How To PLay Rumble By Link Wray

This is a simplified version of the song, and it’s also arranged for acoustic guitar, so I tabbed it out using open chords.  I also changed the B7 chord near the end to a Badd11 chord so students who are in their first few months of learning to play wouldn’t have to try playing a chord that uses all four fingers.

Another modification that I made was to the strumming pattern.  In the third measure I put in a half note strum so beginner students would have an extra beat to make the switch to the D major chord.  The goal of this arrangement is for beginner guitar students to have a song they can play along with and develop their mastery of the open chords, not to write a note for note rendition of the song.

The strumming pattern for this song is fairly simple as there is no syncopation, just straight ahead down down up strumming.  The only thing that might be a challenge for some is that this song is played with a shuffle feel,, so the eighth notes are not equal in length.  The eighth notes on the downbeat last for 2/3rds of a beat and the eighth notes on the offbeat last for 1/3 of a beat.  This is a fairly simple playing style to master, but beginners can sometimes get confused and reverse the feel, so to speak.  The key to playing a shuffle feel correctly is to not think about it too much and focus on listening to the song and trying to replicate what you hear.

If you have any questions about the tablature, or my instructions for how to play the song, feel free to leave a comment on my Youtube channel or on this blog post.  I try to respond to any questions as quickly as possible.