How to Play Georgia On A Fast Train, Shaver – Rhythm Part & Guitar Solos

January 27, 2021May 29, 2021 Dan

Man, oh man…learning how to play Georgia On A Fast Train is SO rewarding! Eddy Shaver is a fantastic guitar player and combined with his father Billy Joe Shaver’s songwriting and lyrics, it makes for some explosive country music. You will be a better guitar player after you learn these guitar solos!

Today’s post will cover the main licks and solos. Check out our YouTube lesson below where we demonstrate these licks and break them down into bite-size pieces.

Plus we’ll review the strumming pattern for the verses and choruses. Note, the video lesson only covers the basic rhythm so you can get through the song. If you want to go above and beyond and learn every little lick that Eddy Shaver plays, I have a full tablature available for purchase through Sheet Music Plus here! https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/21958300?aff_id=721405.

Gear Corner!

Today’s lesson is based on the live performance by Shaver at Farm Aid. I’ll embed the video at the end of this paragraph so you can watch it for reference. Eddy is using an old beat up Fender Stratocaster (awesome). I’ve heard a rumor that he received this guitar from Dickey Betts, and Eddy’s strat has that rare punchy Strat tone! I love how that guitar sounds! I find every Stratocaster has a personality of it’s own, and there are only a handful of Strats that really get me excited. Eddy’s strat is doing for me. =)

I also think Eddie was a fan of Mesa Boogie amplifiers. These sounds really good and get a fantastic crunch tone. I am used to seeing these amps more in rock music (and let’s be honest, Eddy’s playing is pretty rock n roll), but Eddy makes it work really well for country music. It’s dirty, biting, and really sparkles paired with his Stratocaster.

Nashville Numbers

This song is extremely simple so today’s coverage of the Nashville numbers will be brief. The song is in the key of A and follows a I-IV-V (1-4-5) progression. I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say it again. 1-4-5 chord progressions are essential for every musician who plays jazz, country, rock n roll, or pop music. If you can play the 1-4-5 chord progression in any key, you will be a desirable guitarist. You will find this progression in thousands upon thousands of songs, so commit it to memory. Write it on the chalkboard 50 times. Do whatever it takes to memorize this.

So, what are the 4 and 5 chords in the key of A? You just play an A major scale and assign a number to each chord. The first note of the A major scale is A (1), then a B (2), C (3), D (4), E (5), and we can stop here. Looking at the 4th & 5th notes, we have a D and an E chord. Bam!

Now let’s move onto the fun part of learning how to play Georgia On A Fast Train…

The Licks and Solos!

The Intro Riff

When learning how to play Georgia On A Fast Train, you’re going to want to kick the song off right. The only way to do that is to play some train whistle sounding licks that can also double as imitation pedal steel licks. Check out the first part of the intro below.

Then, you’re going to play a classic country double stop riff at the 5th fret and 7th fret on your B and e strings. These appear in a lot of rocking country songs, so this is another lick that is worth remembering for other country tunes. If you write country songs and want a cool sounding rhythm electric guitar, you can steal this lick!

Then we drop down to the open chord positions. In this song, Eddy Shaver shapes the chords and form his licks around these chord shapes. Take note of how he plays these licks because he will use some of these notes as filler between the lines of the verse and choruses! As you finish the last riff on that low E string where you slide from the 3rd fret to the 4th fret, you’re going to hit the A chord and start singing, “On the day that I was born,” etc.

The First Solo

This is a neat solo because Eddy uses the note from one string and pairs it with an open string of the same note to get fast and in your face rockabilly guitar. He is sliding a lot from the 3rd fret to the 5th fret on one string, and then playing the higher open string pair. It’s super-fast but very manageable for intermediate players. Let’s check out the first couple of parts of this solo here. Note, the solo officially starts with the A chord in the second measure/bar below.

The Final Solo

Take a deep breath and relax before you learn how to play Georgia On A Fast Train’s most involved solo. It’s kind of a doozy, but after learning these licks, you will have taken your first step toward becoming a monster country guitar player. And you’ll be an all-around better musician.

The first lick is a long slow bend on your B string. It sets up a blistering lick where you slide down into the A and D chord positions on the 5th fret. Then you ultimatelty end up in the open chord positions again. This lick will take some muscle memory, so be patient with yourself. To give you an idea, it took me a day or two to memorize these licks, and then another 4-5 days of playing the lick slowly, and steadily increasing the speed of my metronome until I was rippin’ and pickin’ like a Nashville chicken!

At bar #174 in this tablature, the next guitar lick begins. This lick starts with the slide from your 11th fret up to the 12th fret and is a classic country sound. It makes me think of chicken making little clucks as they strut around a yard, and I guess that’s part of the reason why they call it chicken picken. To end the lick, you’ll play some fast bends that take some coordination between your right and left hand to get to sound correct. Again, be patient with these licks! Starting from bar 174 above, continue on to the tabs below!

Take a Breath, This Solo is Hard! Remember to Breath!

We’re going to stop again, this time at measure/bar 195 as your finishing that bendy lick on the 13th fret. This next lick starting on bar 196 is my absolute favorite. I love the slide up, and the picken from the top all the way down! It’s so friggin awesome when your fingers start snapping the strings and making your guitar sing! At bar 196 start your slide up lick, and then continue below for some more modern country licks.

You’ll notice that your next lick has you jumping up to the 9th & 8th fret of your respective G and B strings. This is a cool blues riff, and the solo takes a bit of a turn away from country here. This starts at bar 208, and the song continues on with some Chuck Berry style licks, before he goes back to that bluesy lick at the 9th/8th fret on teh G/B strings to end the solo. Check it out!

The Outro!

This lick should be easy at this point because you’ve played all of these notes already at one point or another. This combines some of the cool country style licks up the neck, with a Johnny B Goode bluesy style bend in the A chord position, and ends with a train whistle sound that imitates a pedal steel. This is cool stuff for any guitar player to know! Check out the tab below!

That’s IT!

YEEHAW! You know how to play Georgia On A Fast Train!! I hope these country licks made you a better guitar player! You’ll definitely turn some heads at Guitar Center (especially those guys playing Stairway)!

Remember, if you would like to support this webpage, please become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/smellytele! A perk of being a patron? I will make a video lesson specifically for you! If there’s a song you want to learn, but you can’t find a lesson for it, tell me! I’m here to help!

If you’re looking for country lessons that are more modern and a bit easier, check out our Chris Stapleton lessons on Starting Over and You Should Probably Leave!

Or if you love torturing yourself on the quest to be the best guitarist ever, you can learn another tough country tune by checking out our lesson on Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line by Waylon Jennings!

Also, go check out some of our acoustic guitar lessons! If you’re a beginner looking for more simple chords, try Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show or Willin’ by Little Feat! These simple songs are great to learn!

And if you liked the guitar we used in today’s video, check out our full review of the Fender Classic Player 60’s Baja Telecaster!

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