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

Strumming Guide for "Fast Car" (Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs)

Lesson #567 • Oct 24, 2024


In today’s lesson I want to return to the 1988 classic Fast Car and walk you through a few ways to approach strumming & rhythm. For that chorus section in particular, I’ve gotten several emails asking about how to go about strumming things — given that’s the only part of the song where recognizable intro & verse riff isn’t played.

In this lesson, I’ll show three ways to approach strumming, starting with something easy-going and building up from there. You can combine these patterns I show, or modify them into something that works per your own tastes.

  • 0:00 Lesson Overview
  • 1:07 Why This Song is Tricky
  • 2:24 Easy-going Strum
  • 5:15 Moderate Strum
  • 6:52 16th Note Strum
  • 7:50 Practice Track Preview

Instructional PDF 1 page

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.

Thanks for being a Premium member of Song Notes! Your support makes these lessons possible.

Download PDF

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!

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.

Play-Along Practice Track

To help you practice the strums I teach in my video, I made the following practice track. This moves through the chord progressions you’ll need at a slightly slower tempo (88bpm) compared to Fast Car’s album recording (100bpm). The entire sequence repeats 4-5 times, giving you a nice bite-size track to use in your practice sessions. You can use any of the strums I teach when playing along with this video — and likewise, you can use any custom patterns of your own, should you prefer.

Note, this track begins by me counting in two full measures — use this to help you sync up with the beat.

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

Strumming Demonstrations (Video)

Here’s a few short videos of me demonstrating each of the strums I teach. Each of these is played over the practice track (available just above), where I play over each progression one time. Refer to these if you’d like to see, and hear, what these strums all sound like in uninterrupted context.

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

Only available to Premium members

Upgrade to Premium

Strumming Demonstrations (Audio)

In addition to the videos above, I recorded these audio clips of each of the strumming patterns. These all included a two measure count-in, which help you settle & sync into the beat. These are also strummed on muted strings, to help you focus purely on the strumming motion itself. See my video demonstrations (above) to see and hear each strum move through all the chord progressions.

Audio practice tracks are only available to members of Song Notes Premium. Already a member? Log in »

Easy-Going Strum:

Moderate Strum:

Full (16th Note) Strum:

Check out lesson #494, linked below — where I break down the main Fast Car riff step by step. You can indeed play this riff during all intro & verse sections, or skip it altogether and use any of the strums I demonstrate in my main tutorial above.

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

★ Instructional PDF

If you need help strumming with a light touch, check out the lesson below. This is especially helpful for the “moderate strum” I show (above), which uses all down-strums.

Strumming with a Light Touch

Unlock My Secret Stash!

Gain instant access to my library of 243 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

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

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

  • 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.

  • September 20, 2024

    Fingerstyle & Travis Picking Lesson Roundup!

    I've been busy organizing all my lessons teaching fingerstyle & Travis picking, and have them in a new easy-to-browse layout. Check 'em out here!

  • September 13, 2024

    "Rebel Rouser" - 1950s Lead Guitar Lesson

    Let's learn how to play Duane Eddy's 1958 classic! This song's memorable riff is easy to approach, but poses a fun challenge as the song changes key over and over. I'll walk you through it all, jam tracks included!

  • September 5, 2024

    Lead Guitar Lesson Roundup!

    I've organized all my lead guitar lessons into a new easy-to-browse area of the website! Whether you're interested in techniques or learning song-based riffs, I've got a lot of lessons I'm sure you'll enjoy.

  • Aug 30, 2024

    "Linger" by The Cranberries

    A deep-dive into The Cranberries 1993 classic, showing you the intro riff and three different ways to strum the verse & chorus. Such a fun song to play!

Browse All Recent Lessons →

← back to homepage