 (weak)
“The 4/4 Waltz”	1 (strong) 2 (weak) 3 (weak) 4 (strong)

This creates a different feel from the typical feel of 4/4:

Time Signature	Metric Accents
4/4	1 (strongest) 2 (weak) 3 (strong) 4 (weak)

But the truth is, there is no such thing as a waltz in 4. The above is a mix of us being silly and way overthinking things, LOL! If you’d like to learn an actual classical waltz, I’ll link a few below.

Beginner friendly classical waltz
“Chopsticks” (Seasoned beginner)
Intermediate level classical waltz
“Waltz of the Flowers” from The Nutcracker (Advanced level)