Hey, how’s it going this is Darrin Goodman with Guitar Control, I want to show you how to play “This Cowboys Hat” from Chris LeDoux. This is a really good song for finger picking; if you’re starting out with finger picking it does have some bar chords and stuff in it. So those aren’t always easy if you know if you’re a beginner to guitar this is just a great piece for getting into finger picking.
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Click on the Tabs button to follow the chords and tabs.
The very first thing is let’s just go over your right hand or you’re picking hand. To start with we have a B minor barre chord, we’re barring all the way across the 2nd fret of the first five strings with your first finger then the 3rd fret of the 2nd string with your second finger, the 4th fret of the 4th string with your third finger and the 4th fret of the 3rd string with your 4th finger.
Will be playing the 5th string with our thumb and goes 5, 4, 3, 2. One other thing, I forgot to mention in this first measure you’re going to do this B minor but you’re actually raise your second finger up for a second. It would actually B suspended 2, but keep that finger close because we’re going to put it back. So we go 5, 4, 3, 2, and then put that finger on and pick the string again, so thumb first, second, third finger on 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 1st.
That’s the entire first major except the very last note the end of four. These are all 8th notes 2, 3, and 4, and for that we’re going to our third finger reach down and grab that 1st string then go into the second measure. You’re going to raise your first finger up, so that you can get that 1st string open, then it’s going to be strings 1, 2, 3.
The first major is tied into that; you have a little bit of continuity starting from the first measure, second measure. That’s the first half of the second measure, then you’re going to play the 2nd string with your third finger and then you’re going to take that finger back to your second finger off to go back to the suspended chord again, then follow that with three strings three, and four, so that’s the whole second measure.
The whole intro both measures and is repeated twice, by the way you’d play that riff a total of twice and from there we go into the verse, where the vocal starts. From there we begin on the B minor chord and as far as the picking goes and a much more straightforward, we’re playing the 5th string with our thumb, the 4th string, your first finger, the 3rd string with your second finger, the 2nd string with your third finger, so it’s a simple P-I-M-A pattern.
Then we switch to an over C sharp, for this particular you’re going to want to play it by barring your first finger (not playing). This is a general rule I play with, I always play by barring my first finger and I find it much easier to make transitions and stuff. So we got that regular A, but we’re going to change the base note to C-sharp, we’re going to pick up the 4th fret of the 5th string with our third finger and same pattern same strings. P-I-M-A pattern on strings 5, 4, 3, and 2, so that whole first measure then starting on the second measure is just so simple, just remove your third finger and do the same pattern and then back to a B minor, but we’re going to take our second finger off. It’s like the B suspended 2, we’re going to pick the 5th and 4th string with our four or with our thumb and first finger and then we’re going to get the 2nd string with our third finger and then hammer-on that back to the 3rd fret with your second finger to make the B suspended 2 and B minor the whole second measure.
That’s the first two measures of the verse is repeated. So you play that whole sequence twice, then going on to the third measure of the verse which is actually a major number five on the transcription. We’re back at B minor and the same thing strings 5, 4, 3, 2, P-I-M-A, into a D chord. So we’re going to move our P-I-M-A but instead of strings 5, 4, 3, 2, it’s 4, 3, 2, and 1.
We just simply take your right hand and shift up that measure. Now we have a kind of a strange cord here too, we’re going to transition from the D you’re going to move your index finger, your first finger from the 3rd string to the fourth string so it stays on the second fret, then we pick up the 4th fret of the 3rd string with your third finger, the 5th fret of the 2nd string with your fourth finger and your 1st string. You’re actually want to barre that across the 1st three strings same strings, and picking it with our thumb starting on four. So 4, 3, 2, 1, so we P-I-M-A and then we’re going to take our second finger and place it on the 3rd fret of the 1st string and take it back off and pick that string again followed by that second and third, so that’s the whole measure.
From there back to the B minor we P-I-M-A string 5, 4, 3, and 2. Now to an F sharp minor barre chord, so we’re going to take our first finger barring and we’re going to move it up picking up the 6th string as well and then the 4th fret of the 5th string with your third finger, the 4th fret of the 4th string with your fourth finger. Now when you see on the transcription I actually don’t even play the 5th string so you don’t necessarily have to put your finger there but if you already know the barre chord for F sharp minor it’s much easier, just grab that cord even though you’re not playing that note then try to train your hand to grab another shape.
If you don’t know this barre chord I suggest that you just played the barre chord because it will just make things easier for you in the long run. Back to the B minor; go to F sharp minor, our first, third, our first, second, and third fingers, continue to stay on the 4th string but on 4th strings 4, 3, and 2, our bass note goes from the 5th string to the 6th string except if I changed the chords.
This is Major number seven; we’re starting on the B minor P-I-M-A strings 5, 4, 3, and 2. We switched to F sharp minor and we switch our bass note to the 6th string but our other fingers stay on strings 4, 3, and 2. So B minor, F sharp minor, and then back to B minor, now on the original song at this point that’s where it picks up.
That’s where it goes into the chorus, but we’re not going to get into that because this is all about the finger-picking part. So that whole verse start on B minor A over C sharp, a B minor with the hammer chord, and you do that whole sequence twice. B minor, D, then that weird suspended two chord B minor F sharp minor, back to the B minor to make it to make it resolved.
I hope you enjoyed that and you got something out of it, if you liked this video be sure to subscribe on our You Tube Channel and we’ll see you in our next video lessons, thanks for watching.
