Classical Gas Guitar Lesson - Mason Williams - Part One

Well after quite a few requests I have decided to produce these free video lessons for the classic instrumental "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams.

Originally released in 1968, this instrumental shot to the top of the charts (wouldn't it be wonderful if that could still happen today? :) ) because of the catchy and dramatic nylon string finger-style guitar work of Mason Williams.

Although there many cover versions of "Classical Gas", this Classical Gas guitar lesson will focus on the original 1968 recording.

For those of you interested in improving your finger-style guitar technique, this Classical Gas guitar lesson series will give you ample opportunity to do so.

I suggest taking the tune section by section since each one pretty much has a new unique challenge for you. To play it correctly you need to play at a pretty fast tempo, but don't try and accomplish that from the beginning. Take it slow and let your hands develop accurate muscle memory of the entire section before moving to a faster tempo.

Also within the lessons I do point out what I feel are the most challenging parts of the song to play. I suggest turning those few parts into a repeated technique exercise for the best practice results.

I am teaching the entire song on a nylon string guitar like Mason Williams played, but if you don't have one don't worry about it. It sounds great on any style of acoustic guitar. :)

Have Fun! Carl..

Please support all the time, money, effort, blood, sweat and tears it requires to bring you all of these free video lessons by supporting the site as a Premium subscriber or by making a donation. Your support will help keep GuitarLessons365 the best resource of it's kind on the internet. Thanks! Carl..

[johnbiard]

One can easily find tons of people covering this song, and plenty of interpretations of it. There are even quite a few (supposed) tutorials. But your detailed, step-by-step instruction, showing EVERY SINGLE fingering change is just fantastic. So many other tutorials just gloss over the right hand, as if we already knew how to do that part. As a beginner-to-intermediate guitar student, this was a perfect lesson. By putting your teaching alongside bits and pieces of other tablatures, I finally have this down. I still play it quite a lot slower than it is supposed to be played, but it is getting better and better. Finally, the whole song makes sense to me. Thanks a million!

[olibhearmacguidhir]

Hello Carl, I’d like to say a big thank you for your tutorial videos on how to play fingerstyle Classical Gas. After 25 years of picking up a guitar, playing a bit and then putting it down again in frustration, I’ve finally learned how to play one complete piece of music, from start to finish. It has taken me almost a year to learn, but your patient break down of each piece and finger by finger instruction made it all possible. I cannot thank you enough. I had spent hours and more searching U-tube before I finally found someone who could teach a beginner of sorts like me how to play a piece of music I love. Gratefully yours Oliver

[pamagee]

I’ve played a half-assed version of this since I was 16 years old. Now I am determined to learn it correctly, thanks to the great effort it took for you to work out every last note. Very grateful

[mattray]

Is there anything Carl Brown can't teach. No. I love this dude. As a teacher myself I used to figure out a lot of songs. Now I cheat and look for a Carl Brown video, lol. He's usually pretty darn accurate. Thanks Carl. Your ethic is appreciated.

[tuesdaysgone]

hey man you were great in American Pie

[LucidNyte]

Thank you so much. I've been playing this song for over a year now thanks to your lessons, and I've progressed tremendously thanks to learning this song.
You've done so much for me and I'll never forget your help and guidance that changed how I play the guitar. You really are an amazing person

[mcguitarable]

Your amazing, I’ve been playing in bands for years, whenever I’m trying to make sure I’m playing a song the right way, I look to see if you did a video on it. Or when learning a new song. You are truly amazing. Thanks for all you do.

[ppolidori]

Learning this to honor my father's love of music. Thank you so much for taking the time to go through this and film it. The three different views are super helpful. Just found you, we will see where I am in a couple of months.

[sirenpheonix]

I could cry right now! I never thought I'd be able to play this song!! Thank you soo much!

[simonthomas_music]

Great lesson, thanks so much for going to all this trouble. The different camera angles etc. Very professional!

[matheusneri]

best lesson i've seen in 5 years of guitar! well done and thank you!

[lyncunningham]

thank you. wanted to learn this when I was a kid. Now i'm in my 60s - I'm going for it.

[miikkeesshh]

found this song because roger played it on american dad. And now my favorite guitar teacher on YT actually teaches it... SPLENDID !

[drewmerklinghaus]

Carl, thanks.
I played as a kid but then didn’t touch a guitar for decades.
Your lessons are brilliant. (Breaking it down, communicating, and camera angles).
Classical gas is a huge challenge for me. With your help I hope to accomplish learning this timeless classic.

[junkbot.]

ever since i was a youngin i wanted to learn this song. now its time

[matttdrum]

Thank you again for this . Thanks for your calm patience, and for all the details clearly explained. I finally began working on this yesterday. I am now just past the 4 minute mark on this video. Goal : learn the song by the end of Summer. Peace

[petercrawford]

Carl, I found your lesson really helpful.
I've been fiddling about for years trying to learn this one, but your lessons finally helped me to get it all together.
It needs loads of practice to be fluent, but I'm slowly getting there, thanks to your lessons.

[LucidNyte]

This tutorial was the bridge I needed to get better at fingerstyle when I was first starting out on the guitar. Thank you so much, you have no idea how much help these videos were to me. I'll be forever thankful towards you because of this. This may seem like an exaggeration, but it really isn't.

[just.for.the.downshifts]

Best guitar teacher on the Internet. Bar none.

[danhobson]

Great tutorial. Many thanks for sharing. Took me about three weeks to learn it - and about three months to master it. Absolutely love playing this one. Thanks again!