How To Play Ventura Highway
By America

Welcome to this lesson on how to play Ventura Highway by the 70's group America.

The Ventura Highway America song is a beloved song from the 1970's and is still very popular today. The video tutorial below will explain how I play this great tune. But always remember there can be many ways to play a song.



I'd suggest you read thru the text here on this page that explains my Ventura Highway tab and to enhance the video explaination first. Then watch the tutorial in full before trying to learn this song. It may be easier for some to watch the full version first.

                 

No Tab Avail At This Time - Just What's Below
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Full Tutorial - .wmv format - 9 min 33 sec

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Ventura Highway Chords

Nore - Drop D tuning is used - The chords for are:

G - Dmaj7 - Gbm - Em

Now I use a slight variation because of the drop D tuning, the G chord is as follows:

e--3-------------
b--0-------------
g--0-------------
d--0--------------
a--5--------------
e--5--------------

And the Gbm im using 2 open bottom strings as so:

e--0-------------
b--0-------------
g--2-------------
d--4--------------
a--4--------------
e--4--------------

And finally the Em is played by simply sliding the above formation down two frets like this:

e--0-------------
b--0-------------
g--0-------------
d--0--------------
a--2--------------
e--2--------------

The Strumming Pattern

This rhythm patten I use once the song gets into full rhythm mode is a steady dnupdnupdnupdnup ... etc but with an emphisis on the down strokes as follows in bold;

dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up dn up

Main Intro Picking Pattern


e--5-7-5---------------2----3-----
b--------7-5-7-5-2-2-3------3-----
g---------------------------0-----
d---------------------------------
a---------------------------------

And play it again and end on the Dmaj7

e--5-7-5---------------2----2----
b--------7-5-7-5-2-2-3------2----
g---------------------------2----
d---------------------------0----
a--------------------------------


One other area you can add in is the walk up the fretboard as you continues singing the verse as youll see in the first verse of the video.

e--5-7-5---------------2---2--3--2--3--5--7-----
b--------7-5-7-5-2-2-3-----3--5--3--5--7--8-----
g--------------------------0--0--0--0--0--7-----
d--------------------------0--0--0--0--0--0-----
a-----------------------------------------------


And finally when you're getting ready to move into the chorus, you can slide from this last position as follows:

e---7---0--0----------------
b---8---5--3--0--0--0--0----
g---7---6--4--2--2--0--0---- and then into the G Chord in the formation above.
d---0---0--0--0--4--2--0----
a---------------------------

That is how to play Ventura Highway by America on the acoustic. My advice for the rhythm is to play the song in slow motion until you get used to the accents ... then speed her up to normal speed. If you want to see the lyrics to this great song you'll find it here on this America The Band page.

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Rtn to America The Band fm How To Play Ventura Highway

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