Long Haul
by Ian Munsick • Lesson #360 • Apr 18, 2021
Video lesson
Licensed Song Sheet 3 pages
Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.
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Buy at Musicnotes.comEditor’s notes
Hey friends! I’ve got a brand new video lesson for you today, this one for the 2021 song Long Haul by the up-and-coming country artist Ian Munsick. I heard this song a week ago via Grady Smith’s YouTube recommendation – and it immediately got stuck in my head. 24 hours (and 6-7 listens) later, there was no choice but to grab my guitar and learn how to play it. If you haven’t heard this song, I strongly recommend giving it a listen!
Video timestamps:
- 0:00 Preview & lesson summary
- 2:30 Chord shapes
- 7:45 Chord progressions
- 9:54 Fingerstyle tabs for each section
- 16:49 Playthrough w/ lyrics
About the “Stripped” Version of This Song
Here’s Ian Munsick performing the “stripped” version of this song, which I’m basing my lesson on:
What I love about this song from a guitar point of view:
- It’s fun to play! The entire song uses a style of “bouncing” between your right thumb and right index/middle fingers, trading off 8th notes. This greats a nice sense of coverage with the sound and isn’t terribly difficult to get the hang of.
- The use of dissonance! Chords like the Cmaj7, the D voicing (with the open 3rd string), and the G/F# all have a bit of tension to their sound – which adds a lot of character and distinction to the overall sound.
- All this, and it’s only ~4 chords at the end of the day. Very nice example of how you can get a lot out of a little, if you put things together in the right way.
- And while this isn’t guitar related, per se – the lyrics during that chorus section hook me every time. Love the imagery, paired with his vocals and the chord progression.
Tuning and notes about the “stripped” version
Tune all strings down 1/2 step to play along with Ian Munsick’s version of this song. Also, note that this lesson is based off the “stripped” version of this song - which I love because the acoustic guitar stands out so much more. I absolutely recommend listening to that one if you haven’t heard it.
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