Rod Stewart - Maggie May - Guitar Lesson

Every Picture Tells A Story

1971 5:50

Listen on Spotify

About Maggie May

Few songs are as immediately recognisable from their opening bars as "Maggie May," and the reason is almost entirely down to the mandolin-style guitar figure that kicks things off. That riff, played in Open G tuning, sits at the heart of the song and rewards careful attention: the open strings ring against fretted notes in a way that simply does not work in standard tuning, so getting your guitar into Open G before anything else is essential. At 120 BPM in D major, the tempo is comfortable, but locking in the rhythmic strum pattern while keeping those open strings clean takes more coordination than it first appears. Rod Stewart recorded this as part of a loose, almost live-in-the-room band feel, so the guitar parts breathe and push slightly rather than sitting rigidly on the beat. The acoustic strumming in the verses asks you to match that relaxed, behind-the-beat energy, which is harder to fake than it sounds. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the opening riff slowed down until the left-hand fingering in Open G feels natural before you bring it back up to tempo. The Folk Rock groove here is all about feel, not flash.

• The song is played in Open G tuning, which gives the signature intro riff its characteristic open-string resonance and cannot be replicated well in standard tuning.
• At 120 BPM, the tempo is approachable, but the challenge is matching the loose, behind-the-beat feel of the original acoustic strumming in the verses.
• The recurring guitar figure doubles a mandolin part, so practising it cleanly with the Practice Toolbar slowed down will help you nail the note separation.