How to play Right In Time, Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is one of our time’s most prolific songwriters, and her lead-off song from Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was my first introduction to her. Learning How to Play Right In Time on guitar came later for me, but I’ve listened to that album countless times. Each time the album plays, new parts of the same songs jump out, and the album becomes more dynamic and interesting with age. It’s a somewhat star-studded production too as it features Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, and Emmy Lou Harris. The things that can be said about Car Wheels are endless, so for today let’s just focus on how to play Right In Time.
Today we will be covering the acoustic guitar part which includes chords and strumming patterns. We will also take deep dive at some of the lead guitar work in the verse, chorus, and guitar solo! Check out our YouTube video lesson to see all of this demonstrated in small bite-sized pieces. Scroll down for chords charts and tablature!
Gear Corner
Electric Guitar
Gurf Morlix was the guitarist on this record. Using only my ears and after watching some YouTube videos, I’m still struggling to figure out what he used on this song. If you watch Lucinda’s Austin City Limits performance, Kenny Vaughan is using a large Gibson, I suspect a hollow body, for this tune. But listening to the record, it sounds like Gurf could have been using a Stratocaster. Maybe, just maybe, it was a Telecaster.
My personal recommendation is to pull out a Start and plug it into a Deluxe Reverb. It’s a classic sound, and using either the neck pickup or the middle pickup, you should get a tone reminiscent of Gurf! Try experimenting with the tone knob on your guitar and see what kinds of sounds you can get. You’ll be amazed at how much richer your guitar can sound when you take some of the high sparkly bite out. It forces you to turn the volume up slightly, and the overall result is a huge and full sounding guitar.
Acoustic Guitar
If you’ve read Acoustic Guitar magazine, you may have read the same interview I did with Lucinda. She is either not a gear freak at all, or she is messing with the interviewer and her fans. She claims that she has a three of beat up Gibson’s but doesn’t know what model they are, and good for her. The mark of a real craftsman is someone who says, “hey give me any ol’ tool you got, and I’ll write you an incredible song.”
OK, so I realize it’s a disappointment if we don’t shed any light on what Lucinda uses. The “beat up” Gibson I see in her hands the most is a Gibson J-45. These are gorgeous guitars, and one day you and I will both have one. For the lesson today I’m using my trusty Martin Custom D, so feel free to use any acoustic you’ve got lying around. Dust it off if you have to, but pull it out and let’s have some fun.
Acoustic Guitar Chords
Nashville Numbers
When learning how to play Right In Time, we’re going to need to know some chords in the key of C. The chord progressions change between the intro, verse, and chorus, but all parts of the song follow a general progression of I-II-IV-V (1-2-4-5). This a simple progression that is powerful and soulful, and the way Lucinda mixes these chords around brings this song to life.
Looking at our C major scale, we only need to count the first 5 notes to figure out what chords we need. The first note is C, second is D, third is E, fourth is F, and the fifth note is G. Since our progression is I-II-IV-V (1-2-4-5) we need a C chord, Dm chord, F chord, and a G chord. Remember that the 2 chord for this song is the minor 2, which is why it’s Dm and not D.
Intro
The intro uses our 1 and 4 chords, or the C and the F. The strumming pattern for the intro and chorus are the same. All you need to do is strum up, down, up, down consistently. Your down strums and up strums will be played on the eighth notes, so if you’re counting the beats you will strum on the beat and the space between the next beat (one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and). Easy peasy.
Verses
Lucinda takes the most liberty with the chord progrssion during the verse, and she leads it off with the minor 2nd chord, or a Dm. The Nashville numbers for the verse are II-I-IV-V (2-1-4-5), or Dm, C, F, & G. It’s suprisingly simple considering she’s playing a straight 1-4-5 progression, but she adds a dark melancholy minor chord at the beginning. This is very cool.
Chorus
The chord progression in the chorus uses the same chords, and begins to sound much more familiar to your ear. Except! When that Dm chord is thrown into the mix! The Nashville numbers here go I-V-II-IV (1-5-2-4), or uses the chord names C-G-Dm-F. The Dm getting thrown in right before the four chord breaks up the more standard I-V-IV progression and gives you and other listeners an unfamiliar chord. It fits musically, and gives the song so much more depth because it’s opening up the Dm scale and introducing more notes. More notes mean more possibilities, and when you return to the standard progression, it sounds that much better. Great song writing.
Electric Guitar Work
Gurf Morlix was a guitarist I had never heard of until I discovered the Car Wheels album. What a player. His licks are big, tasteful and impressively simple. He uses a lot of chord shapes in his phrasing. I think the best thing about Gurf’s playing is his intricate guitar picking does not distract you from Lucinda’s singing. The two of them are a fantastic pairing, and I wish they had continued collaborating. But alas, we can only dream.
Intro
The intro is very easy. It will remind you of Creedance Clearwaters’ Have You Ever Seen the Rain, and other songs. It’s a commonly used lick, that uses the C chord shape. This lick teaches you how to make a C chord sound big and loud while providing some cool lead guitar licks.
Verse
The verse is fantastic. Morelix subtly plays in the background, and his choice of notes is dark & eerie. The way it pulls you in reminds me of listening to ghost stories around a campfire. Even though you’re a little bit scared, you lean in towards the speaker and listen intently. This is what I mean when I say Gurf and Lucinda were a great pair. They compliment each other well and allow one another to shine. They left their egos at the door.
The first half of the verse is the most intricate, and can be found below.
The second half of the verse, you can hear the guitar work pull back a bit and create more space. The last lick over the G chord is one of my favorites, and you’ll find it useful in your playing.
Chorus
The chorus is one of the easiest parts on the electric guitar. You simply strum the chords at the top of the bar, and there’s only one lick to play over the F chord. This lick is very similar to the intro, so you should have no problem mastering these too!
Guitar Solo!!
My favorite part of the song, and arguably the most beautiful part, is the guitar solo. WOW! This solo jumps out and really shines. It’s amazing how Gurf was able to come up with a solo that sounds so complex, and then when you learn it, you realize he’s just using the chord shapes out of the CAGED system. Add a couple hammer-ons and some choice picking, and bam! You’ve got an incredible sounding guitar solo that won’t have your fingers playing Twister.
The solo starts with a slide into the C chord. The slide is the 3rd fret of your D string, and you’ll slide up to the 5th fret. Note, the solo’s first measure is the 35th measure, but this slide happens in the 34th. So you essentially want to get a jump or a head start when playing this.
That’s IT!
You know how to play Right In Time!! If you’re looking for other songs with great writing, check out our lessons for Chris Stapleton! He’s another great songwriter and our lessons include Starting Over and You Should Probably Leave.
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!
Also, go check out some of our other 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 Martin Custom D Classic Rosewood!
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