home sweet

This is a detailed tutorial on how to play the guitar riff for Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This tutorial is split into 2 parts. Part 1 deals with the chords and the basic picking pattern. Part 2 deals with the lead in line to complete the guitar riff, and palm muting to get the guitar part sound more like the actual song.

Here is part 1 of the tutorial:

1. Chords
The riff for Sweet Home Alabama uses the chord shapes in this very order: D, Cmaj9, and G. Here is an outline of how each chord will be shaped.

D chord:
| x 0 0 2 3 x |
(The order of the tabs are from top string to bottom string. | E A D G B E | or | 6 5 4 3 2 1 |. The ‘x’ means that the string is not being used for the chord.)

Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the G string and your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string. Because the bottom E string isn’t used in the riff, an ‘x’ is placed on the string in the tab.

Cadd9 chord:
| 0 3 2 0 3 x |
For this chord, place you middle finger on the 3rd fret of the A string, index finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, and your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string.

G chord:
| 3 2 0 0 3 x |
For this chord, have your middle finger placed on the 3rd fret of the top E string, index finger on the A string, and the ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string.

Before moving on to the picking of the song, be sure to be comfortable switching between the chords. There are two things that can help making these chord switches simple. First, the ring finger never comes off the 3rd fret of the B string in the three chords, so you can keep it on the string during the whole riff. The second thing has to do with the chord change from Cadd9 to G. They both have similar shapes. All you have to do is move your index and middle fingers up one string.

2. Picking Pattern

The picking part of the song is where it gets a little tricky. I will break it down into beats or, in other words, counts. The D and Cadd9 chords are each played with 2 beats and the G holds out for 4 beats.

I’m going to be using tablatures to explain the rhythm. It will be in the form of:
| – - – | – - – | – - – | – - -

The ‘ | ‘ represents each beat and the ‘ – ‘ represents subdivisions of the beat. When writing out the tablatures, I will use letters or other symbols (which will be explained in detail) to take the place of ‘ | ‘ or ‘ – ‘ to represent what is being played on that beat or subdivision.

Here is a tablature to show where each chord lies in the song.
D – - – | – - – Cadd9 – - – | – - – G – - – | – - – | – - – | – - -

You can see that the D chord is played for two beats, the Cadd9 is played for two beats, and the G chord is played for four beats.

Here is the tablature for the picking. The numbers represent ‘string/fret’. So for example, the first set of numbers are ’4/0′. This means that you are picking an open 4th string or D string. When you come across a letter such as the ‘G’ in the tablature below, that means to strum the chord. I split the tablature into three sections. They are sectioned off by what chord shape is being used.

D chord shape:
4/0 – 4/0 – 2/3 3/2 – -
Cadd9 chord shape:
5/3 – 5/3 – 2/3 3/0 – -
G chord shape:
6/3 – 6/3 – G – - – | – - – | – - -

This may be a bit difficult when first learning the riff, so start off really slow. It may not sound as cool as the riff sounds like on the CD when playing it slow, but as you start to play it faster and faster, you will start to hear it come together.

Located in the south of Canada, covered within the area of foothills, Calgary has become a commercial hub. With a usually dry humid climate, moderate warm summers and cold winters, Calgary is one of the most modernized cities in Canada with the exponential growth of oil industries since the later half of the 20th Century. With the tourist attractions for its skiing, mountain resorts, Calgary stampede in summer, Calgary has become a great place to live.

With the recent census recording an estimate population of one million people residing in Calgary, still the demand for buying houses in the city is on the rise. Though there was a dip in the real estate business five years ago, the city has still thrived and retained its economic potential with the venture capitalists having hugely invested on the Petroleum industries in the recent past. Being located on the foothills of Rocky Mountains, reaching the city on a daily basis might be a strenuous task, However, if you are able to get on to the internet and do a bit of homework to identify a genuine and an efficient Realtor, you could purchase or sell a house at a prime location at a reasonably affordable rate.

Buying a house is no ordinary investment. Most of us would need to put in our life time savings to procure a house. Others might to have opted for a Bank loan. So, it is very important that we make the right decisions to purchase a home in Calgary. First and foremost, based on your work location, the locality of the house becomes the deciding factor. To buy a house anywhere outside the city is very cheaper and easy, but not effective or useful. There are quite a number of home for sale in Calgary, whose prices range from a few thousands to million dollars. The price variation is purely dependent on the location. You might need to shell out a few thousands more from your pocket if you would like to wake up with a stunning view of the Rocky Mountains. And naturally, such home for sale in Calgary would be up for grabs and you have to act quickly to seal the deal. But mostly, those houses would have been snatched up earlier, and thereby are rare to buy one.

The second choice for buying a home for sale in Calgary would be near to Calgary University. In addition, the Calgary Children’s Hospital is located right beside the University. One of Calgary’s best shopping center is also situated there. Hence it is preferable to choose a house on such a locality, with all requirements nearby.

Find the right Realtor, choose the right location, and find your dream home in Calgary!!

All of us live in houses but how many of us know how to make it a real ‘HOME’.

You may have a very small house with a few rooms: not much to boast about… However, if you follow some very simple and practical steps you can make your house (big or small) a real home…and thus, a better place to live in…

Read On:

1. A Place For Everything

Irrespective of the size of your house, make sure there is a place for everything. Organize your house – rooms, kitchen shelves, cupboards etc in such a way that there is a place for everything.

2. And Everything In It’s Place

Once you have allocated space for everything in the house, make it a habit to put everything back in its allocated space after use! This will ensure that your house remains organized and well kept. You would be surprised by how much time you save by keeping things in the right place.

3. Discard Unnecessary Items

Make it a point to throw away things you don’t need: There may be an old transistor lying around which no longer works and which no one cares about…Dispose it off – sell it, throw it, give it away…. Do what you want with it but don’t let it lie around in the house to occupy space unnecessarily.

4. Keep It Clean

Make it a point to regularly clean the house. I’m not saying become a fanatic. Don’t get obsessed with cleanliness but do try and spring-clean the house once in a while!

5. Greenery

If you have a small balcony, garden or a little gardening space, try to keep it green…Keep potted plants and flowers and water them well…Decorate your living room with a vase of freshly picked flowers…. it will brighten up your day and your room.

6. Open Those Windows Regularly

Let there be good ventilation in the house. Let the sunlight come in everyday…. Use cheerful and bright colored home furnishings, though this would depend on personal tastes.

7. Rejuvenate With Music

Play some good relaxing music in the house everyday…. something you enjoy listening to. This will refresh you as well as send good vibrations in the whole house.

Last but not the least always stay positive and happy…. Enjoy and love where you live because after all ‘Home Sweet Home’ is ‘The Place To Be’!!!