Description
This song is in D major, and uses open chords as well as barre chords.
If you’re not up to speed on barre chords GT has lots of tutorials aimed at teaching them to you so you can eventually play along with this and many other tunes that use this essential guitar technique.
It also requires an upbeat, shuffled strumming pattern, the tempo is quick y'all! 184 BPM, or 92 BPM counting in cut time, which is commonly used on up tempo music to simplify the counting process. Check out my tutorial on Better Strumming if you need to work on your strumming technique before learning this song.
Another unique feature of this tune is it's eccentric FORM, unlike typical songs of this genre, which feature a lot of repetition, this song goes through several sections, with no two being alike.
FORM
INTRO 14 bars
VERSE 16 bar structure
PRE CHORUS 16 bars
CHORUS 8 bars
INTERLUDE 8 bars
BRIDGE 16 bars
INTERLUDE 8 bars
CHORUS/OUTRO
Our primary focus for the guitar in this tune is to accompany the vocal story. You'll really need to pay attention to the odd ball form, keep those bar chords coming, and keep the strum up to tempo! So get ready to dig in and provide a steady foundation for our song today, "Don't Cross the River".
Lesson Info
