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Merle Haggard Style Classic Country Intro & Fills

Lesson 15 – Rhythm Fill Riffs and Lead Guitar Course
Lesson ID: A0141

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.

Overview

Country Intro

Video Start Time Lesson Topic
00:00 min Playthrough with Tablature
01:42 min Full Breakdown of the Intro

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Guitar Scales

Video Start Time Lesson Topic
00:00 min Scale Charts
02:28 min Notes Used to Play the Intro

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Progression 1

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

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Progression 2

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

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Practice

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.

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Geoff
Geoff(@geoff)
6 years ago

Once again, excellent lesson Devin!!

Martin
Martin(@martinfan)
6 years ago

Your teaching and video quality is A+. Thanks for another fantastic lesson — one of my favorites yet.

John
John(@johnmyhandymangmail-com)
6 years ago

Just started the intro and notice the up sequence interesting,, going to get into this!

Carl
Carl(@carl)
6 years ago

Love it! I’ll look forward to mastering the intro this week. Interesting riff. I’m really enjoying your Merle Haggard lessons. Nothing better than that old country feel!

Noah
Noah(@noah)
6 years ago

Such a great lesson. I’m always so impressed with your teaching and it is much better than face to face lessons all the way. Learning a lot!

charlesmanuels
charlesmanuels(@charlesmanuelsoutlook-com)
6 years ago

Hi Devin. Great thanks for this fantabulous site. I just love how I get to learn all those great guitar sounds in an organized way, that my late father use to make when I was still a kid. As a teen I also grew up with the sounds of the Eagles, Alabama etc. Any chance that country-rock will be included in this site or a separate site?

Kind regards
Charles

charlesmanuels
charlesmanuels (@guest_1276)
6 years ago
Reply to  Devin

Hi Devin.

That would be exciting. Count me in please!!

I really love the current acoustic lessons. It’s amazing. But electric guitar country-rock lessons would be fantastic too.

I’m budgeting to buy myself a Fender Strat/ Telly – American original later on.
Kind regards
Charles