Hey there, friends! New video I wanted to share as we head into the weekend. I'll be looking at Guitar Town, the 1986 hit from Steve Earle – and show my real-time process of transcribing the incredibly tricky rhythm & chord progression.

Give the first 30 seconds a watch and you'll see where I end up — and in the rest of the video I show the full process of getting there:

This is indeed a longer video – and it's not a step-by-step tutorial, per se.

Rather, it's simply me working things out in real-time, without any edits. Warts and all. Listening, pausing, rewinding, and writing things down on my iPad – with the screen shared for you to see.

I do plan on practicing this one & doing a more typical tutorial — stay tuned for that! But I wanted to share this in the meantime, as I think showing this real-time process may be helpful & inspiring to some of you out there.

Remember, you too can do this! It takes practice, especially with tricky songs like this... but it can be done.

​Give it a watch – and check out my lesson page for all my additional notes & resources for this song, including a lyric sheet.

Thanks to David for requesting this one over in the Song Notes community forum!

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Looking for More "Process" Videos?

Watch me working out Will the Circle Be Unbroken as played by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band:

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And likewise, watch me work out the Travis-style fingerpicking of Souvenirs by John Prine:

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Looking for More Steve Earle Lessons?

You may be interested in Copperhead Road which I did a lesson for back in 2019! Quite the fun song to play.

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While it’s not a Steve Earle, I recommend Whitehouse Road by Tyler Childers. Very similar vibe to Copperhead Road, both musically and lyrically.

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And this one is a bit more of a stretch, but in lesson #322 I took Green Day’s Welcome to Paradise and did a cover in the style of Steve Earle and/or Tyler Childers. Basically, me taking what I learned in both lessons above and re-imagining one of my favorite Green Day songs from my middle school days of the early 90s..

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Thanks and Be Well!

Here's wishing everyone a great weekend. Some chilly fall winds have been blowing here in Austin today, for maybe the first time this year... I'm ready for 'em! I'm putting a brisket on the smoker overnight, driving my daughter to & from a HS football game under Friday night lights, and excited to hang out with family visiting this weekend. Take care and I'll see you in the next one ✌️

David

Browse all my lessons at songnotes.net​

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