As a professional guitarist 30 years playing in Pubs seven nights a week I love this German dude I immediately subscribed and gave him a thumbs up..........rock on my brother!!!!!
This is pretty much how we play it but we play in E and raise the tempo slightly and as for the acoustic guitar, I just capo the second fret, and play up the neck, but I don't put the paper in.
Great lesson! So many players sluff through this and other Johnny Cash songs as being SO easy. However, there are so many subtle techniques that are overlooked that are necessary to capture the authentic 'Luther Perkins' guitar.
Thanks this video has helped me a lot I just started playing guitar 4 weeks ago I couldn’t play a single thing now this is all I’m playing thanks for teaching us the right way to play the Classic Song 👍🏻👌🏻
Your a Legend, I'm a begginer and always loved this riff, and now I'm playing it. Your a Rockstar, thanks for helping make a part of my dreams come true. 🍻
Great lesson of this Cash legendary song. By closely following your detailed video, I’m playing this song the right way. In fact, I can’t stop playing it. So enjoyable. Many thanks!!
gut gemacht, herr richter. i played hillbilly and rockabilly music in Germany when I was a soldier in the early 70's. i love what you do. i understand that the humming johnny did everytime he changed keys was to help him find the note. sam phillips was supposed to turn the volume down for the humming and turn it up when he sang.
Johnny uses three sets of chords in his version. He does the first verse in E chord group (E-A-B)(or F the way you have your capo), then he will walk up into the A chord group (A-D-E) for the second verse, then he will walk up to the D chord group (D-G-A) and do the third verse, then he will walk back down to the A chord group to do the next verse, then will walk back down to the E (F) chord group to finish it. He changes the pitch (different key) on each verse. Thats why he does that little hum between the verses. He has used just a piece of notebook paper on his Acoustic to get the snare drum effect. If you'll get the Johnny Cash Live from Montreaux DVD, you'll see what I mean on the notebook paper. Hes got Bob Wooten with him in that concert. Hes super good but I learned Luther's style and kinda like it.
Love this video and it’s been very helpful to me. I’m brand new to playing guitar and started learning this song while in rehab. Im making learning guitar part of my recovery so I really appreciate your videos and this will be the first song I master. Already making a lot of progress thanks to you breaking it down like you have.
Excellent lesson! Great tip to strum the chords between the lead lines, it really fills out the sound that way, and sounds accurate to the recording. I read in a guitar magazine once (sorry, I don’t recall which one) that Johnny used aluminum foil to mute the strings, but the dollar bill method sounds every bit, if not more, plausible. When I first learned the leads to this song (I was about 15) I didn’t realize Luther used a capo, so I played it without. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble had I known better! I love this video lesson, not only for your style of teaching, but also the segment at the start. I look forward to more lessons by you!
Hi David, thank you very much for your kind words. I guess there are quite a few stories in circulation. He probably used whatever was available on the spot.
Johnny wrote in his autobiography that he used a dollar bill. I play like Luther too. I don’t use a capo, not sure if Luther used a cape or not, I’ll watch him again on uTube.
@@ducktailcat I looked at some old footage on uTube that proves you are correct! Maybe he was not a “guitar god”, but I couldn’t imagine why an electric guitar player would use a cape. By the way, did Luther start the Telecaster thing for country music? I don’t know of anyone else who used one in country back then.
I heard he ran wax paper thru the strings and scratched the rythym.....but i love this ...long live sun records ....lightning in a bottle....great job It really dont matter what paper he used its the same result after all
He plays a jazzmaster in vids ive seen but they werent produced at the time this was recorded and sun records musicians all seemed to use one particular amp that had that slapback repeat....scotty moore luther even ike turner when he recorded there I think phillips owned the amp......wish i could remember when i saw that....it was on you tube somewhere lol
Silvertone 1300 and a very early Fender Esquire. There were no electronic tuners in 1956, so the band tuned up by ear. They always seemed to overshoot it and were tuned a step high. The Sun version of "Folsom Prison Blues" is tuned right between F and F#. It drove me nuts as I kind when my playing sounded out of tune to the record until I figured it out.
