Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver Lesson

[MAT1953]

@Richard_close2u
Thanks Richard
Working my way through the theory course and just starting to getting an understand of what you have outlined.
Michael

[LOUIS_K]

I just bought my first (probably not last) 12 string and revisiting this great tune. So glad to be around this crew, even though I’m mostly a lurker.

[sharath_chandra]

what’s the guitar Justin using in this video?

[stitch]

Welcome to the forum Sharath.
The guitar is a Froggy Bottom M Deluxe.

[MAT1953]

Sharath @sharath_chandra
I think this is the guitar Rick @stitch mentions.

Not the same guitar but you might be interested in this video, check out the cost!!!

The Cheapest Acoustic Guitar On Amazon vs $7500 Froggy Bottom!

Michael

[Wetchie]

Hey y’all, although beginner level this is a great lesson.
I like do the hammer-on (i think its called that) for every chord in the intro and i think it sounds great. For the G chord i do base note 6th string (no hammer-on) then strum then A string amd hammer-on your first finger to the second fret.
Then for the Em chord i like to do that same thing. Base note E, then hammer-on A string to the second fret. Hammer-on to the D string sounds great as well.
Then for D chord I like to play the third string (Which would be the note A) and then hammer-on the same string to the third fret.
Then for C chord I play the second string (which would be the note C) then strum then hammeron to the same string.
It took a lot of practice for me to be able to play this, but it really sounds great. Sorry im not super great at guitar yet so i dont know all the terms for it, i just called them whatever i wanted. I recommend you try it cause i like the sound :)) Thanks!!! -Wet
Edit: I realize now that to do to C chord hammer-on, you must switch the bar of G after it to C, then continue. Yep thanks

[_will]

golly this is fast. the chord changes are fine, but the strumming! i’m just trying to thrash out old faithful and its all quite ropey.

[Kate_South]

How many bpm would this be? It doesn’t seem to mention anywhere. Is that important to know?

[LadyOfTheCastle]

There are apps and websites which can tell you this, but I don’t think it is important to play at the exact same speed as the original (who says John Denver always played it at the exact same bpm?). Rhythm is more important than bpm. No one will care if you play a bit slower/faster.

[jjw]

@LadyOfTheCastle

There are apps and websites which can tell you this

Hi @Kate_South: You could also figure it out yourself (it’s a good exercise): put the song on and go to a bpm calculator website (e.g. https://www.beatsperminuteonline.com/). You tap along with the song and it gives you the bpm. I get around 157 bpm for Country Roads.

Agree with @LadyOfTheCastle that knowing the exact bpm isn’t crucial, you can play at any speed you like. However, if you want to play at the full speed and you are working your way up to it using a metronome, then it helps to know your target bpm.

[Kate_South]

@LadyOfTheCastle

(who says John Denver always played it at the exact same bpm?)

So true I like that actually, every concert sounds slightly different.

[Kate_South]

Not sure why I get around 80-84 then…are we counting different beats? Or are you counting the &s as well? It’ probably me, I’m terrible with timing

or a friend suggests I may be counting in 2/4, but I have no idea what she means

[jjw]

I think you’re probably counting every other beat. I checked against Justin’s demo at the beginning of the verse: at ~84 bpm I count 4 beats on the G chord. But that is 2 bars (as Justin explains when going through the chords), so I would be counting at half speed.

Even so, our bpm’s don’t quite agree. Your 84 should correspond to 168 for me. Perhaps we were listening to different versions. Or maybe one of us is a bit off.

By the way, there is some arbitrariness to all this: You could think of the song as 84 bpm and the G chord at the beginning of the verse as 1 bar. Or you could think of the song as 168 bpm and the G chord covers 2 bars at the beginning of the verse (as Justin does). The result is the same.

[Kate_South]

I think I must have been too. Aha, a more mathematical mind than mine, for sure I am probably the one a bit off, I am terrible at timing, as I said.

@jjw

By the way, there is some arbitrariness to all this: You could think of the song as 84 bpm and the G chord at the beginning of the verse as 1 bar. Or you could think of the song as 168 bpm and the G chord covers 2 bars at the beginning of the verse (as Justin does). The result is the same.

ahhh! complicated! even the abbreviation ‘bpm’ in a sentence stops my mind from working properly

[jjw]

Yes, it is a bit mathy. Going back to your original question: No, knowing the bpm is not really important!

[Kate_South]

Thanks, that is a good thing…freedom!

[MAT1953]

BPM on this song has been raised before, see this topic.
Michael

Super fast chord changes needed for Country Roads?

I’ve set myself the challenge of playing through Country Roads verse and chorus, with a D-D-U-U-D strumming pattern on the chorus (so downstrums on the 1, 2 and 4). The song is at about 160BPM, so does that mean that, when a chord changes between bars, I need to fully make the chord change in the time between the final downstrum on beat 4 on the previous bar and the first downstrum on 1 with the new chord on the next bar? I can change chords on the ones I’ve practised for this song at a max of…

[stitch]

@jjw

You could also figure it out yourself (it’s a good exercise): put the song on and go to a bpm calculator website (e

Or you could use the free tempo calculator on Justin’s website. It’s in the Tools dropdown

[jjw]

Ah, good point, I didn’t realize Justin had one. Here’s the direct link:

Tap Tempo BPM Tool

[LilyKrem]

Awesome lesson, may I ask if anyone knows a lesson or tab that include the picking sections of the song?