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Surf Rider

by The Lively Ones • Lesson #248 • Jun 24, 2019

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Editor’s notes

Here’s an acoustic lesson for “Surf Rider”, an instrumental song by Lively Ones best known for its use in the Pulp Fiction end credits. It features a distinct bassline intro, followed by a very memorable melody riff that repeats throughout the song. I’ll teach you both of these things, walking you through some very beginner friendly ways to get up to speed. From there, you’ll be setup for success if you want to learn the remaining parts of the solo (which I don’t cover in this lesson).

Timestamps for my video:

  • 0:00 Playthrough & overview
  • 1:38 Intro riff
  • 14:02 Main riff - basics
  • 21:38 Main riff - misc tricks

Advanced fingerstyle cover

Here’s my favorite acoustic version of this song, found on YouTube. I initially hoped to play it like this guy does – and maybe one day I will! But he’s using some very well executed fingerstyle technique that I don’t have under my control yet. So, for my initial lesson I kept things on the more accessible side… maybe one day I’ll come back to this song and play it like him.

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