@@imannonymous7707 a few of the sun guys had Echo-Sonics, which were all hand built by one guy in Illinois. A local picker in Ray Butts' hometown had the first one, Chet Atkins had the 2nd and used it on Mr Sandman (a 1954 Grand Ole Opry TV performance is here on RUclips). And Scotty Moore, had (I believe) the 3rd one and used it first on the last Elvis SUN session (Mystery Train, Tryin' To Get To You)... others like Luther Perkins and Roy Orbison had them too.
...laser- accurate......but the question is..."How did Luther conceive of that sequence......practice it....perfect it....and get up to speed not having any template to direct him"...???...The dude was just a car mechanic.............That could be the most recognized C/W riff in all the world....
I have a question: Did Luther pick the quick down /up strums that occur after the bass notes or did he use his right-hand middle and ring finger like you? Or does it matter? I ask because other tutorials use the pick for both the bass notes and the strums whereas some like you use the pick only for the bass notes. I watched a live version from the 1950s and it looks like he's doing what you're doing.
Hi Micheal, Watching the old videos, it seems to me that Luther uses his pick. I tried that, but it sounds way too harsh when I do it. So I use my fingers
@@ducktailcat thanks for the reply. Do you think that I should practice it that way even on an acoustic guitar? I’m kind of at a crossroads as it’s easier for me to use my fingers like how you teach it but it seems more rhythmical/even to pick everything.
One thing i notice everyone gets wrong that was gotten wrong in this video is that when Luther runs down from D to A, instead of playing 4 then 2 on the A string, he plays 3 then 2. It makes a subtle difference and is evident on the original sun recording, the 1964 columbia recording, and all live version with Luther. No one ever catches that, not even Bob Wootton.
Randy, could you add "Papa Gene's Blues" by The Monkees to your request list for me? It's got some fantastic lead guitar by James Burton on it. I think you'll really like that song if you've never heard it or haven't listened to it in a while. Mike Nesmith wrote and produced it. He also shouts, "Yee haw! Oh, pick it, Luther" during the solo as a nod to Luther Perkins. Super twangy fun song! Thanks, Randy!
HI Jay, I'll do a Johnny Cash Special in May or June featuring three songs including Folsom Prison Blues. I just have too much work, so I can't do a lesson every week, but I'll get to it asap
A bunch of broken crayons in the soundhole works too. I've heard of fiddle players throwing rattlesnake Rattlers in their fiddles to get a sweeter tone.
Hallo, könntest du mir bitte verraten wie du deinen Verstärker einstellst..... eben genau für diesen Song I Walk the Line, ich bin immer am probieren aber finde nie das optimale, annähernd originale...
Hi Deniz, An meinem Verstärker ist nur ein Lautstärkeregler und eine Tonblende. Die Tonblende habe ich zwischen 6 und 7. Die Lautstärke passe ich an den Raum an. Wichtiger ist, dass die Tonblende der Gitarre ziemlich weit zurück gedreht ist, denke ich.
It could be possible, but on all live shows I found from the 1950s they play this and orher songs with guitars tuned up a half step or even a full step in one case.
Hi Jay, Thank you for your interest. I have to disappoint you though. I'm trying to concentrate on the 1950s stuff even though I show songs from the early 1960s too. But Bonanza has never been one of my favourites, Sorry about that
Get a guitar, listen to lots of music, try to play the melodies you like, even if you can't get it right in the beginning. Practice as much as possible, get a teacher if you can, watch videos, go and see live bands and ask your favourite players for advice.
I think gear is only a small part. It's mainly how you play, how you attack the strings and where. On this particular video I turned the tone knob on the guitar way down to get a sound closer to Luther Perkins on Walk The Line, but it's still not 100% there, because I'm not Luther :-)
@@ducktailcat Thanks for the advice. I've been playing Cash songs for years now trying to emulate Johnny's parts, but I've been trying to branch out to the electric recently. It's weird switching to electric when all I've played is Acoustic my whole life. Either way you sound great to me. Glad I found your channel, keep up the good work!
