Lynyrd Skynyrd Sweet Home Alabama Acoustic Guitar Lesson

Hey, guitar enthusiast Lauren Bateman here. In this lesson video, we're going to be doing a little bit more of a late beginner to early intermediate version of Sweet Home Alabama with some cool picking and some cool strumming. So let's get into the lesson.

Now if you need the easy version of this lesson, if we're going through and you're finding it's too hard, I'll put a link up here to that easier version. But in this version we're going to be going over more of what the song kind of sounds like. So.

Okay, so we'll be doing a little bit more of the intricacies. We won't be doing all of the little licks in between because I think some of that stuff is a little bit easier to do on an electric. You can do it on the acoustic. But I'm kind of kind of doing in between of the full blown version and what we're going to do here. If you need the chord chart to follow along with the lyrics, go to laurenbatement.com I'll put a link in the description below. Now, in this song we're going to be using some variations of power chords and regular chords, but. But it's the same chord progression for pretty much the entire song. We've got D for half a measure, C for half a measure, and G for half a measure. So what we're going to be doing for this intro in this verse is we're going to start off with almost this DSUS chord. Okay? So just your first finger and your third finger. Okay. And the picking is going to be the open string on the D string. So you're just going to do two open D strings, bom, bom. And then you're going to do string two followed by string three.

Okay? Bump, bump, two, three.

One more time. Okay. So that's kind of going to be the foundation for a lot of what we're doing here. So that's our first chord, the D. The next chord is going to be more like a C add nine. Now I just use my second finger because we're picking. I don't really play this fourth string, so I don't put the finger down. You can out of habit if you do. But you'll probably see me just using this first finger. The third finger is not going to move at all for this next chord. Now what we're going to do is we're going to kind of pulse with our second finger here. So the first chord we went bump, bump, right? The next chord we're going to go open.

And then hear that? So it's open, put the finger down. Open, put the finger down. Okay, so it's. And then we're gonna do the same thing on the end. Two, three. Okay, so we've got so far D.

C.

And then we're gonna do the same thing on this G chord. We're just gonna move this second finger up one pulse again, open third fret. Open third fret, two, three. So the G chord sounds like this.

Okay, so let me play through that again from the beginning. So we have the D chord.

Okay. To the C chord.

And then to the G chord.

And then the G chord. Since that's a full measure, we're just going to play that bass note again.

And then strum the chord. Okay. So all together we've got a half a measure of D.

Half a measure of C.

And then a full measure of G.

Okay, so that's how we're going to do our intros in our verses. So if I play it a little bit faster at full speed, it sounds like this.

So that's what we're going to do for our intro and for our verses. I know there's all these little, you know, there's all these other little hammer ons and stuff. We're not going to do those. We're just going to do the strumming for the intros and verses. But for the next section of the song, I'm going to show you a really cool little interlude and some licks that we're going to play over that. Hey, guys, hope you're enjoying this lesson so far. If you haven't subscribed to my channel, make sure to subscribe, turn those notifications on because YouTube will let you know when I release more lessons just like this one. So the interlude is. It's pretty much the same chord progression, but what we're going to be doing is playing some different licks. They're going to sound like this.

Okay. And then you're going to do that twice.

Okay. That's probably more full speed, what it would sound like. So let's go over what we're doing. This is why this is a little bit more intermediate because there's some hammer ons and stuff that we're going to be doing here. So a lot of this takes place on the A string of the guitar. And we're going to be starting on the seventh fret of the A string and we're going to be doing a double hammer. So we're going to do one Pick motion with our picking hand and then two hammers with our fretting hand. So we're starting with the first finger on the seventh fret of that A string. And then we're going to hammer to the eighth, hammer to the ninth. So it's going to sound like this.

Hear that?

So that's the first part.

Double hammer. Then what we're going to do is I would flatten the first finger. So you're going to bar the seventh fret on the two middle strings, the D string and the G string. And you're going to play like a little double stop. So both strings at the same time at the seventh fret. Okay, so so far we've got.

Okay, so then we're going to come back up to the ninth fret up here on that A string.

Okay, so.

So we're hitting that double stop twice.

Okay, that's the first one. And I'll. I'll go in for close ups after I do the explanations. I'll put some close ups down here, but I will go up for an extreme close up too. So.

Okay, that is our first lick. So if you need to go back, practice that, pause the video, do that, and then you can move on to the next one. So our next one is very similar except we have a single hammer, not a double hammer. So we're going to the fifth fret now on the A string. Five, hammer to seven.

And we're doing the same thing with the double stops flat. That first finger. You're going to play the fifth string on both the D string and the G string. So we got.

Okay, so so far we've got.

And then back up to the seventh fret on the A string.

Okay, one more time.

So the first lick.

Second lick.

And then the final lick, we're starting with an open A string, first fret, second fret. So it's going to kind of be more like how that first lick started. Double hammer, open A string. One, two. And then I think we're getting the open. Yeah, open G string. And then the G note on the top string, which is the third fret on that top string. So again, that one is open a first fret, second fret. So the double hammer, then open G string and then the G note on that top string. So all together it's going to be.

