LESSON #598
​Let's Dive Into Jimmy Buffett's 1977 Classic

In this lesson I’ll teach you to play Jimmy Buffett’s 1977 classic Margaritaville on an acoustic guitar. In the last few years, this is one of the songs I receive requests for the most.... so I'm excited to finally share this lesson!

While this song uses just three chords, there’s plenty of opportunity for extra flourish using seventh chord variations and melodic strumming fills. I’ll teach all this using two different approaches: one showing a simple approach, and the other a bit more intermediate.

I’ll even show you how to play the intro riff on the guitar using harmonized thirds, which is fun to play and sounds great!

Don't miss all my additional practice resources for this song! This includes two different slow playthroughs — and a video practice track you can use to work on the intro riff.

​View all my Margaritaville notes & resources »​

RELATED LESSONS
​Techniques Used In This Song

​Percussive "Slap" Strum – one fun way to level up the strumming pattern I teach in this song.

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​Accenting Notes While Strumming – useful for the various melodic strumming fills I teach in my main Margaritaville tutorial.

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​Double Stops, Explained! First Steps with Harmonized 3rds, 6ths, 10ths – this is the exact technique I'm using to play the Margaritaville intro riff. Later in the lesson, I show how you can use this same technique to play the Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes intro riff as well.

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​D Major Key Guide – an overview of the Key of D major, which is what we're using to play Margaritaville. Learn the chords, common scales, fretboard maps, and much more.

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​FINS UP
​Looking for More Buffett Tunes?

​A Pirate Looks at Forty — a fun fingerpicking tune in the Key of G. Along with Come Monday, my daughter banned this song from my bedtime lullaby sessions because it made her cry 🥲

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​Uncle John's Band – which Buffett covered on his Fruitcakes album. This is actually the first Grateful Dead song I learned, thanks to JB!

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​Pacing the Cage – which Buffett covered on his Beach House on the Moon album. Incredibly beautiful song! And some of my all-time favorite JB vocals.

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To all of you who requested Margaritaville – I hope you enjoy! If you've read this far, you may want to check out the Farewell Jimmy Buffett thoughts I wrote just after he passed... should you have missed that newsletter entry.

My library of guitar lessons doesn't show it, but he is one of (if not my all-time) favorite musician & storyteller. There's so many of his songs I want to teach one day... and weirdly, I do think getting Margaritaville checked off the list will open some of the floodgates.

Here's wishing everyone a nice end to August, as we say hello to September + back to school + football + cooler weather. Catch you in the next one ✌️🧂🦜🌴

– David