Southern Rock

Try out the sizzling Southern style of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, Blackberry Smoke and more

In keeping with the greats, our hot and spicy Southern rock-style backing track blends popular genres like American country, blues and classic rock. The verse and chorus sections are based around chords I, IV and V in the key of A major (A, D and E). This is a standard blues progression (turn to p48 for more information in this month’s blues cover feature), but it’s been used in countless styles of music – so it’s essential fare for every guitarist. The bridge includes some chords from outside the key (G5 and C5) and these provide some contrast.

When soloing over the track, try the Mixolydian mode and the A major pentatonic scale for classic rock and country-flavoured sounds. The tab over the page is a typical lick that you can try over the track (performed for reference at 1.19 on the backing track).

Check out classic Southern rock bands like The Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd for inspiration.