Okay. Hear that? And then you play it again.

There you go. So that is our interlude part. So again, a little more full speed would be.

Okay. And then you play it again. But.

So there you go. That is how we're going to play these cool little interludes. And after this interlude, we go back into the verses. So you would go right back into.

Okay, right after that you go right back into that section. But before I get into the chorus and what we're going to be doing on the chorus with the power chords, let me first go in for a close up just to show you these licks real quick, if you need the close up. Okay, so here we are for the first lick again. Seven, eight, nine. Just so you can see that hammer flat. The first finger getting these middle two strings. Okay?

And then this third finger comes back up to the seventh. The ninth fret. Sorry, on the A string. Second lick, one hammer.

Okay, same thing. Third finger back up to the seventh fret on that A string. And then the final one, we start on open a double hammer, open G string, and then the third fret on the top string. So all together we have first one.

Second.

And then the last one.

Hey, guys, if you're enjoying this video, make sure to give me a thumbs up or leave a comment below. Let me know you're enjoying the lesson. So the chorus, we're going to be switching over to some power chords and doing like a little bit of like a throwback to a blues lick here. Essentially, it's the same chord progression, just D, C and G. We're just using different shapes of chords. We're using power chords. So. So the D chord would be the fifth fret on the A string and the seventh fret on the D string. Okay. So that's our D. And it's going to be. Okay, we're going to play that twice and then we're going to reach our pinky. This is a very common blues thing.

Okay. We're going to reach that pinky to the seventh fret again. This is why. This is a little more intermediate. You have to have a five fret stretch here. Okay. And I have small hands, so do the best you can. All right, so it's going to be.

Okay. So I think it's. I think it's 1 and 2e. 1 and 2e. Okay.

That's what I think the count is. And then if you want to do like a little mute in between on the.

Okay. Before. I usually do that when I hop to the next. The next chord. You don't have to. I think it sounds better when I play through the whole thing. You'll hear it. And then we're going to do the same thing on the C chord. So the D chord is bump, bump. Bump, bum. And then the C chord.

Okay. And then the G chord. The timing is a little bit different. It's really on the. And 1 and 2 and. So 1 and 2 e and a 3 and 4 e and a 1 and 2 and. Okay. And you could do that twice because that's a full measure.

Or you could just hold it. I'd probably just hold it out. I'm trying to think of how I would play it. So that chorus, this is what it will sound like and I'll go through it again. But I just want to hear. Want you to hear. So just listen. Don't worry about playing right now. So we've got. Ready, one, two, three, four. One and two E and a three and one E and a one and two and three, four. And one and two E and a three and four E and a one and two and. All right. And you'll probably hear I'm pulsing the rhythms. I'm not letting the chords ring. I'm playing the chord and then I'm releasing it. So it gives it a really pulsing feel if you're wondering how I'm getting that sound. So this is what it's going to sound like. A little bit more up to speed.

Okay. And can you hear. Hear those little ghost notes I'm throwing in on that? Uh.

So but when you play it really fast, it doesn't stick out as much.

So 1 and 2e and a 3 and 4e and a 3 and 2 and. All right, so that's kind of the timing of it.

I dropped my pick, guys. So I'm gonna leave in me dropping my pick. Because everyone drops their pick. See, even after playing guitar for 20 something years, I still drop my pick on the floor. All right, so let's do that again full speed. Ready?

So there's one more section to this song that I want to talk about before. But before we do that, I just want to do a little playthrough for you guys so that you can hear what it sounds like. So I'm going to go through a verse, an interlude, a verse, and then a chorus so that you can hear the whole thing and what it's possibly going to sound like. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Back to verse.

I think there's one more.

Now here's chorus.

Okay. And then back to. Actually, I think the next part is. Is the solo, but you can just do the picking that part. There's a couple little short solos in this song. So after you go through that chorus, you've got your solo and then this next verse. Something different happens in this next verse and I just want to point it out. It only happens one time in the song, but you've basically learned almost every single section of the song so far. So. Final verse, here we go. It starts the same. Okay, we've got.

But we only play that G1 once. Okay. Cuz something different's going to happen here. So we've got the same thing.

Then the C.

The G.

And then we go F C. This only happens for this particular verse. Why they did it, I don't know. But it sounds cool. It's really cool. So it sounds like this.

And then you go right back into the regular picnic pattern. So one more time it's the g.

And then 3,4 on that f C.

And then right back into the regular regular picking pattern after that Again. Really hope you guys enjoyed this lesson. Leave me a comment below and say hello and hopefully this was really helpful for you guys. YouTube is going to pop up a couple more videos over here. You can go check those out or stick with this one and go back, rewind, practice some of those licks. And if you want the printout of these licks, I'll put them on my Patreon page. If you guys want to go and be a Patreon supporter, I'll put it there for you guys. So go check that out. Have a good one.