Learn How to Play Dwight Yoakam's 'Guitars, Cadillacs' on Guitar

Dwight Yoakam's career certainly started with a bang.

He has recorded over 20 albums and compilations, charted over 30 singles and sold more than 25 million records over the years, and his first LP, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., might have portended such success.

That 1986 album kicked off a stream of thre consecutive No. 1s on the Billboard Country Albums chart and firmly established him as a torch-bearer for Buck Owens' West Coast country sound.

In fact, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. was even dedicated to the Owens, and its rhinestone-studded second single, "Guitars, Cadillacs," was surely a tribute to the legendary Telecaster swinger.

The song's crisp, twangy guitar and walking bassline spoke volumes to the Kentucky native's comfort in the country genre, even if he was a far cry from the "pop country" of Nashville, preferring Owens' honky-tonk vibe that sometimes crossed into rock.

It made sense, then, that Yoakam made the album when he was living in Los Angeles, a few hours away from Owens' home of Bakersfield, Calif.

Clocking in at a crisp three minutes, "Guitars, Cadillacs" was a tour de force, peaking at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No. 2 in Canada, and even earning a Gramy nomination for Best Country Song in 1987.

In addition, Rolling Stone ranked "Guitars, Cadillacs" 94th in their list of the "100 Greatest Country Songs."

For those that want to try and capture Yoakam's take on the Bakersfield Sound, Fender Play instructor Barrett Wilson begins to break it down in the video excerpt above.

In the lesson, Wilson runs through relatively simple chords, like A5, A6, E5 and E6, while discussing downpicking, note-bending and swing shufle techniques.

Learn to play "Guitars, Cadillacs," and if you're not a member of Fender Play, get your free trial to access hundreds of songs and skills.

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