Jolene (Dolly Parton) EASY Fingerstyle Guitar Tutorial & Practice Guide
Once you master just these 5 measures of fingerpicking, you’ll be able to play and sing the entire tune!
This easy guitar tutorial will teach you how to play Jolene, which is a 3 chord song on guitar, using Am, C and G.
We’ll break down an easy-to-learn fingerstyle pattern using the most common Travis picking technique.
How I would practice this song:
First, I would work out the chord changes and strumming. Just strum downstrokes and count… that’s it!
Jolene Chords
Practice this many times, over and over:
Be mindful of the timing, as there are 2 beats of some chords, and 4 beats of others. This may seem overly simple, but ensuring you are NAILING the chords is going to make a huge difference once we add the travis picking.
Watch the tutorial (above) and I’ll walk you through it all, as well as display some basic diagrams.
Jolene Fingerpicking Pattern
Next, I would practice the travis picking pattern by itself, on a G chord:
- T = Thumb
- I = Index
- M = Middle
For tips on finger placement, and for everything else on this page, watching the tutorial will guide you through this step-by-step.
Once you’ve nailed the travis picking on the G chord, try it on Am and C, and then try the whole thing!
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