As a professional guitarist 30 years playing in Pubs seven nights a week I love this German dude I immediately subscribed and gave him a thumbs up..........rock on my brother!!!!!
Class tutorial here...
WoW.... simply fantastic.
Howdy 👋🤠 from Tom in
🇨🇱 Texas 🇨🇱
R. I. P.
JOHNNY CASH
Luther 🎸 Perkins
Marshall Grant
5:35. "Keep your eyes open for that one." I keep my eyes wide open all the time.
Dear Harpin, you're a legend.
good 1
This was terrific. Randy kinda' looks like a Tennessee rockabilly musician from those days himself.
This is pretty much how we play it but we play in E and raise the tempo slightly and as for the acoustic guitar, I just capo the second fret, and play up the neck, but I don't put the paper in.
Before my time, but I love rockabilly guitar. Totally hooked. Learning all I can from people like you. Thank you.
Make that choo choo train sound! I'm still playing it at 60 years old! Cheers!
Wow I need to learn this and play it for my dad. He really liked Johnny Cash music
Did you play the music?
Great lesson! So many players sluff through this and other Johnny Cash songs as being SO easy. However, there are so many subtle techniques that are overlooked that are necessary to capture the authentic 'Luther Perkins' guitar.
Thank you very much for your comment. I really appreciate it!
@@ducktailcat how do you get that tone for I Walk The Line
Excellent video. Thank you.
This is the real deal, so smooth and effortless. Great lesson, thank you!
Thanks this video has helped me a lot I just started playing guitar 4 weeks ago I couldn’t play a single thing now this is all I’m playing thanks for teaching us the right way to play the Classic Song 👍🏻👌🏻
Wow, that's so great to hear and definintely inspiring for me. Keep it up!
Your a good teacher... stop talking and teach!!!
Have the video is you talking not teaching
Thank you so much for this lesson. I grew up on Johnny Cash. This is the most precise lesson, I’ve come across. Thank you.
Your a Legend, I'm a begginer and always loved this riff, and now I'm playing it. Your a Rockstar, thanks for helping make a part of my dreams come true. 🍻
Wow, that's so great to hear! thanks a lot for your feedback
Great lesson of this Cash legendary song. By closely following your detailed video, I’m playing this song the right way. In fact, I can’t stop playing it. So enjoyable. Many thanks!!
gut gemacht, herr richter. i played hillbilly and rockabilly music in Germany when I was a soldier in the early 70's. i love what you do. i understand that the humming johnny did everytime he changed keys was to help him find the note. sam phillips was supposed to turn the volume down for the humming and turn it up when he sang.
love your attention for detail OF KEEPING ROCKABILLY ALIVE!!! Subscribed!!!
Thanks a lot! I will put out as many lessons as possible
@Ben Miller Wow! That's pretty amazing. I'd love to see those pictures
What a great lesson and I love the background story on how he got that sound. Thanks again for yet another awesome video, Randy.
Excellent explanations for your lessons 👍
Thanks for mentioning Gladewater, Texas. I only have to travel there from Houston, but I truly enjoy your guitar mastery!
Man,there ain't nothing better than good ole southern style nanner puddin!!!
Johnny uses three sets of chords in his version. He does the first verse in E chord group (E-A-B)(or F the way you have your capo), then he will walk up into the A chord group (A-D-E) for the second verse, then he will walk up to the D chord group (D-G-A) and do the third verse, then he will walk back down to the A chord group to do the next verse, then will walk back down to the E (F) chord group to finish it. He changes the pitch (different key) on each verse. Thats why he does that little hum between the verses. He has used just a piece of notebook paper on his Acoustic to get the snare drum effect. If you'll get the Johnny Cash Live from Montreaux DVD, you'll see what I mean on the notebook paper. Hes got Bob Wooten with him in that concert. Hes super good but I learned Luther's style and kinda like it.
5.8 thousand likes and no dislikes says a lot. Thanks for the lesson.
Love this video and it’s been very helpful to me. I’m brand new to playing guitar and started learning this song while in rehab. Im making learning guitar part of my recovery so I really appreciate your videos and this will be the first song I master. Already making a lot of progress thanks to you breaking it down like you have.
