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Saskatchewan in 1881

by Colter Wall • Lesson #318 • Mar 20, 2021

Video lesson

Licensed Song Sheet 1 page

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Editor’s notes

Hey friends! here’s a new guitar lesson teaching you how to play Colter Wall’s 2018 song “Saskatchewan in 1881”. Instead of playing it fingerstyle like Colter does, I’m going to show you a strummed version (simply because I cannot pull off what Colter Wall is able to do with his fingers). While I am simplifying it in this regard, there’s plenty of room for fun – through alternating bass notes with your strumming, as well as walk-ups and walk-downs in each of the verse sections. I’ll teach all this and more!

Video timestamps:

  • 0:00 Preview & lesson summary
  • 2:01 Chord shapes needed
  • 5:27 Chord progressions
  • 7:13 Strumming patterns
  • 10:29 Walk-up & walk-downs, with tabs
  • 16:04 Full playthrough, with lyrics

Colter Wall playing this song

Album version:

Live version (so you can watch him play fingerstyle):

Want to learn the fingerstyle version?

Here is a lesson from another teacher if you want to learn it fingerstyle, like Colter plays it. This teacher has a printable tab showing the exact fingerpicking notes. Here’s his video:

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