Learning the "Fast Car" Intro Riff, Step by Step

Lesson #494 • May 27, 2023

In this week’s lesson I’ll be walking you through the intro riff to Fast Car, the Tracy Chapman classic from 1988. I’ll show you how to play things step by step, starting with the most beginner-friendly version of the riff. With each step I’ll add one additional layer of complexity, eventually leading to the full version you can hear Chapman play. No matter your skill level, I’ve got you covered!

  • 0:00 Overview
  • 1:10 Basic Campfire Version
  • 2:22 Rhythm & “Pushed” Chords
  • 5:14 Adding the Melody
  • 9:51 Adding Chapman Chords
  • 14:34 Adding Fingerpicking
  • 16:01 Adding Grace Notes

Instructional PDF 4 pages

Follow along with the print-friendly PDF! It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Follow along with the print-friendly PDF!

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

To download the PDF, 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!

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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!

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Interested in a Full Lesson for Fast Car?

I’d love to make a full video lesson for Fast Car at some point – along with a print-friendly song sheet including all the lyrics/chords/etc. If you’d like me to get it done sooner than later, let me know by clicking the button below.

Click to Request

Audio Clips

Here’s a handful of audio clips of me playing each exercise I demonstrate in my video lesson. These will let you carefully listen to each step along the way – starting with the most simple. See my print-friendly guide to follow along with a visual (e.g. tabs) for each clip below.

Note, all of these are played with no capo. Again, you’ll need to add capo 2 to play along with Tracy Chapman, and capo 1 to play along with Luke Combs.

Members of Song Notes Premium can download these clips for offline use... if you're already a member, log in to view the download links.

Clip 1: Just the Four Chords

Click to download, or play below:

Clip 2: Adding “Pushed” Rhythm

Click to download, or play below:

Clip 3: Adding Basic Melody

Click to download, or play below:

Clip 4: Adding “Up The Neck” Chords

Click to download, or play below:

Clip 5: Adding Fingerstyle & Grace Notes

Click to download, or play below:

Additional Videos

Tracy Chapman’s original version (capo 2nd fret):

Luke Combs’ cover (capo 1st fret):

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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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