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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
Lesson Discussion
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.
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.
Clip 1: Just the Four Chords
Clip 2: Adding “Pushed” Rhythm
Clip 3: Adding Basic Melody
Clip 4: Adding “Up The Neck” Chords
Clip 5: Adding Fingerstyle & Grace Notes
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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