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El Paso

by Marty Robbins • Lesson #315 • Aug 15, 2020

Video lesson

Licensed Song Sheet 2 pages

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Editor’s notes

After many requests, I’m proud to share this lesson teaching you how to play El Paso, the classic 1959 song from Marty Robbins. This one has a delicious intro riff (which I’ll teach in depth), as well as standard cowboy chords that make up the verse & chorus. I’ll teach all this, including 3 different ways to approach the strumming. Enjoy!

Timestamps for my video lesson:

  • 0:00 Lesson overview
  • 0:59 Chord shapes needed
  • 1:42 Chord progressions (verse & chorus)
  • 5:55 Strumming patterns (3 options)
  • 9:45 Playthrough (1st verse & chorus)
  • 11:51 Alternating bass note strumming
  • 13:01 Intro riff breakdown (with tab)
  • 21:44 Farewell

Video of Marty Robbins version of this song

Original studio version:

Live version:

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