Chords for John Cougar Mellencamp - Small Town - Guitar Lesson (THE ENTIRE SONG!)

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[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ [C#m] _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
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This is the guitar lesson [G#] for John Cougar Mellon Camp, Small Town, [C] the easy way and
the correct way.
First things first, make sure your guitar is in [E] standard E tuning.
_ _ _ Okay. _
_ Take your capo, [N] put it on the fourth fret like so.
This is how John does it.
I was watching some live footage and this is what he does at [B] the concert.
He plays the easy stuff on his guitar and then he has a lead guitar [A#] come in and play
the [D] same chords in a different part of the fretboard and then do the little, you know,
_ [G#] there's a couple little fills in there, but this will sound [G] like the original recording.
Okay.
And you can sing along with it, which will make it really fun.
So, all right, the song [E] goes like this.
This is the [Bm] chord progression that is the primary chord progression in the song.
Okay.
[B] It goes.
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ [F#] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[C#m] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
[C] All right.
It goes G, [F#] _ D, _
[B] C add nine.
_ All [F#] right.
Then back to D.
[B] So G, [F#] D, C add nine.
[B] D, G, [F#] _ _ _ [B] _ _ [F#] _ D, [B] C add nine.
_ Pause.
Then it [C#m] goes A minor.
_ _ [G#m] D.
[F#] _ _ All [B] right.
So, _ [F#] _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] _ [B] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] _ [B] _ all right.
And how you strum that is like this.
You go down, down, [F#] down, up, down.
And then we go to C [E] add nine.
Down, down, _ [F#] down.
_ [B] _ I'm going to [Bm] slow it down for you.
If I try to explain it, I'm going to confuse myself.
Okay.
So, [B] _
all [F#] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ [F#] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [B] _ _ _ right. _
And [E] so the primary chord [B] progression is just C, D, C add nine.
I'm sorry.
It's G, D, C add [F#] nine, D.
[Bm] And [A#] then you play that [C] through two or three times.
[C#m] And then you go A minor [F#] to D.
All right.
[Em] So, that's the primary part of the song.
Okay.
That's the verse, the intro, all that good stuff.
Now you've got the part, [G] but I cannot forget.
[A#] Where does that come [Em] from?
And this is how that goes.
Okay.
You go with C add [E] nine and you go.
[B] _ _ _
[E] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#] C.
_ _ [C#] _ [Em] So, it goes C add nine.
[F#] I'll just say C [G] because when I'm strumming this, it's [C] going to be hard to say C add nine.
C add nine.
[G] So, I'll go just C.
[E] So, I'll go C, [B] G, C, D, C, G, [F#] D, _ _ _ [B] C, G, _ C, G, C, G, [F#] D. _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ [F#] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ [F#] _ _
[E] Back [Em] to our normal chord progression.
Okay.
[G] So, really slow that strumming pattern for the, but I cannot forget.
[A#] Then where does that come [G] from?
Okay.
So, this is the strumming pattern.
All right.
Watch [E] very closely. _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [B] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
So, it's basically down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, [E] up, down, down,
up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up, [B] down, down, up, up, [F#] _ _ _ down, up, down, up. All right.
You can mess around with that.
And the nice [G] thing about when you're playing lead guitar is that you [F#] can mix that up.
You can have small little [G] variations of that.
You can stray away from what I'm showing you and it will sound [C] exactly like the original recording.
Okay.
Nobody will know the difference.
Okay.
_ [A] _ So, [C] the last part I want to show you is the, [B] it's kind of like the breakdown or like the
interlude of the song.
[D] Okay.
And it [G#m] goes. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ _ _ [B] All right.
So, it's [Em] basically the first time around through it.
So, the first line through it is E minor.
[G#m] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
G, C, G, _ _ [G#m] E minor, _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] G, C, G, E minor.
G, _ [F#] B, _ _ [G#m] E minor, _ _ _ _ _ [B] G, _ B, C, _ _ [F#] _ D, _ _ _ _ _ _ E.
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
[F#] _ [E] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ [B] _ _
[C] Back into our intro and verse.
The same thing that G, D, C and 9, D thing.
Okay.
So, that's basically it.
One other cool part of the song is you can kind of hear this.
There's an electric guitar in the background that kind of strums through the chords.
Okay.
And it [B] does this.
_ _ _ It goes. _ _
_ All right.
And all they're doing [C] is they're just basically strumming through the [B] chords.
When they do a G, they're taking their pinky off, but [F#] they're going.
_ [B] _ _ All right.
So, you can kind of do that if you've got a buddy that's playing along with you.
[C] Give him the lead guitar part and he can do that.
Okay.
[G#m] So, just E, [B] B, _ G, E and then I go right to E.
I skipped that A.
Okay.
_ _ [F#] And then you can do, you know, _ you know, when you're on the other chords too. _
[G] So, kind of a fun little thing I wanted to show [B] you.
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