In today’s lesson I want to show you how I came up with a fingerstyle arrangement for American Girl by Tom Petty (1976). Back in lesson #113 (link) I taught how to play this song the “normal” way (i.e. with fast strumming) — but recently, when returning to the song & spending time with it, I put together this low-key, easy-going fingerpicked version which I’ll show in my video. My aim was to create something that worked well for a solo acoustic guitar, without requiring the fast strumming used in my prior tutorial. I’ll end the video with a full play-through (tabs included), so you can see how it sounds when I put it all together. I hope you enjoy!
Lesson timestamps:
I’ve updated the licensed song sheet I previously created for American Girl so it includes the fingerstyle tabs I show in this video. This song sheet also includes all the strumming notes, tabs, and chord shapes I use in my original tutorial for American Girl (lesson #113). And of course, all the lyrics & chords are shown on page #1, for easy access in case you’re performing this song — whether you’re strumming or playing fingerstyle.
If you want to view my previous lesson teaching American Girl, here it is! I show you how to strum it and play it more like Petty’s recorded version. Video below, and view my full notes here if you want to dive in. Again, my 3-page song sheet linked above will work for both this version (#113) as well as my finger picked tutorial (#438).
Want to hear how Petty plays it? Here you go! This is from the 1976 album Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
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