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!

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​