Let Him Roll

Practice Notes 5 pages

About This Lesson

In this lesson, I’m excited to teach you how to play Let Him Roll by Guy Clark, from his 1975 debut album Old No. 1.

The Travis-style fingerpicking this song uses sounds great, but is incredibly tricky to get the hang of at first. As such, I’ll walk you through things step by step: the chord shape basics, the alternating bass note fundamentals, the progressions used, and a few incremental steps you can take to work your way to being able to play the “full” tab of the song.

No joke, this song felt impossible to me when I started to learn it. I kept at it over a few weeks time, and finally got over the hump. You can get there too! Slow and steady will indeed you get you there. Let’s get into it!

• 0:00 Playthrough & overview
• 2:21 Chord shapes needed
• 7:40 Travis picking 101 (right thumb bass notes)
• 10:29 Intro: understanding the chord progression
• 13:19 Intro: Add simplified melody notes
• 15:59 Intro: Adding “full” melody notes
• 20:29 Verse: how it’s different from the intro
• 23:28 Verse: with lyrics

Quick Links

• Lyrics and chords
• Old No. 1 Album Wikipedia page

Step-by-Step Demonstrations

Here’s a few extra videos, made in thanks to those supporting me with Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those showing your support, you have my true thanks and appreciation — and I hope you find these additional videos helpful!

1. Intro, with Chords Only

This shows me playing the 8-measeure verse sequence, with chords only. Learning this first helps your left hands get comfortable moving between the required chords. I also show how you might hum the melody while you play, which may help you find & feel the groove.

2. Intro, with Bass Notes Only

This shows me playing the alternating bass notes (with my right thumb) for the entire intro sequence. You’ll want to practice this until you can play it without much thinking! It’ll

3. Intro, with Simplified Melody

Here, I take the alternating bass notes (from the prior step) and add the broad-stroke melody notes on the thinner strings. While this does not have all the details or flourish as the full melody, it helps you get familiar with the contour of things. Learning this first will help make the next step easier to play.

4. Intro, with Full Melody

We’re almost there! This brings in the full melody, combined with the alternating bass notes. The only way this version is simplified is via the alternating bass note we play over the C chord. Specifically, we’re only going to alternate between strings 5-4-5-4. To clarify, Guy Clark alternates between 5-4-6-4, which is much harder to play while learning the melody. So – I recommend learning this first, then move on to the final version below!

5A. Intro, as Guy Clark Plays It

This is what Guy Clark plays in the opening of his official version of this song. All preceding steps build up to this.

5B. Verse, as Guy Clark Plays It

While singing the verse sections, Guy Clark adjusts the intro slightly in the final few measures… here’s how he’s playing it. There’s nothing new from a technique standpoint. However, I do show a few alternative ways to approach playing the verse — which avoid singing and Travis picking at the same time (which is very hard).