In this guitar lesson, I’ll teach you a classic country strumming pattern in the style of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” by Willie Nelson. First I’ll break down the strumming pattern and give you some strumming tips that will help you get those clean alternating bass line picks. Then I’ll show you a couple of Willie Nelson style chord progressions to use for practice. After that, we’ll start working in some classic country bass line walks and I’ll teach you a couple of Willie Nelson riffs that’ll spice up your country rhythm guitar.
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Strumming Pattern Breakdown |
| 01:09 min | Right Hand Pick Technique |
| 02:46 min | Willie Nelson Hammer-On |
| 04:11 min | Alternating Bass Line over B7 and A Chords |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Progression 1 |
| 00:54 min | A Major Accent Chord |
| 02:37 min | Progression 2 |
| 03:24 min | How to Practice with “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Bass Line Walk 1 |
| 01:17 min | Bass Line Walk 2 |
| 03:42 min | Bass Line Walk 3 |
| 04:50 min | Bass Line Walk 4 |
| Video Start Time | Lesson Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:00 min | Willie Nelson Style Fill Riff 1 |
| 04:14 min | Willie Fill Riff 2 for a Song Ending |
Practice with Willie Nelson
Practice your classic country strumming and fills over the song “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” by Willie Nelson using the 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.
New lesson! This one’s got some nice strumming and fills in the style of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” by Willie Nelson. Here in a few days, we’ll be posting bluegrass licks in E to the Advanced Bluegrass Lick library along with scale charts and tablature. Thanks everyone for sending in your lesson requests. If you have a lesson idea, send them my way! https://countryguitaronline.com/request-a-guitar-lesson/
Thanks once again Devin. Great song choice and GREAT teaching.
Great start back to the basics to rebuild a style that’s got a little loose
Very nice, love the slower stuff like this. Sounds good and not crazy tough to play, and really helps with developing rhythm. Keep up the good work Devin.
Thanks Devin. I had a blast learning this. Any other Willie Nelson songs?
Awesome, glad you like it! Love that Willie sound. I’ve got some other stuff in the fill riff course that’ll get you some similar sounding Willie style fills, but don’t have other Willie songs on the site just yet, but planning to add more for sure.
nice lessons with great tabs , been learning it today , getting better day by day. This website is my new drug honestly ! Great teacher in front with great details of each parts. THANKS ! finger crossed to get the pick this month
Another great lesson.
Devin, do you have any Waylon lessons?
Simple and sweet. Genius.
Perfect lesson for my level. Thanks!
Beautiful song ending…I like that…thanks Devin
Wonderful song with interesting bass walk ups and downs. The
fill riffs seem to be easy, but are a bit tricky.
Dieter
Love the new AB looping and video speed control options, really makes practicing eaiser!
Nice! One of my friends made that toolbar for me and I’m really happy how it turned out. Glad to hear the good feedback!
So cool, Devin! Thank you for unlocking that sweet little flavor of Willie’s guitar runs.
I see the chord progressions and tablature, but where is the song lyric with chords? This is regard to lesson three and the song “Blue eyes crying in the rain”.
Great lesson! I’d love to see the solo portion of the Willie Nelson version done in Tab form.
Bittersweet,,, I say that because as you’re explaining the walk down at the 6+ minute mark and starting with middle finger on the A cord you don’t mention that there are two strums on it then the walk down to ring finger-4th fret middle finger-2nd fret, its not clearly visible, especially when one wears corrective lenses. I love this style playing, its classic Willie, whom I love, & you by far make it look easy, which I really appreciate. If you could help by adding a 10 or 15 second back button would be the kitty-Kat’s meow!!! Thank you
I finally found my level, and feel like my playing ability is about to double.
I’m new to Country music, but I love everything on this site.
I came here for the guitar lessons, and I’m coming away with the Country!
I have been finger picking folk songs for over 7 years and it may sound crazy but I am finding it challenging to strum with a pick. Do you offer a lesson on basic pick grip and strumming?