Lesson video by Lauren Bateman teaching how to play 'Hound Dog' on acoustic guitar. The arrangement uses only three chords (C, G, F) with an easy Fmaj7 alternative for beginners. The chord progression follows a 12-bar blues pattern (4C, 2F, 2C, G, F, 2C). Bateman demonstrates three strumming options from simplest (four down-strums) to eighth-note down-up, to a shuffle/triplet feel with accents on beats 2 and 4; she also advises a single held strum on the final C of verse endings and offers chord charts and play-along links.
Chapters
Hey, guitar enthusiasts, welcome back. Lauren Bateman. Here in this lesson video, we're going to be going over an Elvis Presley classic called Hound Dog. Let's get into the lesson video.
So this song uses only three chords. A C chord, a G chord and an F chord. Now if you're a beginner player and you don't know bar chords yet, don't worry, I have an easy fix for that F chord and it's relatively easy to get into for from the C chord. So all you have to do to get to the easy F chord is move the first, the top two fingers down, one string each. We have an F major seven chord. Okay? So if you know a C chord, move your second finger down one, your third finger down one, that is an F major seven. It will work well enough for this song, especially if you're a beginner player. Now if you want to pop over to my website, I do have the chord chart and the lyrics here over, over there. You can pull that up and follow along with me here. I'll put a link in the description below. So let's go over three different types of strumming patterns that you can use for this song. Starting with the easiest and working our way to the hardest. So the first one that I tell most beginners to do is just play four down strums. Okay? So we're going to do four down strums per chord. So the chord progression for this song is actually a 12 bar blues, believe it or not. So the chord progression and it just repeats over and over again is going to be 4C chords, 2F chords, 2C chords, a G chord, an F chord and 2C chords. And we're going to do some different things strumming wise on the ends of these. But that's going to be our chord progression. Once you go through those 12 chords, 12 bar blues, we come right back to the beginning and we start again. So we're starting on a C chord. So if you were just going to do that rhythm, it would be four down strums per chord. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, four, 1, 2.
Then you get to the F chord and you would just do the same thing, switch to your F chord. Or if you're playing the F major, 7, 1, 2, 3, 4, and then back to C. So you just do four down strums, four beats per chord. Okay? So that's the easiest way to do it if you're just starting out. The next way would be to throw some eighth notes into the mix so you could Just do a straight up 8th note pattern. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4and 1 and 2. So it's just a down up, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, counting all the time. Right. You ain't nothing but a and up.
So that works just fine. Eighth note strumming, if you're capable of throwing in some up strums, I would give that a try. So basically each chord you're gonna go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And it's still four beats. We just have eighth notes. So there's eight strums within that same bar. So the simplest 1, 2, 3, 4. The next one if you choose to do this option, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And then the third option is usually how I play the song. So let me show you that third strumming pattern. So because this is based off of like a 12 bar blues progression, I would usually play this more as like a shuffle pattern. So when we start with that C chord, instead of going 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and very straight on the bar, the up, we're actually playing what we call triplets. One and a two and a three and a four and A. So the up is going to be on that. A one, a two, a three, a four, a one, a two, a 3, a 4.
Hear a difference. So here's the eighth note.
Still works, but a hound out right.
Here it is with the shuffle.
Sounds a little bit more like the song. I'm also accenting. If you guys can hear it, the two and the four beats. One a two, a three, a four, a one, a two, a three, a 4, a 1, a 2, a 3, a 4, a 1.
So that's what we're doing for strumming patterns. So pick whichever one you feel most comfortable with. If you're an absolute beginner, start with the simple ones and work your way up. Now we're going to do a little bit of a different strumming thing on the end of these verses. So when we get to well, you ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine. You go ain't never.
2, 3, 4. I would just strum once on that last C so that the chord progression at the end, end of these verses is G, F and double C. That second C, I would just strum once and hold. So even if you were just doing the four down strums, one two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One million two, three, four. One thousand two, three. And then you get into the. The next verse. Well, they said you were high class. All right, so that's how you would. You would play through that. If you guys want want to do a full playthrough with me, I am bringing back my Play along series, so I'll put a link up here. Once that video is available, you can go and play through the entire song with me beginning to end and practice playing with the song. But I will do a quick run through here without me singing. 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4.
2, 3, 4.
And that's how you would get into the next verse. Make sure to give me a thumbs up so YouTube shows more of my videos to viewers just like you. YouTube's gonna pop up a couple more videos over here. Make sure to go check those out and don't forget to leave a comment below and say hello. Have a great day, everyone, and I'll see you in another lesson video.
