HOW TO PLAY Wagon Wheel Guitar Lesson - WITH AND WITHOUT CAPO

Hey, guitar enthusiasts, welcome back. In this lesson, we're going to be going over how to play Wagon Wheel on the guitar. Let's get into it.

So some of you might know that this song was originally made famous and written by Bob Dylan. It was later done by Old Crow Medicine show as well as Darius Rucker. A lot of people have done it over time because it's such a great song. So. So I'm going to be showing you two different ways to play this song. The first way is going to be more in the style of Dylan, so we won't need a capo. And then the next way is going to be more the modern way that Old Crow Medicine show did it. And we will be requiring a capo for that. But we'll talk about that when we get there. So let's talk about the chords because it really doesn't matter which version you're playing, whether you're sticking with the Dylan one or doing a modern one. The chord progression is going to be exactly the same. So if we took a look at these verses here, it's going to be G, D, E minor, C. And then it's G, D, C, C. So it uses my four simple chords. If you know the two fingered versions, you can use those or the full versions. Whatever works for you. But that's the chord progression and that's going to keep repeating over and over and over. Even when we get into the chorus. The chorus is the same. G, D, E minor C, gdcc And you can feel free to go to my website, laurenbateman.com and pull up the chord chart side by side so that you can follow along here. So let's talk about the strumming patterns. Now. I think the Dylan version uses a little bit easier of a strumming pattern. It doesn't sound like it's swung, it sounds like it's really on the beat. So this would be the first strumming pattern that I would use. And I'm going to play a G chord. Just to use this as an example would be 1, 2, 3 and 4. And down, down, down, up, down, up. So it's going to sound like this.

Okay, so you hear that 1, 2, 3 and 4 and down, down, down, up, down, up. That's going to be the simplest way to play it. Now when I listen to the Bob Dylan version, I also heard these cool bass patterns coming in. So what he's doing is with each chord, he's playing the lowest bass note and he's letting it ring out. What do I Mean, let me play through. I'm going to play the chord progression. G, D, E minor, C. And listen first, and then I'll explain what's happening here. So we go.

So you can hear over each of those chords, there's a bass note over the G, we're playing the G note. E minor, we're playing an E note. C, we're playing a C note. And the D, we're playing a D note. So on the G chord, it's the top string, okay? The E minor, it's also the top string of the chord. The C, it's the fifth string of the chord. And the D, it is the fourth string of the chord. Now, the strumming pattern staying the same, the timing is still 1, 2, 3, and 4. And what we're doing on that first beat, instead of a full down strum, we're just hitting a single note. Okay? So you're going to work on your picking for this. All right? So it's a single note, and then down, down, up, down, up. Now, when I'm doing those other downs, I'm trying not to hit that bass note. I'm trying to let it ring out. So we're not going.

Okay, I want that bass note to R.

So I'm probably just catching the bottom three or four strings on that G chord when I'm strumming. So this is what it's going to sound like if I do that chord progression. G, D, E minor, C, it's going to be.

Okay. G, d, c, c.

So if you go and you listen to the Bob Dylan version, you're going to hear both of these things coming in for the song. And then when he gets to the choruses, he just goes with the regular strumming pattern. The 1, 2, 3, and 4. And you will hear that. Hope you guys are enjoying this lesson so far. Real quick, if you haven't subscribed to my channel yet, make sure to do that and turn on the notification this way. YouTube will let you know when I release more videos just like this one. Okay, so that covers kind of the Dylan version of the tune. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to take my capo and I'm going to put it on the second fret of the guitar. And I'll do a little more demonstration on this one because I think this one is a little bit harder because of the timing of the strumming. While the Dylan version is really on the beat. The Old Crow Medicine show one kind of has a triplet Feel to it has kind of like a swing on the strumming pattern. So what's that mean? Let me play it first so you guys can hear it, and then I'll explain it. 2, 3, 4.

So you can hear the song is a little bit more of a sway, a little bit more of a swing to it. You feel like you can rock with it while you're playing. Mama Rock me, right?

How's that sway to it? So the strumming pattern I'm playing is down, down, up, up, down, up. All right. So ideally, if we were doing regular timing, that would be 1, 2, and, and 4 and. But because this is a swung rhythm, it has more of a triplet feel. So it's going to be like 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a 1 and a 2 and a 3and a 4 and a. So it's going to be 1 to a, a 4, a. That's what we're going to be strumming on. Down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up. So it's going to have these long and short feels to it. So let's just play that, because I know for some people, this. This triplet timing, this swung feel can be a little bit weird. So let's try just a little bit of that. The first half is going to be down, down, up. And then up, down.

Down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up.

Again.

Down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up.

Okay. Hopefully you get a little bit of a feel for it. If you're not getting it right away, don't worry. Just keep practicing with it. If you do it on a straight time.

It'll start. Still work. But it won't sound exactly like Old Crow Medicine show version. So once you guys get the feel of that, you can kind of introduce what we were doing. In the Bob Dylan version. If you really wanted those bass notes to ring out, you could use the same strumming pattern.

You can hear. I'm letting those bass notes ring out as opposed to just going.

Adds a cool little flavor to the song.

Especially when you're playing guitar by yourself and you don't have a bass player. Usually the bass player would hold that down for us. But when you're playing by yourself, you can add those bass notes back in even on this version to provide a little bit more interest to the song. So what I'm gonna do now is just do a little bit of a playthrough. I'm gonna do a verse and a chorus so that you guys can play along a little bit here with me. We'll be using the capo on the second fret for this version.

1, 2, 3, 4. Headed down south to the land of the pines Thumbing my way in the North Carolina Staring up the road Pray to God I see headlights.

I made.

It down the coast in 17 hours picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers But I'm hoping for I let see my baby tonight.

So rock me mama, like a wagon wheel Rock me mama, any way you feel hey.

Mama, rock.

Me.

Rock me mama like the wind and the rain Rock me mama, like a southbound train hey.

Mama, rock me.

Hope you guys enjoyed this lesson. Don't be afraid to leave a tip in the tip jar. If you did, YouTube's going to recommend a couple more videos over there. Go check those out. And if you're interested in my seven level guitar course, I'll put a link in the description below. I'll see you guys in another lesson video real soon.