Learn to play Long Train Running by Doobie Brothers on JustinGuitar!
View the full lesson at Long Train Running by Doobie Brothers | JustinGuitar
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I consider myself an intermediate player and I have been playing rhythm guitar in a band for a while now. We are adding this to our set but getting that rhythm right is proving difficult for me. Justin certainly makes it look a lot easier than it is.
It’s really tricky this one and I thought I was going mad but turns out the TAB doesn’t match the lesson e.g. Going by the TAB, in the first full bar, Gm7 is played covering all strings on the 10th fret and there are five muted semi-quavers (eight notes) in the first bar rather than the four demo’d by Justin.
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I am still struggling with this one, mostly the main riff. If I extend my index finger enough to mute the 6th string I cannot bend my second finger enough to reach the b string 11th fret so I have to drop the bar down so therefore no matter how much I try not to hit the now unmuted 6th string I cannot help but hit it occasionally and it doesn’t sound right.
Secondly, I am finding it difficult to release the pressure on the chord just enough to play the muted scratchy part. Usually the finger on the second string is the culprit and rings out (along with the unmuted low e string.
I am still mainly practicing this a lot slower than full speed but even when I try and speed it up and I’m not hitting the low E string it doesn’t sound right.
Any advice on this would be most appreciated.
I have been trying to learn ‘Long Train Running’ by The Doobie brothers and I have already posted about my struggles with playing it in the comments section of Justin’s lesson for the song.
My main issue is playing the Gm7 chord at the 10th fret on which the main riff is based. My index finger is quite short and therefore I have to position it higher up the fretboard in order for the tip of the finger to mute the 6th string and stop it ringing out. However, I have found that my second finger will then not reach the 2nd string at the 11th fret.
Is there anything that I can do to get around this other than simply lowering the bar so that I can reach the 2nd string with the second finger and just trying not to hit the 6th string, which is nigh on impossible at the speed this riff is played?
I would appreciate your thoughts on this,
Thanks in advance.
imho, think of that Gm7 as a Am7 cowboy chord. Play that cowboy Am7 with your second and 3rd fingers. Practice that. Once ya think ya got it. Move it up to 10th fret and put yer barre down. If ya can’t reach the low E string to mute it. Just don’t play it. Miss it when ya make yer strum.
Or go ahead and barre that bottom E string @ 10th fret with the rest of the barre. That low D is part of the G chord.
Or,
Play it down at third fret. Barre Em7. So @ 3rd fret it’d be 353333. Or play that x53333.
No idea if any of the alternatives will sound proper within the context of the song. But perhaps something to play around with? Maybe there’s some more alternatives that I’m not aware of.
Just food for thought.
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It might be worth playing with the position of the guitar and see of that helps.
When I play this song (or others that need big barres up the neck) I find it easier if I have the guitar angled with the headstock quite high up. I tend to play standing up which makes this easier to do.
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Thanks for the feedback and suggestions so far.
@HappyCat I haven’t tried playing the Gm7 at the third fret. This could work for other songs but with ‘Long train running’ an important part of the riff involves hammering on the second and third fingers at the 11th fret 2nd string and 12th fret 4th string so I would prefer to be able to play it there as Justin teaches in the lesson, but as I am unable to mute the 6th string with my finger tip I will have to practice not hitting that string as I play. You also suggested using a full barre including the 6th string, but the finger would have to reach further up, making the issue worse for me.
@mathsjunky I have tried playing with my headstock raised and I have also tried playing both seated and standing but unfortunately none of these measures has made it any easier for me to mute the 6th string and allow me to reach the 2nd string 11th fret.
Bummer - well I guess the only option left is to buy a short scale, thin necked Rickenbacker 
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I think if it doesn’t improve with your finger on the 11th fret, then the slight circular motion when strumming should help you avoid playing the low E string.
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I have the opposite problem. I can play the riff well with hammer-ons (currently working my way up to 100 BPM) when I do a full barre. So I don’t mute the E string. When I shorten the barre and mute the E string with my fingertip, I no longer have a good hand position and neither the hammer-on nor the positions work well. So I stick with a full barre and try to use a circular motion to avoid hitting the string. Or are there any tips for improvement?
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