Mustang Sally Guitar Lesson (Wilson Pickett)

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How to Play Mustang Sally on Guitar

THIS is a song that I struggled with learning for a while. It wasn’t the chords that I struggled with or the song form, those are both very common patterns. Where I got stuck was with the actual guitar part to play from the recording.

It sounded like one guitar but I couldn’t quite get my part to sound like the recording. So for years, I played this song on gigs with just a common rhythm accompaniment that wasn’t like the guitar part on the recording. It wasn’t until later I finally went back and figured it out from the recording. It’s actually TWO guitars.

In this “Mustang Sally” guitar lesson, I want to share with you the chords, rhythms, and scales to start jamming it with ease today! I’ll break down the guitar parts from the recording and share how you can combine them to play a great pattern for this song on one guitar.

Also, it’s a valuable song to know because it comes up at many jam sessions and parties. A lot of people play it!

So with that said make sure you’re tuned up and let’s dive in!

What is the meaning behind Mustang Sally?
“Mustang Sally” was originally written and first recorded by Mack Rice. Rice recorded it in 1965 and it was released under the artist name “Sir Mack Rice”.

The legend is that Rice had originally written the song as a joke for a fellow gospel singer he knew from Della Reese’s band who wanted a new Ford Mustang car.

Apparently, the original title of the song was “Mustang Mama”, but was later changed to “Mustang Sally” at the suggestion of Aretha Franklin.

I think that actually deserves songwriting credit if it’s true. That’s a nice contribution and makes the song pull more because it’s more specific. Unfortunately, from my research, it looks like she didn’t get credit.

The song later became more popular after Wilson Pickett covered it the following year. It was first released as a single, and then later included on his album The Wicked Pickett released in 1966.

Plus in 1966, John Lee Hooker also recorded an entirely different song with a very similar title “Mustang Sally & GTO”

Mustang Sally Chords
“Mustang Sally” only uses 3 chords. The song is in the key of C major and uses the I, IV, and V chords, C, F, and G.

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