Someone Else & Jesus - Ricky Manning

Hi everyone, and welcome to this new guitar tutorial! Today I’m excited to share Someone Else & Jesus by Ricky Manning—a song that’s gone viral this year, racking up over 3 million streams in less than six months. Incredible.

To transcribe this one accurately, I had to study several videos of Ricky playing it live, and I noticed a few interesting features. First of all, he seems to prefer using a classical guitar, so the tone you hear in my acoustic version might come across a little more raw and metallic in comparison. Another thing that caught my attention is his rather curious tuning choice: he tunes the entire guitar down two semitones and then uses a capo on the first fret, which essentially brings it just one semitone below standard tuning. I couldn’t quite figure out why he doesn’t just tune down one semitone directly. Maybe he finds it more comfortable to play that way, especially since the fifth fret is slightly narrower than the fourth? 

One more detail worth mentioning: instead of tuning the second string up two semitones, he keeps his ring finger pressed on the third fret of the B string for the entire song. It’s an interesting approach that helps keep the left hand stable — and it’s really the only specific thing to keep in mind when it comes to the fretting hand.

As for the right hand, the main players are your thumb, index, and middle finger. The thumb covers the bass notes on the fifth and sixth strings, the index takes care of the fourth and occasionally the third string, while the middle finger plays both the third and second strings. I only recommend using your ring finger for that one note on the first string!

As always, you can find the tabs on my Patreon page. Have fun learning, and enjoy the music!