Thank you so much for your feedback! This is so great to hear and very inspiring. Keep picking!
Incredible
One of the first songs I ever learned starting in about 1957
Thank you sir. Blessings 🙏
Man I really love your content man, Im gonna start playing guitar and you have just about everything I would like to learn on your channel.
I love your little country accent and the lesson was good too!🎸
Never heard a country accent from Germany.????
Yah?
Oh my goodness people I live in the U.S. we joke around alot. It was a joke. If you ever lived in Texas you'd have gotten it. Have a great day!
Very good lesson - thank you. I always wondered about that scratchy strum sound on the recording 😊
brilliant
Excellent lesson! Great tip to strum the chords between the lead lines, it really fills out the sound that way, and sounds accurate to the recording. I read in a guitar magazine once (sorry, I don’t recall which one) that Johnny used aluminum foil to mute the strings, but the dollar bill method sounds every bit, if not more, plausible. When I first learned the leads to this song (I was about 15) I didn’t realize Luther used a capo, so I played it without. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble had I known better! I love this video lesson, not only for your style of teaching, but also the segment at the start. I look forward to more lessons by you!
Hi David, thank you very much for your kind words. I guess there are quite a few stories in circulation. He probably used whatever was available on the spot.
Johnny wrote in his autobiography that he used a dollar bill. I play like Luther too. I don’t use a capo, not sure if Luther used a cape or not, I’ll watch him again on uTube.
@@jaybarber68 Luther didn't use capos back then. I just did it here, so it's easier to follow for everybody
@@ducktailcat I looked at some old footage on uTube that proves you are correct! Maybe he was not a “guitar god”, but I couldn’t imagine why an electric guitar player would use a cape. By the way, did Luther start the Telecaster thing for country music? I don’t know of anyone else who used one in country back then.
@@jaybarber68 Johnny actually couldn't "sell" a song in the key of "E", so he had the band tune everything up to "F".
It just fit his voice better.
I worked at Folsom Prison for 25 years and often hummed
that song while I walked 'the line' though the buildings.
That’s awesome
I wish I had youtube in the year 1982 or something. I would have been a king!
It's all there....great presentation,tone and techniques with a little history.
thank you, i couldnt find a video showing for way to long
Excellent lesson
such a catchy tune.
Finally a professional
Sounds so awesome! Great work!
I've seen Cash play with a playing card woven into the strings as well.
I heard he ran wax paper thru the strings and scratched the rythym.....but i love this ...long live sun records ....lightning in a bottle....great job
It really dont matter what paper he used its the same result after all
I live just north of Gladewater, TX. I didn't know about the museum. I will be visiting it now. I love the video. great job
I live in gladewater too
You ought to be a GUITAR LEGEND!!!!!!!!
Awesome detailed lesson! Thanks
Yeah, Johnny Cash is always appreciated! :)
Great lesson
Thank you. I really love all your lessons and can't wait to get started on your online course tomorrow when I get paid.
Excellent!
Excellent!!
Who would've guessed the way that sound was obtained was with a dollar bill? Fascinating.
Awesome lesson!
Very cool 🎸😎
An Esquire in the mud position and flatwounds tuned to F. I'm thinking Luther may have been using a Silvertone amp on this recording.
He plays a jazzmaster in vids ive seen but they werent produced at the time this was recorded
and sun records musicians all seemed to use one particular amp that had that slapback repeat....scotty moore luther even ike turner when he recorded there
I think phillips owned the amp......wish i could remember when i saw that....it was on you tube somewhere lol
Ray Butts' echo-sonic amp
Silvertone 1300 and a very early Fender Esquire. There were no electronic tuners in 1956, so the band tuned up by ear. They always seemed to overshoot it and were tuned a step high. The Sun version of "Folsom Prison Blues" is tuned right between F and F#. It drove me nuts as I kind when my playing sounded out of tune to the record until I figured it out.
