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Melodic Fingerstyle Bass + Melody (feat. "Live Forever" by Billy Joe Shaver)

Lesson #620 • Apr 24, 2026

About This Lesson

In today’s mini-lesson I’ll teach you a short, melodic fingerstyle arrangement inspired by Billy Joe Shaver’s classic Live Forever. Instead of teaching you the full song, I’ll take the core melody (heard in the intro) and show you three ways to play it using fingerstyle guitar. Each approach combines bass notes and melody, which you can play with just two fingers on your picking hand.

Part 1: Free Lesson

Part 2: Same Riff in Two Other Keys

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Instructional PDF 2 pages

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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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Slow Playthroughs

Here’s some separate videos where I play the riff in each of the three levels: zoomed-in, showing tabs on screen, and without talking. I count in for two measures before starting, and repeat the main riff twice in each video.

Level 1: Melody + Single Bass Note

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Level 2: Melody + Droning Bass Notes

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Level 3: Melody + Alternating Bass Notes

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If you need help with the techniques used in this song, here’s a few lessons that may help out.

Travis Picking vs. "Normal" Fingerstyle

★ Instructional PDF

How I Finally Learned to Travis Pick (ft. Clay Pigeons by John Prine)

★ Instructional PDF

Capo & Musical Key

★ Instructional PDF

Bass Notes that Change Between Chords

Melody & Travis Picking

The Song That Inspired This Lesson

Billy Joe Shaver’s 1993 song Live Forever is what planted the melodic seed that turned into my lesson. I should note, I took some liberties to simplify the chord progression slightly. Specifically, when Billy Joe changes to G — he stays on it for two counts before moving to A (also played for two counts) before returning to D for the fourth measure. In my lesson, I stay on G and A for one measure each, respectively.

I have not taught the full song as Billy Joe plays it, and currently I have no plans to. That may change one day, but for now here’s some videos that will help if you’re looking to play the full song exactly like Billy Joe plays it:

Full song cover, without singing (Key of D):

Full song lesson, as The Highwaymen play it (Key of G):

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Title (long)
Melodic Fingerstyle Bass + Melody (feat. "Live Forever" by Billy Joe Shaver)
Title (short)
Live Forever by Billy Joe Shaver
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFvMFro5PQQ
Thumbnail (video)
Video thumbnail for Melodic Fingerstyle Bass + Melody (feat.
Thumbnail (pdf)
PDF thumbnail for Melodic Fingerstyle Bass + Melody (feat.
Slug
620
Lesson URL
/lessons/620/
PDF num pages
2
Patreon URL
n/a
Discussion URL
https://community.songnotes.net/c/song-notes-lesson-discussion/fingerstyle-groove-melody-bass-feat-live-forever-by-billy-joe-shaver-lesson-620
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