Diamonds & Gasoline - Turnpike Troubadours

Hi everyone, and welcome to a new guitar tutorial! Today’s lesson is all about Diamonds & Gasoline by the Turnpike Troubadours — in my opinion, one of the most beautiful country ballads ever written.

Let’s dive right in. The left hand shouldn’t give you too much trouble, as the entire song is played in the first position and the chords are all quite simple. Just keep an eye on the barre chord for F major — that one might take a little extra care. The right hand, on the other hand, is slightly more challenging. Be prepared: playing through the whole song might leave your thumb aching! That’s because you’ll be using your thumb to pluck as many as four strings — from the low E string all the way up to the G string. It’s only during a few chords in the chorus that things go back to “normal,” with the index finger taking care of the G string again. Don’t try to work around this technique — I’ve experimented with using the index instead of the thumb for the G string, and believe it or not, it’s actually more uncomfortable that way. Trust me on this one!

As always, you can find the tabs on my Patreon page. Have fun learning!