Learn "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash on Guitar!

In this lesson, we'll learn how to play Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash on guitar. This tune appears on the album Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash from 1963, and it’s another classic country tune by the Man in Black! :)

I'll teach you a super-easy way of playing this tune that's suitable for most beginner guitar players. We'll cover some cool tricks for Intermediate players too.

You’ll notice in the demo that I play fingerstyle, which helps me pick out the melody over the chords. We’ll look at how to do that later on, but let’s start real simple.

Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash: Simple Guitar Chords & Rhythm

You just need G, C, and D open chords to play Ring of Fire. The rhythm is the difficult part. I show you how to strum this awkward rhythm - the easiest way is to count how many downstrums we need for each chord.

The chord progression is a little confusing - do check out the tutorial for all the details. And don’t forget to jam along with me and the original track to help you absorb the chords. :)

Time Signature Tips

The time signature is interesting, and most beginners will probably find it strange. We’ll learn it in 7 time, but you could also look at it as 3 and 4 time or vice versa. This isn’t the most musically correct way, but I think it’s the way that makes the most sense.

You can get all mathsy with this, but it’s way more important to listen to the song and use your musical feel instead. Sure, understanding the counts is useful, but I’m pretty sure Johnny Cash wasn’t counting in 7 time in his head.

💡 Funnily, nobody really notices that Ring of Fire has a strange time signature - me included. I’d heard Ring of Fire loads of times without hearing the bar of 7!

As soon as you can, try to just feel the rhythm. The way to go is to listen to the original recording lots so you get it into your musical imagination.

We’re about to look at the fancy stuff, so make sure you can play basic chords and strumming.

Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash: Fancy Rhythm Choices

If you want a more complex version, fingerstyle is a good place to start even if you don’t play fingerstyle often.

My recommended pattern is to hit the bass notes with your thumb, then strum downwards with finger 1. Do this for each beat. :) Just make sure to change the bass note for each chord: it’s string 6 for G, string 5 for C, and string 4 for D.

You can also go for the Johnny Cash approach: use a pick. Warning - this is quite a lot louder! The rhythm changes but it’s pretty similar to the fingerstyle option. This time, we pick the bass note then strum down-up: bass down up, bass down up. This is the boom-chicka pattern! We play one boom-chicka for every beat. :)

💡 Finding it Tricky? Mute Your Strings: A great way to capture the boom-chicka feel - or any rhythmic groove - is to practice it with muted strings. This lets you focus 100% on the rhythm.

The only trouble with playing it the Johnny Cash way is that you can’t add the melody over the chords. :)

Add The Melody with Fingerstyle Guitar

We don’t go into too much detail on how to add the melody. We’ll look at the framework, then I’ll let you explore it yourself.

I love using fingerstyle because it helps me play the riff over the chords, but I find it really difficult to explain how I do it! When you add hits too, suddenly the patterns become super complex. The good news is that the melody is really simple - just five notes.

Check out my lesson on melodic percussive fingerstyle if you want to explore this technique in more depth. This ain't for the faint-hearted, so I suggest you explore some fingerstyle first before tackling this technique. :)

🎵 Want chords, tabs, and lyrics to follow along with my song tutorials? Check out JustinGuitar Tabs!