Oh, Pretty Woman

by Roy Orbison • Lesson #441 • Jun 25, 2022

Description

Hey, friends! New lesson today for Roy Orbison’s 1964 classic Oh, Pretty Woman. This song is tremendously fun to play, featuring an all-timer guitar riff that’s integrated quite seamlessly with the intro, verse, and chorus of the song. With a solo acoustic guitar, I’ll teach you to play it all: the riff, the strumming, and everything in between. It took me a few days of serious practice before I could sing + strum + play the riff all without missing a step, but I finally able to get there — and I’m excited to show you the way. Let’s check it out!

Free Video Lesson

Slow Playthrough

Requires membership to Song Notes Premium. If you’d like to see a slowed-down version of this song, check out this additional video. I play the entire song (ending included) at 100 beats per minute, which is quite a bit slower than Roy Orbison’s 127bpm. I also use simple strumming pattern (down strums on the 1 and 3 counts only), and the simplified version of the riff (no pinky used). After the playthrough, I’ll also give some general performance tips & advice not included in my full-song lesson above. I hope you find this helpful!

Licensed Song Sheet 3 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.

On the fence? Here's a guide I made showing the purchase & print process, including answers to common questions about my song sheets.

Buy at Musicnotes.com

Backing Track Available

I made a drum backing track for you to use while playing this song (or, when practicing just the riff). The track is a relatively simple drum beat matching what you hear on Orbison’s recording. This particular drum beat is very quarter-note heavy (e.g. ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR), repeating for ~5 minutes or so. The idea is you can practice the main riff, or strumming the full song, while this track is helping you keep time. I made two separate backing tracks:

127 bpm

Roy Orbison’s actual tempo. Download.

100 bpm (slower version)

Slower version, if you’re working up to Roy’s tempo. Download.

How to use the backing track to practice the riff

Play the track. Begin counting in a 1-2-3-4 manner (four beats per measure).
When you’re ready, play the “tease” version of the riff on the beat, and remember the “tease” last six counts total. Then, play the tease one more time. Finally, play the “full” intro riff – and repeat it 4 times total.
If you want, you can continue to play over the track during the verse. You can even play over it for the chorus, but this is where it may sound a bit different than Orbison’s album version — as his drum track changes during the chorus section.

Listen to Roy Orbison’s Album Recording

Played at 127 beats per minute. Key of A, standard tuning.

Additional Lessons To Help With This Song

Here’s instructional lessons I’ve made teaching concepts that are useful in this song.

Browse Related Lessons

Click any tag below to view other lessons I've made in that category:

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Most of the lessons on my website are 100% free. If you have the means, please show your support with a tip jar contribution. I put many hours into every lesson — but it only takes you a minute to make a donation. You have my thanks!

Donate

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Recently Added

Featured Courses

Strumming & Rhythm

While your left hand is busy learning chords, your right hand has its own job: creating a sense of rhythm with strumming! This can be tricky at first, but there's so much fun-to-be-had once you get over the hump. Here's a guide to get you started.

17 lessons

View

Fingerstyle & Travis Picking

Dive into the basics of fingerstyle guitar, with plenty of examples of riffs, exercises, and songs that put this technique to use. This includes a healthy serving of Travis Picking lessons, which feature an alternating bass note played with your right thumb.

31 lessons

View

Blues Starter Kit

A guide to must-know elements of beginner blues guitar! I'll walk you through the essential topics, showing you fun things to play along the way.

18 lessons

View

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learn to read tabs, chord charts, fretboard diagrams, strumming patterns, and more! This course explains how to understand all of these must-know notation styles.

6 lessons

View

Learning Lead Guitar

A collection of videos teaching you licks, riffs, solos, and other lead guitar techniques! Includes info on scales, CAGED shapes, and other helpful lead guitar concepts.

24 lessons

View

Beginner Chord Guide

A guide to the must-know chords you'll need when getting started with guitar! The quickest way to learn major chords, minor chords, the chords in each key, and more.

22 lessons

View

Practical Music Theory

A general overview of must-know theory concepts. The goal here is practical, easy-to-understand explanations — all of which provide clarity to your everyday guitar playing.

12 lessons

View

Using a Capo

Capos are incredibly helpful if you want to play along with your favorite artist, change a song's key, adjust things to your vocal range, and so on. In this series of videos I explain all this & more!

8 lessons

View

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Interactive fretboard map! See the patterns behind every scale in any key.

View

Capo Captain

An easy way to calculate key & chord combinations, for any capo location!

View

Key Master

See and hear the notes, chords, scales used in each of the most common keys.

View

Blank Tabs

Free PDF templates to download, print, and write out your own guitar tabs!

View

Coming soon is Jambox – which shows all the video jam tracks I've made. It's note quite ready for the spotlight, but check it out if you like!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!

Recent Lessons

November 15, 2024

"Scarlet Begonias" by Grateful Dead

Let's dive into the 1974 classic from the Dead, with an acoustic-friendly arrangement using Key of G chords! I also show how you can include the catchy riffs wherever they occur, which is great way to channel the full spirit of this song.
November 12, 2024

Does CAGED Help When Learning Songs?

A quick audience Q&A video, where I talk about how CAGED helps (or does not help) when learning songs. Featuring the main riff from Scarlet Begonias by the Grateful Dead, which I'll be teaching soon!
November 8, 2024

Rhythm Deep Dive: "Guitar Town" by Steve Earle

Watch the process of me transcribing the rhtyhm of an incredibly tricky song! All shown in real time, in writing. Featuring "Guitar Town" by Steve Earle.
Nov 1, 2024

Website Tour – November 2024

A look at the state of the Song Notes website, as of November 2024. I've been working on more than just new lessons... check out the latest updates here!
Oct 24, 2024

"Fast Car" - Strumming & Rhythm Guide!

I've gotten a ton of emails asking how to strum Fast Car — here's a lesson showing 3 possible approaches! You can strum the whole song using what I teach, or combine this with the fingerstyle riff from lesson #494.
October 18, 2024

CAGED - It's More Than Just Chords!

Learn how each CAGED shape contains not only a chord, but also an arpeggio, pentatonic, and full diatonic scale! This is a must-know realization that'll level up any practice you do with these shapes.
October 3, 2024

Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee"

In honor of Kris Kristofferson's passing, here's a brand new play-along cover of his 1971 classic Me and Bobby McGee – with some updated strumming tips included.
September 27, 2024

Paul Simon Fingerstyle with "59th Street Bridge Song"

Let's dive into Simon & Garfunkfel's 1966 hit, where I'll walk you through several ways to tackle Paul Simon's Travis-style fingerpicking.

Browse All Recent Lessons →

← back to homepage

Oh, Pretty Woman

Description

Free Video Lesson

Slow Playthrough

Licensed Song Sheet 3 pages

Backing Track Available

127 bpm

100 bpm (slower version)

How to use the backing track to practice the riff

Listen to Roy Orbison’s Album Recording

Additional Lessons To Help With This Song

Unlock My Secret Stash!

Browse Related Lessons

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Featured Courses

Strumming & Rhythm

Fingerstyle & Travis Picking

Blues Starter Kit

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learning Lead Guitar

Beginner Chord Guide

Practical Music Theory

Using a Capo

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Capo Captain

Key Master

Blank Tabs

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Recent Lessons