@@imannonymous7707 a few of the sun guys had Echo-Sonics, which were all hand built by one guy in Illinois. A local picker in Ray Butts' hometown had the first one, Chet Atkins had the 2nd and used it on Mr Sandman (a 1954 Grand Ole Opry TV performance is here on RUclips). And Scotty Moore, had (I believe) the 3rd one and used it first on the last Elvis SUN session (Mystery Train, Tryin' To Get To You)... others like Luther Perkins and Roy Orbison had them too.
@@jonkern9503 Actually, Conn came out with the first version of the Strobo-o-tuner in 1936, so very accurate tuners were available.
Sehr anschaulich gemacht. Sehr sympathisch!
...laser- accurate......but the question is..."How did Luther conceive of that sequence......practice it....perfect it....and get up to speed not having any template to direct him"...???...The dude was just a car mechanic.............That could be the most recognized C/W riff in all the world....
Awesome
That secret sound ! Now we know. Rock on!.
Classic sound. Thanks!
According to Marty Stuart, Luther rolled back his tone knob also to take off some of the twang.
excellent !
His set at the Holiday Inn on Thursday's during happy hour is good if you take advantage of the half price shots...
The right way is the Johnny Cash way
You nailed that and I know exactly what you mean about Luther and subtlties ;)
Isn't what you're doing after about 11:15 just basically the Carter Scratch with a flat pick?
Yes, that's it. You're right
I have a question: Did Luther pick the quick down /up strums that occur after the bass notes or did he use his right-hand middle and ring finger like you? Or does it matter? I ask because other tutorials use the pick for both the bass notes and the strums whereas some like you use the pick only for the bass notes. I watched a live version from the 1950s and it looks like he's doing what you're doing.
Hi Micheal, Watching the old videos, it seems to me that Luther uses his pick. I tried that, but it sounds way too harsh when I do it. So I use my fingers
@@ducktailcat thanks for the reply. Do you think that I should practice it that way even on an acoustic guitar? I’m kind of at a crossroads as it’s easier for me to use my fingers like how you teach it but it seems more rhythmical/even to pick everything.
One thing i notice everyone gets wrong that was gotten wrong in this video is that when Luther runs down from D to A, instead of playing 4 then 2 on the A string, he plays 3 then 2. It makes a subtle difference and is evident on the original sun recording, the 1964 columbia recording, and all live version with Luther. No one ever catches that, not even Bob Wootton.
Hi John, I was just listening to it again after your comment. Which run do you mean? Is it in the verse?
This is a good lesson. Thank you.
Nice video ! Looking forward to the entire course!!
How do you play Doing my time by Johnny Cash I would like to learn that thank you.
Sehr gut!
Enjoying your lessons. Just watched Luther playing this and he doesn't do a "down and up" strum with his fingers----just an up-stroke.
Sorry-----I mean down stroke!
What a great video!
Randy, could you add "Papa Gene's Blues" by The Monkees to your request list for me? It's got some fantastic lead guitar by James Burton on it. I think you'll really like that song if you've never heard it or haven't listened to it in a while. Mike Nesmith wrote and produced it. He also shouts, "Yee haw! Oh, pick it, Luther" during the solo as a nod to Luther Perkins. Super twangy fun song! Thanks, Randy!
cool , thanks for sharing
If you play the ‘64 version, the walk down from the D to A, instead of 4, 2, 0, you play 3, 2, 0.
Thank you!
But this chord progression changes with every verse. Three times or four maybe?
Yes, if you try and play along with the record, you’ll need a capo, tune down or play bar chords😀
Ain’t that what he’s doing? (Capo on the 1st fret)
Sure. I wrote it in case somebody missed it in the video. Can’t I?
@@jaybarber68 Sure thing!
@@Stargazer-px7fw Thanks, be safe Buddy!
@@jaybarber68 Thanks, you too! :)
Anyone playing through a VOX VTX Valvetronix? Do you have a way to get a nice Cash/Perkins-style sound out of it?
Just play it clean at low volume, the rest is in the playing. Luther had the tone knob on the guitar way back also, but just on Walk The Line
Hey Randy, sorry to ask again, how about Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash! - JayWalker
HI Jay, I'll do a Johnny Cash Special in May or June featuring three songs including Folsom Prison Blues. I just have too much work, so I can't do a lesson every week, but I'll get to it asap
@@ducktailcat Cool, thanks
Luther's style sounds simple but it's not. He was a human metronome.
