Tennessee Whisky has been an enormous hit for contemporary country/Americana artist Chris Stapleton.
In this Tennessee Whiskey piano tutorial you will learn the chords, the accompaniment strategy and more!
Lyrics and Chords printable for Tennessee Whisky
Sign up and get the lyrics and chords sheet sent to your inbox for FREE.
Tennessee Whisky has been an enormous hit for contemporary country/Americana artist Chris Stapleton. Many people don’t realize that the song is actually a cover that was originally recorded by David Allan Coe back in 1981.
Tennessee Whiskey was written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove - a songwriting team who have written countless songs together in Nashville.
In this Tennessee Whiskey piano tutorial we are going to break the song down into several steps.
The great news about Tennessee Whiskey is that the ENTIRE SONG is made up of only TWO chords. That is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that it is easy to play because…it only has two chords. The curse? How are you going to play anything interested if there are ONLY TWO CHORDS?!?!?
Step #1: Learn the chords (see lyrics and chords sheet on the next page)
Step #2: Chord inversion options
Step #3: Adding interest to the chords
Step #4: Accompaniment strategy
Step #5: Intro
Step #6: Improvised solo
A note on the groove of Tennessee Whiskey
The groove of this song can be written in one of two ways (see below). Each notation sounds exactly the same - it is a matter of personal preference for publishing.
Lyrics and Chords to Tennessee Whiskey
Need to learn chords?
Sign up and get my FREE Ultimate Chord Cheat Sheets! Perfect for mastering your chords on piano.
Step #2: Learn the chord strategy for Tennessee Whiskey
Since this song only has two chords, you might as well learn them in all available chord inversions!
Step #3: Adding interest to the chords in Tennessee Whiskey
Since we only have two chords in the entire song, we are going to add some movement into each chord to give you options to jazz them up a bit.
For the A major chord we are going to add a movement from the 1 chord to the 4 chord. This is called the Plagal or “church” cadence and it gives it that soulful feel. Notice we are voice leading from chord to chord
For the B minor chord, we are going to toggle between playing a B minor triad and a B minor 7 chord. This means we will be moving from the root to the 7th
Want to level up your musical skills? Strengthen your piano skills, develop your ear training, become a rhythm ninja and learn new skills like jazz and improvisation.
The Versatile Musician is an all-in-one membership that combines video lessons, print material and live support to help you level up your skills and thrive as a musician and music teacher.
To learn more, check out www.theversatilemusician.com and get ready to become the best musician possible!
Beginner Piano Accompaniment for Singers