I Won't Back Down - Tom Petty - Tutorial + Free Tab

 


This is my version of Tom Petty's famous song I Won't Back Down. The song was originally realesed by Petty in 1989 as part of his first solo album Full Moon Fever. It was written By Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne and I believe the original recording also featured George Harrison, which are three of the five that made up The Travelling Wilburys. The song went on to become one of Petty's biggest hits. 

This is my fingerstyle blues version of the song. I have played it with a slightly more laid back and bluesy feel to it which I think suits the song. The music comprises 3 sections - and intro, a verse and a chorus which I play through once. However, these sections can be repeated as necessary. 

It is played on a guitar in standard tuning, is in 4/4 time and is in the Key of G.

Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab.

Love in Vain Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT
 
  • Finding the Fingerings - Although fretting seems quite straightforward when you look at the tab, it can be easy to get your fingers tangled up slightly and have your fretting hand moving around more than is necessary. If you watch the video you will see the fingerings I use, which I find the most economical for myself. However, you may want to change this to suit your playing style. If you try to fret the underlying chords as much as possible, you should be able to minimise movement of the fretting fingers and hopefully make it easer to play.
  • Tempo Changing - The version that I have done has a slightly slower tempo than Petty's original. The reason that I have done this is to give it a more bluesy sound. However, there. is definitely scope for change in this tempo. You may want to increase the tempo and have a more upbeat and rockier sound. Or you may want to slow the tempo down even further to give it an even more laid back feel to it. If you listen to the second part of the video where I play it slower, it still has quite a nice sound to it, and I quite like it played at this slower tempo.
  • Rephrasing the Melody - Although the melody notes that I have played in this version are the same as Petty's original version, I have rephrased them slightly. The reason I did this is to give a more bluesy sound. However, there is definitely scope for rephrasing the melody. again in this piece of music. If you want it to sound closer to the original version, have a listen to it you will hear where the notes are falling in each bar and you can maybe rephrase the melody a bit closer to this original version. Also you could rephrase them to make it sound more laid back and bluesy as well. If you have a play around with the phrasing of the melody line, you may be able to get something different that suits your taste.

This is about all I need to say about this piece. It is quite a simple piece to play if you are comfortable with fingerstyle guitar. If you get the fingerings worked to out to play the melody line you should get on fine with this. 
 
Thanks for Reading,
Neil

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