Lesson 75 Video

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Lesson 75

Lesson 75 - Fast As You

Fast As You

 

Lesson Goals:

♦ Review barre chords 
♦ Review Blues Rhythm Riff
♦ Learn "Fast As You", incorporate single note picking

We are nearing the completion of Beginner Guitar Lessons and you have covered a lot of ground since we started on Lesson 1!

At this point in the course we wanted to give you a song that will challenge a lot of the things you have learned.

We are going to play "Fast As You" by Dwight Yoakam. In this song we will play open chords, barre chords, the blues rhythm riff, and some cool single note picking.

This should be a fun song for you to play so let's first take a look at a new chord. Look at the diagram and picture on the right of the F#m chord. It should be fairly self explanatory for you but go ahead and get familiar with it.

There is a driving "signature" riff throughout this song and it is played in two positions. The "E" position and the "A" position.

The riff is played exactly the same in both positions. The only difference is that in the "E" position, the notes are played on the 6th and 5th strings. In the "A" position it is played on the 5th and 4th strings. Otherwise the pattern of the riff is identical.

Let's take a look at the riff in the "E" position.

75 e riff 01

The best way to play this riff is to plant your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th string for the whole riff. The string bend on the 3rd fret of the 6th string can then be played with the 2nd finger and the notes on the 5th and 4th frets of the 5th string are played by the 4th and 3rd finger.

Remember - Each finger gets a fret?

Below is the TAB for the riff in the "A" position.

75 a riff 01

The fingering and pattern is identical to the "E" position, the only difference is that the "A" riff is played on the 5th and 4th strings.

Practice the riff for a moment and then we can take a look at the chart for the song.

75 fast as you chart 01

The song starts off with the "E" riff, then goes to the "A" riff, then back to the "E" riff which is followed by an F#m barre chord, then an open A chord.

The first verse repeats and then the bridge starts on an A chord with a Blues Rhytm Riff playing on top of the chord.

Later the bridge ends with a B barre chord and a stop with a three beat rest before going back to the beginning.

Run through it once and then let's play it together in the video.

Lesson 75 Summary

The hardest part of this song is the signature riff. Playing the riff while smoothly transitioning to the other chords will be the biggest challenge so take it slow to begin with.

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Jam Tip!

This song is, for the most part, built around a standard I, IV, V chord progression but because of the F#m in the verse it would technically be considered a I, IIm, IV, V (one, two minor, four, five) chord progression because F# is the 2nd step in the E major scale.

F#m Chord

75 fm diagram 01

F#m Chord

75 fm bar pic