Johnny Cash/James Clem – Big River (Chords)

I’ve been waiting ages for an excuse to do a Johnny Cash song that isn’t Folsom Prison or Ring of Fire. So James Clem covering one of my favourite Cash songs is all the excuse I need.

There are a few tricky moves in the chords. But you can simplify it by using F7 in the place of Ab and use the open shape of C7.

Suggested Strumming

A lot of left-hand muting in this one. Here’s a pattern you can use most of the way through:

d – d x x u d u

Which sounds like this (slow then fast):

Main Strum

For the Abs:

d u d u d –

Then this for the following chord:

d – x u d – x u d –

Intro Strum

Twiddly Bits

The Johnny Cash version of the song has a nice, simple rockabilly solo in. Here’s my uked version of it.

Based on the intro riff:

Links

Buy the Johnny Cash version.
Visit JamesClem.com.
My interview with James Clem