Sweet Home Alabama

Anyone who can play guitar has, at some time, either learnt this classic Lynrd Skynyrd song with all it’s solos or, at the very least, it famous intro. It was a big hit in 1974 and in 2004 it was listed in Rolling Stone’s list “The 500 Greatest songs of Al Time”
This song is not without its controversy. One of the verses is seen as an attack on Neil Young as he had penned songs such as Southern Man and Alabama which implied that people in the Southern US were racist and stuck in the past. Skynyrd responded with this, a song about Southern pride and all the good things in Alabama. The “feud” between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young was, however, always good natured – they were in fact big fans of each other. Ronnie Van Zant often wore Neil Young T-shirts on stage and is wearing one on the cover of Street Survivors, the last Skynyrd album before his death.
The famous 3 chord intro of D to Csus2 to G (played on a Fender Stratocaster) is a recurrent theme through the whole song. It is not too difficult to play, although the hammer ons and pull offs need some practicing so that there is a fluidity to it. It’s also a good practice exercise as you are able to mix chords with riffs.
It’s also one of those songs that will provide you with a challenge because, once you have learnt the intro riff and chords, you will want to master the whole song. Be patient in your endeavours but just go for it.

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Each Riff Includes Step By Step Videos, Tabs and Backing Tracks

Learn to play this Riff and Jam with our included backing tracks. And all the teaching and Jam session videos can either be viewed online, or downloaded to your PC.

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Tags: Andy Partridge, BandJammer, Guitar Riffs, Learn Guitar, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama