Acoustic Blues with Keith Richards

In today’s lesson I’ll be diving into an amazingly fun acoustic blues riff in the Key of G. This same type of riff is used by Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones song Country Honk, which is a countrified version of the more well-known tune Honky Tonk Women. Special thanks to Song Notes member Tim for turning me on to this song!

The notes in this riff are something you can learn quite quickly, though it’ll reward any extended practice you put in — as it’s quite tricky to play seamlessly while in a strumming groove. But fear not, I’ll walk you through learning it in three steps! You’ll be able to use this riff anytime you need a bluesy fill over a G major chord.

0:00 Overview
1:19 Step 1: Learning the Riff
4:33 Step 2: Adding Filler Notes
9:19 Step 3: Timing & Strumming

Looking for my tutorial teaching the full Country Honk song, from start to finish? View it here »

Instructional PDF 1 page

Lesson Discussion

Extended Video Lessons

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