In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a classic country intro in the style of Merle Haggard along with some nice country fill riffs that’ll spice up your country rhythm guitar. First, we’ll work through the intro with tablature. Then, we’ll talk about the guitar scales you should learn to get this classic Merle Haggard sound in the key of E. After that, we’ll go over two rhythm progressions in the style of Merle Haggard that are loaded with classic country bass line walks and fills.
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Playthrough with Tablature |
| 01:42 min | Full Breakdown of the Intro |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Scale Charts |
| 02:28 min | Notes Used to Play the Intro |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Progression 1 Overview |
| 00:21 min | Playthrough with Tablature |
| 01:23 min | Classic Country Strumming Pattern |
| 03:57 min | Line 1 Breakdown with Country Fill |
| 06:31 min | Line 2 Breakdown with Another Country Fill |
| 09:19 min | Line 3 Breakdown with More Country Fills |
| 10:54 min | Line 4 Breakdown |
| 12:00 min | Practice Along with Me |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Progression 2 Overview |
| 00:32 min | Playthrough with Tablature |
| 01:27 min | Line 1 Breakdown with Country Fill |
| 02:14 min | Line 2 Breakdown with Another Country Fill |
| 04:54 min | Line 3 Breakdown with More Country Fills |
| 06:50 min | Line 4 Breakdown |
| 08:00 min | Practice Along with Me |
Practice with Merle Haggard
Practice your classic country strumming and fills over the song “Fightin’ Side of Me” by Merle Haggard using the embedded player from Spotify. We’d highly recommend using Spotify for online radio. If you don’t have a Spotify account, click here to sign up free with your Facebook account or with an e-mail address.
