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About This Lesson
To learn any extended riff, solo, or instrumental section, a terrific way to learn faster and with less frustration is breaking things into small chunks. Learn each chunk by itself, and then chain them together.
In this lesson, I show a specific example of this approach using the intro sequence to Johnny Cash’s classic I Walk The Line. Instead of powering through measure by measure, I break things into six manageable chunks. After learning the basics of each chunk, I teach you how to chain them all together.
You can apply this technique to almost anything you learn. It will get you to your end goal much more quickly, with far less headaches along the way. Let’s dive in!
- 0:00 Overview
- 1:26 Chunks 1-6 (Basic)
- 6:39 Playthrough (Basic)
- 7:13 Alternating Bass Notes
- 8:27 Chunks 1-6 (Alt. Bass Notes)
- 11:45 Playthrough (Alt. Bass Notes)
- 12:35 Conclusion & Final Tips
Instructional PDF 5 pages
Lesson Discussion
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!
Full Intro Playthrough: Simple Strumming
Here’s the complete intro to I Walk the Line, played with a single strum of each chord. This matches what I teach in the lesson. When first learning this sequence, I recommend starting with this strumming approach (as it’s much easier than the boom-chicka version, shown below).
Full Intro Playthrough: Boom-Chicka Strumming
Here’s the complete intro to I Walk the Line, played with boom-chicka strumming approach. This is characterized by adding an up-strum on each chord just after each downstrum. All strums are also favoring the thickest 3-4 strings of each chord. I’m also using palm muting throughout the intro. This is much trickier to play, but a fun version to build up to! See my full lesson teaching I Walk the Line (linked below) to learn everything I’m playing here.
Related & Recommended
Looking to learn the full song I Walk The Line? See my lesson linked below. That page actually has two lessons I’ve made teaching this song — one of which is among the very first videos I ever posted to YouTube, back in 2013. I also link out to my new practice guide and the lyric sheet I made.
Interested in learning more about the tips & techniques used in my main lesson? Here’s a handful of lessons I’d recommend, each of which will help with this song.
If you’re curious to learn more about musical keys and the most common chords in each key (including the 1-4-5 chords), see my Musical Key Cheat Sheets roundup — which has plenty of handy print-friendly reference guides for you. These will help you recognize the common chord families that are often used together. Learning to recognize these is incredibly helpful!
Lastly, if you’re interested in practice tips in general, for learning full songs or otherwise, here’s some related lessons I’ve made:
Browse Related Lessons
Click any tag below to view other lessons I've made in that category:
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