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In this lesson I’ll teach you my take on American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, from their debut 1976 self-titled album. This will be an acoustic lesson, showing you how to emulate the sound of the full-band song with a solo acoustic guitar.
I’ll teach you how to imitate the intro sound, as well as chords & strumming needed for the verse and chorus sections. There’s also a breakdown riff I’ll teach which makes for a fun break before picking things back up for the ending. Best of luck, and enjoy!
Licensed Song Sheet 2 pages
Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.
On the fence? Here's a guide I made showing the purchase & print process, including answers to common questions about my song sheets.
Buy at Musicnotes.comLesson Discussion
Mike Campbell’s Explanation of the Guitar Parts
In 2022, Mike Campbell made this gem of a video where he walks through all the guitar parts he plays on the album recording of this song. Again, I’m not always teaching these exact things in my arrangements — as I’m focused on creating an easy-to-play version for a single acoustic guitar. But just the same, check this out if you want to go a bit deeper with things!
My Fingerstyle Arrangement of American Girl
In video lesson #438 I return to this song, determined to work out a low-key, easy-going fingerpicked arrangement. The end result uses the same chord progressions I show in this video, but I’m using custom voicings for some of the chords to better suit things for fingerstyle. If you get my song sheet (linked above), I’ve included the fingerstyle tabs I use in case you’re curious to try it out!
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