Log In My Account Join Upgrade Premium VIP Beta Tester Free Trial
Menu Search Join VIP Beta Tester Premium
 

Home ❯ Songs ❯ Bob Dylan ❯

Girl from the North Country

by Bob Dylan • Lesson #452 • Sep 10, 2022

In this week’s lesson I’ll teach you to play Girl from the North Country, as played by Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash on the 1969 album Nashville Skyline. I’ll begin by teaching the chords & basic progression (1:49), demonstrate a few strumming options (5:30), walk through a few rhythm challenges you may face when singing along (8:44), and finally show various ways you can add flair to spice things up (11:16). Thanks to all of you who requested this song — it’s been a popular submission the last few months! Enjoy.

Part 2 - Verse Melody

This extended video walks through the specific notes that are sung during the verse of the song. I’ll show you tabs, for the entire verse, matching the vocal melody – which is an enormous aid if you’re interested in singing but aren’t sure what the individual notes are.

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

Part 3 - Full Playthrough

Hear what it sounds like when I put it all together, from beginning to end!

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

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

Save 50% on this song sheet by applying the May 2025 code at Musicnotes checkout: XCSLHBNQ59 (click to copy). Thanks for being a Premium supporter!

Song Notes Premium includes a 50% discount code you can use when buying any of my licensed song sheets. For the current month's code, upgrade to premium or log in.

Lesson Discussion

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

View Comments

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

To access the community forum, upgrade to premium or log in.

Dylan & Cash’s Original Recording

Here’s the version I teach in my lesson. This is the opening track from Nashville Skyline, released by Bob Dylan in 1969. When I was in high school (late 90s), the library had a huge collection of CDs you could rent — and having just heard Dylan’s greatest hits album, I quickly moved on to explore his discography. This was one the first albums I got into… I absolutely loved its sound, and still do to his day. It was no doubt the first time I ever heard Johnny Cash as well.

Dylan’s original 1963 Recording

If you’re curious, here’s how Dylan played this song on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Very different vibe, but great to hear for comparison.

Here’s a Keith Richards quote that he gave to Rolling Stone magazine:

While the British Invasion was going on, Bob Dylan was the man who really pulled the American point of view back into focus. At the same time, he had been drawing on Anglo-Celtic folk songs, and that’s certainly true of “Girl From the North Country”. It’s got all the elements of beautiful folk writing without being pretentious. In the lyrics and the melody, there is an absence of Bob’s later cutting edge. There’s none of that resentment. He recorded it again later with Johnny Cash, but I don’t think it’s a duo song. Bob got it right the first time.


Unlock My Secret Stash!

Gain instant access to my library of 271 print-friendly cheat sheets! Also includes my extended video lessons, jam tracks, courses, and more.

Join Song Notes Premium

Have questions? Watch video tour »

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
Most Popular
Beginner-Friendly
Browse by Artist
Browse by Song Title
Browse by Song Year

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

Walk Ups & Walk Downs

A very common trope in rock, country, and folk music involves walking bass lines that "connect" one chord to another. I've used this in many of my song lessons, and I'm happy to share this list of related lessons if you'd like to brush up on this technique.

10 lessons

View

CAGED Essentials

Learn about the repeating pattern of shapes on the fretboard, named after the five open chord shapes (C-A-G-E-D). Each shape can be used to play a chord, arpeggio, pentatonic or diatonic scale in every key... which makes them worth knowing!

6 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

Browse All Recent Lessons →

← back to homepage