bowery ballroom / lower east side, manhattan, new york city, new york by Chris Robinson, Attribution 2.0 Generic

Tugboat is an epic song. It's the result of just two chords and a whole lot of reverb. Pretty cool, huh?

This blog post is a complete tutorial on how to play Tugboat by Galaxie 500 on guitar. Learning this song and mastering it will help you learn to keep the strumming going, regardless of how your chords sound. This is a crucial skill for your long term enjoyment of guitar.

I will show you the chords, the strumming pattern, and the chord progression of this song. Additionally, I'll share a couple of practice suggestions that will make this song easier for you to play. Finally, I'll go over some troubleshooting tips if you're having a little trouble.

Let's hit this.