Learn "End of The Line" by The Travelling Wilburys on guitar!

Orbison, Lynne, Harrison, Petty, Dylan. There's no doubt about it: The Traveling Wilburys are one of the best bands ever!

And their song End of the Line is great fun to play on the acoustic guitar. We'll look at a beginner-friendly version, using open chords and a simple strumming pattern. Once we get the basics down, we'll learn the super-authentic strumming and see how to play that awesome intro riff. Let's go!

💡 Play End of the Line along with my JustinGuitar Songs & Lessons App to hone your guitar skills! Try it out for free.

End of the Line – Guitar Chords

You only need three chords to play End of the Line on the guitar! And they're pretty easy: just D (XX0232), A (X02220), and G (320003). You can decide which fingers to use for each of these chords. I tend to go for a mini barre chord for A, but you don't have to! If you're a beginner, stick with a regular A chord to simplify the chord changes.

💡 Struggling to change between chords when playing real songs? This free beginner course will solve that. You'll learn all my tricks for the A and D chords and a special tip to help you switch between them. :)

For the G Chord, I've chosen a 3-finger grip, the one I call Rock G (3X0033). It sounds great here, but just go for the G chord you're most comfortable playing!

End of the Line – Chord Progressions

The chord progression for the verses is easy to remember, but the changes are pretty fast. The first four bars are two bars of D, half a bar of D, half a bar of A, then a full bar of G. The next four are the same, except we play a D on the final bar instead of G. Repeat these eight bars twice for one verse.

The second progression (with Tom Petty singing) is a bit different. The first four bars are G G D D, then switch to A for two bars. Notice that there's an extra bar of D between the verse and chorus.

☑️ Find chords, tabs, and lyrics for End of the Line at JustinGuitar Tabs. :)

End of the Line - Strumming Pattern

You can play End of The Line with a real simple strumming pattern. If you only strum on beat 1 (and beat 3 when you switch during a bar), you'll be able to sing along with the original and have loads of fun!

The most important thing at this stage is playing on the beat. Before you think about complex strumming, make sure you find beat 1 and can change chords in time. This is your first mission when learning a new song as a beginner.

The next level is to explore the Old Faithful strumming pattern: D DU UD. This really brings the song to life. There's an interesting quirk when you use Old Faithful: the chords officially change on beat 3, but with Old Faithful, we don't strum on beat 3. The trick is to change to all downstrums for one bar, changing chords on beat 3. Then you can return to Old Faithful on beat 1 of the following bar.

End of the Line – Trickier Strumming

The best strumming pattern for End of The Line is the "chicka-boom" groove, which is ultra-common on Jonny Cash songs. This is more advanced because we pick bass notes as we strum.

Let's look closely at this bass-strum pattern over the D chord. The rhythm is:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
B   D U B   D U

B means bass note – we pick string 4 on beat 2 and string 5 on beat 4. You can simplify this by hitting string 4 on both beats if you like. On G, the bass note alternates between string 6 and string 5; on A, it moves between strings 5 and 6, in that order.

🔥 Top Strumming Tip: a powerful way to develop your feel is to play along with the original. Mute your strings and just focus on locking into the rhythm – try to get lost in it. Imagine you're in the band. You learn a lot by jamming with the greats, even if the tune was recorded decades ago. :)

Just to clarify – in bars when you move from A to G on beat 3, pick string 5 on beat 1 and string 6 on beat 3. When you move from D to A, pick string 4 then string 5. You might like to switch to normal strumming for the Tom Petty section. This makes the sections clear and keeps it fresh for the listener. :)

If you're an Intermediate player or above, you might want to have a crack at the intro riff. Let's check it out. :)

End of the Line – Intro Riff

The cracking George Harrison riff in the intro is based on triads. We'll need a G triad: XXX787, three D triads: XXX232, X X X 11 10 10, and X X X 14 15 14, and an A triad: X X X 9 10 9.

The intro riff lasts eight bars. Though I've written the D string as muted, we play it over most of the chords, including the starting G triad. The first, third, and fifth bars are the same: we play the open D string on beat 1 then strum 2 + + 4 + 1. Note that we stay on G for beat 1 of the following bar.

💡 Triad chord grips are the top few notes of a full chord shape. For example, X X X 11 10 10 is the top three notes of the full D Major barre chord (10 12 12 11 10 10). It's a mini major chord. :)

In bar two, we move to open D (XX0232) on beat 3 and strum on beats 3 and 4. This rhythm repeats in bar 4, but we slide up to the A triad, then the D triad X X X 11 10 10. You can hit the open D string throughout. It's not part of the A chord, but it still sounds cool.

In bar 6, the rhythm changes. On beats 1, 2, 3, and 4, we play G triad, A triad, D triad (X X X 11 10 10), and Em triad (X X X 12 12 12). On beat 1 of bar 7, we go to the highest D triad (X X X 14 15 14) for two bars. I like to strum Old Faithful on the final two bars. :)

You have plenty to work on here, whatever your level. If you're a beginner, start simple and add the trickier techniques as you progress as a guitarist. It's super rewarding to see your playing evolve in the context of a song. Have loads of fun with this tune, and I'll see you for more song lessons real soon. :)

Learn more! Find over 600 free song tutorials in my Songs area. :)