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Home ❯ Songs ❯ Jimmy Buffett ❯

Margaritaville

by Jimmy Buffett • Lesson #598 • Aug 29, 2025

About This Lesson

In this lesson I’ll teach you to play Jimmy Buffett’s 1977 classic Margaritaville on an acoustic guitar. While this song uses just three chords, there’s plenty of opportunity for extra flourish using 7th chord variations and melodic strumming fills. I’ll teach all this using two different approaches: one more simple, and the other a bit more interemdiate. I’ll even show you a fun way to play the intro riff on the guitar using harmonized thirds, which sounds great! Many of you have requested this song over the past few years… so I very much hope you enjoy the lesson!

  • 0:00 Lesson Overview
  • 1:07 Intro Riff
  • 2:48 Practice Track
  • 4:14 Verse & Chorus Chords
  • 8:03 Strumming
  • 8:51 Verse Filler Strums
  • 13:59 Chorus Filler Strums
  • 17:29 Farewell & Final Tips

Practice Notes 5 pages

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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Here's a print-friendly PDF I made with all of my practice notes for this lesson. This lets you follow along with everything I show in video tutorial at your own pace.

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Lesson Discussion

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Extended Video Lessons

Here’s a few extra videos, made in thanks to those supporting me with Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those showing your support, you have my true thanks and appreciation — and I hope you find these additional videos helpful!

Slow Play-Along with simple strumming fills

After counting in for two measures, I play through the verse and chorus… first with singing, and then again without singing. Played at 108bpm, which is a bit slower than Buffett’s 124bpm album recording. This includes the simplified strumming fills during the verse (using Dsus2, Dsus4, Asus2, and Asus4).

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Slow Play-Along with intermediate strumming fills

Same approach as the prior video, but I use more complicated strumming fills during the verse. This also includes the chorus strumming fills I teach, which are trickier to play but go a long way in capturing the vibe of Buffett’s album recording.

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Intro Riff Practice Track

Here’s a 4-5 minute play-along practice track I made to help when learning the intro riff. This plays through the D-G-A-D progression, followed by four full measures of D (where you can practice strumming and/or D major licks & fills). Then, things repeat the two-measure count-in before repeating again from the beginning. Chord changes are shown on screen, so you can easily keep track of where you are in the practice track.

Click to download an audio version of this practice track, if you'd like to practice offline.

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Here’s lessons on some of the techniques I use & mention in my main tutorial:

Percussive "Slap" Strumming

★ Instructional PDF

Double Stops, Explained! First Steps with Harmonized 3rds, 6ths, 10ths

★ Instructional PDF

Accenting Notes While Strumming

★ Instructional PDF

Key of D Major

★ Instructional PDF

And if you’re after more Jimmy Buffett tunes, here’s the other lessons I have. This includes songs he has covered, such as Uncle John’s Band (from Fruitcakes) and Pacing the Cage (from Beach House on the Moon).

"A Pirate Looks at Forty" by Jimmy Buffett

$ Song Sheet Available

"Uncle John's Band" by Grateful Dead

$ Song Sheet Available

Fingerpicking Guide to "Pacing the Cage" by Bruce Cockburn

★ Instructional PDF

Lead with Melodic Triads (ft. Jimmy Buffett)

★ Instructional PDF

"Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett (ukulele lesson)

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