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The Housefire
by Turnpike Troubadours • Lesson #412 • Jan 23, 2022
Video lesson
Print-Friendly 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.
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Buy at Musicnotes.comEditor’s notes
Hey friends! New lesson today teaching you how to play The Housefire by Turnpike Troubadours, from their 2017 album “A Long Way From Your Heart.” Turnpike is one of the biggest bands in the Red Dirt country rock scene over the past 20 years, and many of you have requested I teach their songs over the last few years. Honestly, they never really caught my ear until the past few weeks – all thanks to this song, which 40+ listens later I’m still can’t get enough of. The songwriting, vocal delivery, instrumentation, and more all combine for something truly wonderful, far greater than the sum of all its parts. Guitar-wise, it’s a rather straightforward song… though I do include tabs for an 8-measure riff letting you imitate the fiddle & harmonica sound heard in the intro. I’ll also give some practical strumming tips to help you work up to the “full strum” heard in the album version of this song. Let’s get into it, and I hope you enjoy!
Video timestamps:
- 0:00 Lesson Overview
- 2:29 Chord Shapes
- 5:06 Chord Progressions
- 9:07 Strumming Patterns
- 12:39 Intro Riff (w/ tab)
- 18:41 Full Playthrough
Listen to the Turnpike Troubadours perform this song
Album version:
Live @ Paste Magazine:
Live @ Austin City Limits:
Grady Smith’s Turnpike Troubadours overview
One of my favorite music YouTubers is Grady Smith, who made this video giving an overview of Turnpike Troubadours at the end of 2021 – when they just announced they’d be returning after an “indefinite hiatus” dating back to 2019. If you’re like me and crave context when getting into a new band, you’re in luck! Grady’s got you covered.
Related lesson inspired by “Diamonds & Gasoline”
Here’s a warm-up exercise (Lesson #290) I made showing you an acoustic riff inspired by Diamonds and Gasoline, also by Turnpike Troubadours. While I don’t teach that entire song, this may scratch your itch if you’re looking for more Turnpike lessons! This lesson includes an instructional PDF available to members of Song Notes Premium.
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About Song Notes
Hey there! My name is David Potsiadlo, and I'm the creator of the 400+ weekly lessons here at Song Notes, going back to 2013. Here’s my guitar story »
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