Many people hear and play the beginning of "Take It Easy" by the Eagles incorrectly. It's wrong to begin strumming the first chord on the downbeat of measure one because the chord actually falls on the "and" of 4 in the previous pickup measure. From there, all the chord changes fall an eighth note before each measure. As you listen to the original recording, if you hear the first chord falling on beat 1, then the beat gets turned around when the drums enter at measure 9 just before the verse begins. Some music publishers fix this problem by adding an extra eighth note to measure 8 using the 9/8 time signature, but that isn't the right solution. The right way to play it is by beginning an eighth note early. This is how the Eagles recorded it even though you don't hear a count-in on the record. In live versions, however, you can clearly hear them count each other in and all begin on the "and" of beat 4. I explain and demonstrate all of this in this video. How have you been hearing and playing it? Let me know in the comments!

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