All Along The Watchtower is a great song to practice your bar chords on. Many different artists have done versions of this song over the years. It's a pretty cool jam tune, so if you've got a friend who plays guitar as well (or bass), why not rope them into a jam session, and you can trade off on the rhythm and practice your improvising?
The chords for All Along The Watchtower basically go A - Bm - A - G, so the most challenging part is getting the rhythm right.
While you could play these chords in the open position, it actually makes a huge difference in the sound of the progression if you use bar chords. Notice that it doesn't quite sound right when you play them open?
Sometimes you really need to use a specific voicing of a chord, or it isn't going to sound quite right. That's a big reason why bar chords are so valuable to learn.
If you want to solo over this progression, I recommend using the B pentatonic minor scale pattern.
Are there any other guitar songs you've always wanted to learn? Leave a comment below and let me know which ones they are!
That was good and easy to follow and i would like to learn some Jimi hendrix and Albert King Bbking and thank for all you have bee doing.I have always wanted to ask if by any chance you have ever consider exporting Guitars
Juan
Hi Juan,
No, I’ve never really thought of importing / exporting guitars before, though if you’ve got something you’d like to bounce off me, I’m always interested in hearing ideas 🙂
Cheers,
Jonathan
You’re right – it’s pretty easy to learn. Hey, did you know that Jimi made it “his own song” so much that Dylan was actually quoted as saying that his version was better. The great live album made by Dylan and the Band in that era, “Rolling Thunder Review”, has him singing it and the arrangement is strikingly similar to Hendrix’ – I’ve heard that he continues to play it that way, on the rare occasion, instead of his folky original. (Maybe an homage to the original “guitar god”)?
hey johnathan whats up well i’ll tell you the one song i’ve been dieing to learn is crazy train by ozzy osbourn i love the style randy rhoads created and used consistently in his playing can you help me out id really like to learn that song. thanks beebopdave
Hey Jonathan,
Really like the way you break down the complicated into the basic “music theory”, making it much less like a foreign language; i.e. ionian, dorian, mixolydian, really does make it “greek to me” or latin as case may be, LOL.
Anyway, great tips and video for the Hendrix classic (Dylan gets honorable mention for penning it)and interesting side note – Hendrix never learned to read music, and self-proclaimed that he played solely by ear. Amazing when you think about it – he’s ranked in every guitar players top 3 or 5 and could just pick up a guitar, fretboard made instant sense and could just play.
For those of us who cannot do it like Jimi, I have to say Thanks man for the breakdown of the I, VI, V method!
Oh, and the tune I’d like to see how you advise playing it is; “Under the Bridge” by R.H.C.P.’s
Oops, Typo; not 1, 6, 5 but 1, 4, 5 (I, IV, V) patterns
This is what Riff Ninja uses for his jam track on the Riff Ninja “Guitar Improvising Secrets” DVD, worth the price for this alone. A good 3-4 minutes of jam track over which to practise your Bm solos. Lotsa other good stuff here as well.
beginners CAN play this chord progression for all along the watchtower in open position just by fingering an A minor chord with your 2nd finger 2nd string 1st fret,3rd finger 4th string 2nd fret,4th finger 3rd string 2nd fret then slide this A minor shape up 2 frets and add your 1st finger to the 1st string second fret .. play the 4th through 1st strings only..this is your B minor chord… sometimes its easier for beginners to use a chord shape they already know and move it up 2 frets …than to learn a “brand new chord”.. this in no way is supposed to take the place of learning the names and different ways of playin’ chords, but to augment the confidence of knowing that chord, and where to find it quickly as you begin to play guitar…at times, we all do things like this:)
Jimmy, Your links send me to this comment page and does not open the lesson??????? John
Hi John, we’re trying to get this fixed – it seems to be a problem
only when people are using an older version of Internet Explorer. Is
that what you’re using? I’d recommend updating, or else using a
different web browser, such as FireFox, Chrome, or Safari.