'Jolene' Guitar Tutorial - Dolly Parton | Easy Fingerpicking + Strumming + Intro

Hey everyone! In this lesson we show you how to play "Jolene" by Dolly Parton. The chords are easy, but the fingerpicking is quite challenging, especially for the intro. It uses the travis picking technique and is played very fast but we do our best to make this lesson as simple and easy to follow as possible.

Throughout the lesson I mention some resources that'll help you with guitar.

My Fingerstyle course covers everything from beginner to intermediate (and even a bit of advanced) in a practical, song-learning sorta way:

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The chords are just Am, C and G. That's it! We show you some tips for switching through them seamlessly and practice playing them in order, nice and slow.

After that, we show you a simple fingerpicking pattern that you can use over the whole thing. On the original recording, the pattern changes ever-so-slightly at certain times. We've opted to keep it consistent and give you something to work off of as you improve your fingerstyle chops.

After that, we show you all a simple strumming pattern that you can substitute for the fingerpicking. This is for those of you who simply want to be able to play and sing the tune, and the pattern we've chosen uses the exact same rhythmic feel, so there's definitely no shame in simply strumming along!

At the very end of the tape, as a bonus, I show you how to play the intro exactly like it is on the recording. This part is a bit more difficult than the rest of the tune, so if you're looking for a challenge, here it is!

Enjoy playing along and workin' out those fingerpicking chops! See ya next week!

James

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[ColdSmokes]

Very few people understand the art of transferring knowledge. This gentleman does. A very nice tutorial.
👍

[MisterJingo]

Well I tried to learn fingerstyle songs for a year now, and this is the first lesson that made the "thumb as a metronome" concept somewhat feasible to me. And it´s so simple, once somebody teaches you properly! Thanks so much!

[paigeroth]

Thank you. Had been struggling with the intro and at about 9:35 or so you had explained the fingerpicking style and slow motion lesson was amazing.

[elizalindsay]

You are a great teacher! The only thing I was wondering if you could add everything all together at the end so I could play along with you! Other then that thanks so much for the tutorial!

[johnzaranek]

This was a request from my gf. I personally never heard it before. So thank you for helping me score some super easy brownie pts. 🤙

[deresolute]

Probably the first tutorial on YouTube where I came out not frustrated and with knowledge. Thank you, you truly know how to teach.

[jaysonenfeld]

Nice lesson mate. For me I'd love to hear the whole thing all the way through at the right speed. Really useful once you've got the hang of it.

[Karalyn]

This is a fantastic tutorial and I was able to learn the entire song and play it with a few days of practice. You explain and demonstrate very clearly and slowly, and the recommendation to practice the intro in four stages was super helpful. Thank you so much!

[clivebrook]

Yes! I have to wholeheartedly agree with previous comments! An excellent guitar teacher! A perfect tutorial for learning this beautiful song for both beginners and intermediate standard. I am looking forward to singing this to my daughter! It is her favourite song! Keep up the tutorials!

[cattycat]

Thank you so much for your clear easy to use lessons. Came at the right time when I was beginning to lose the will to play. Anne

[michaellismore]

Hi James. I absolutely love this tutorial and took over a year to be able to play it up to tempo.. lol but havent stopped. Finally got there and couldn't have done it without your help. Thank you so much

[Gigimorales]

Finally something I understand as a beginner at home!

[sierradelta]

This is a great lesson, but I'm more impressed by the way you throwback to the 90s with your tape reference 0:50 seconds in I just had to watch after that. Nice work.

[labonte]

The best Jolene lesson on YouTube. Thank you sir

[peterwatson]

Another first. Expertly planned lesson and delivered nicely. Thank you so much.

[renjs]

Thank you so much! I have to perform in front of my guitar class on Wednesday and the finger picking saved me cause I was doing something complicated before! This helped me!

[dishakalita]

This is seriously the best tutorial ever.. Your patience and skills add ease to it..!

[lovewalruss]

That’s a terrific lesson. Thanks very much. The intro was always a challenge for me but you broke it down brilliantly. Thanks so much!

[jayiow]

Great video tutorial ! Just started playing the guitar and slowly getting there ! Only pain is having to stop youtube and go back every time to learn one bit. But helping a lot thank you

[fritzruttimann]

Superb lesson James, and very well explained for a beginner like me. For both, the fingerpicking version as well as for the strumming version .