More Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely

[TGNeil]

Adding to our Roy Orbison library, we now have Only The Lonely.


Only The Lonely is a 1960 song by Roy Orbison and became his first major hit. The absolute key of the recording is F, and besides this key we take a look at how to play it in E, D (including Dropped D Tuning) and G.
For this we use the Nashville Number System (NNS), which allows musicians to transpose a key quickly to another. We still go through all the chords in every key, and break down the strumming in great detail, since it involves a particular bounce.

The progression uses mainly chords I, IV, V7, and ii. There are also two secondary dominant chords notated as V7/IV and V7/V7, which is explained a little more in an additional segment. Other aspects to pay attention to are time signature changes (2/4 measures) and some prominent quarter note triplets.

All in all, there is a lot to learn from this song!

[older_wrench]

Both of these Roy Orbison lessons are great!

But not working on any strumming pieces in a decade, I am fiendishly made aware I am now without the chops to do the bounce. So it's back to Strumming 101 for me, so if you're looking for me, I'll be in the woodshed........

Great lessons - thanks for them both.