Tracy Chapman – Debut by Piano Piano!, licensed under (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Welcome to the Guitar Domination Fingerpicking Classics Series. The first song in this series of 10 songs is the fabulous song ‘Fast Car’ by Tracy Chapman.
If you want to download two free eBooks (in both pdf and Kindle formats) head HERE.
It’s a song close to my heart and I remember hearing it as a kid and really loving it back then. Since teaching guitar, ‘Fast Car’ has made its way to the top of my list as the first fingerpicking song that I teach most of my private students – if they like it of course!
Most students not only like it but love it! I hope you enjoy playing this song as much as I and my other students do.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel to learn lots more easy fingerpicking songs!
Fast Car Guitar Chords
Fast Car is played using a capo on the 2nd fret and uses just 4 chords throughout the song. They are C, G, Em, D.
You may not recognise the shapes of Em and D in the fingerpicking section of the song as they are played higher up the fretboard. This is where it pays to learn the common Major and minor chords all over the fretboard so you can recognise them whenever a song such as this uses those chords.
Start off slow and build up the speed especially if you need quicker chord changes as this may hamper your playing with this song.
Fast Car Tab
Capo fret 2
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|x2 B|--0h1--0---3--3-----------8---8-----7---7----------------------------------| G|--0---------------0-----------------------0--------------------------------| D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| A|--3-----------------------7---------5--------------------------------------| E|-----------3---------------------------------------------------------------| e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| B|--0h1--0---3--3-----------8------10--8----7-----8----7---------------------| G|--0---------------0--------------------------------------------------------| D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| A|--3-----------------------7---------------5--------------------------------| E|-----------3---------------------------------------------------------------|
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| B|--0h1--0---3--3-----------8---8-----7---7----------------------------------| G|--0---------------0-----------------------0--------------------------------| D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| A|--3-----------------------7---------5--------------------------------------| E|-----------3---------------------------------------------------------------|
Fast Car Strumming Pattern
The strum pattern in the chorus is a fairly simple strum and one I call ‘The Ultimate Strum Pattern’. If you want more help with this strum pattern and other strum patterns, click here.
Join the course ‘Fingerpicking Classics: Learn The Most Stunning Songs On Fingerstyle Guitar’ to learn more classic songs.
Learning the finger picking patterns would be easier with tab added. Or even musical notation.
Hey Phil, Thanks for the comment. This is something I have been meaning to do for a while. I have added the tab for this video and will do the rest soon. Cheers!
Great video and nice to have the tabs added. Learned the song in no time.
I do prefer using the actual (regular) D-chord.
It makes switching to the C-chord easier in my opinion. Both ways work fine however!
you’re a legend mate, thanks for the video. first decent fingerpick song i have learnt
No problem, mate. Glad you enjoyed!
Great video, very easy to follow and your experience in teaching definitely came through. I look forward to watching and learning from your other videos. Again thank you
Thanks for the compliments and I`m delighted you found it so useful! 🙂
Thank You HEAPS.
I found your tutorial style works for me better than anyone else so far.
Its simple, basic and steady flow was encouraging and effective.
“More we want more”
Thanks Darren, that`s great to hear. Good luck on your guitar playing journey – glad to be part of it! 🙂