Awesome lesson---btw, LOVE the Udemy Courses they are really fantastic!!
Thank you very much for your kind words
Johnny Cash said himself that he used a playing card for the snare sound
A bunch of broken crayons in the soundhole works too. I've heard of fiddle players throwing rattlesnake Rattlers in their fiddles to get a sweeter tone.
@@bearthalamas9241 Bet you did
it just makes it like a washboard that's all
Another story was wax paper. Let's just go with some sort of paper.
@@bearthalamas9241 I have three sets of rattlers in my guitar.
Great lesson. Good practice though-to distinguish between chords and shapes. The D shape capoed a half step up is not the D chord.
Probably meant the D SHAPE
Would Johnny call it a D# chord? let the non capo'd instruments worry about adjusting accordingly I say
Hallo, könntest du mir bitte verraten wie du deinen Verstärker einstellst..... eben genau für diesen Song I Walk the Line, ich bin immer am probieren aber finde nie das optimale, annähernd originale...
Hi Deniz, An meinem Verstärker ist nur ein Lautstärkeregler und eine Tonblende. Die Tonblende habe ich zwischen 6 und 7. Die Lautstärke passe ich an den Raum an. Wichtiger ist, dass die Tonblende der Gitarre ziemlich weit zurück gedreht ist, denke ich.
@@ducktailcat danke für die Tipps! Starkes Video! Endlich mal einer, der sich die Zeit nimmt sein Stil gescheit zu erklären!😊
Thank you very mach from Italy!!!!!
You're very welcome!
Fulsome prison blues is my request. I'd love to learn to play it perfectly
Hi Jeffrey, Folsom Prison Blues is part of my Johnny Cash Special: shop.randyrich.de/en/home/87-johnny-cash-special.html
@@ducktailcat thank you man I love your channel and your style of teaching!
Great video! Very cool! Thank you!
Excellent explanation. Very much appreciated
Thank you for the lesson. I have a quick question where did you buy that shirt
Honestly, I don't know. I have it for at least 20 years. I used to buy clothes from vintage dealers and stores when it was still pretty cheap.
Randy Richter ok thanks for letting me know
Hi, is the acoustic guitar you are using a Sigma or Martin. The headstock is defiantly one of these :) Cheers, Brent
It's a Recording King, I really love it
is it possible they played it in E and sped it up a bit?
It could be possible, but on all live shows I found from the 1950s they play this and orher songs with guitars tuned up a half step or even a full step in one case.
Could you please do the Johnny Cash's Bonanza, cheers
Hi Jay, Thank you for your interest. I have to disappoint you though. I'm trying to concentrate on the 1950s stuff even though I show songs from the early 1960s too. But Bonanza has never been one of my favourites, Sorry about that
@@ducktailcat No problem, thanks
This is how it looks like if there was RUclips in the 1950s
Disrespectfully Disagree
John could get by.
Don't downplay him.
@@TermiteUSA no intention whatsoever to degrade the content
8:37
Best way to get into learning the guitar?
Yousician
Get a guitar, listen to lots of music, try to play the melodies you like, even if you can't get it right in the beginning. Practice as much as possible, get a teacher if you can, watch videos, go and see live bands and ask your favourite players for advice.
truefire.com/browse
He looks like the guy from the Tennessee two
What kind of gear are you using to make the electric sound like that? I have a Strat but I can't get it to sound like that!
O.P. B.D. ...Buy a telecaster...lol
I think gear is only a small part. It's mainly how you play, how you attack the strings and where. On this particular video I turned the tone knob on the guitar way down to get a sound closer to Luther Perkins on Walk The Line, but it's still not 100% there, because I'm not Luther :-)
@@ducktailcat Thanks for the advice. I've been playing Cash songs for years now trying to emulate Johnny's parts, but I've been trying to branch out to the electric recently. It's weird switching to electric when all I've played is Acoustic my whole life. Either way you sound great to me. Glad I found your channel, keep up the good work!