If you’re like me, you spend most of your practice time on licks and soloing. But none of that work will help you when it comes to playing a slow, deliberate, arpeggiated rhythm. Such is the case in the song featured in this lesson: “Cry” by Doyle Bramhall II, from the album Welcome.

The chords in this rhythm are mostly simply, but there’s almost nowhere to give your forearms and wrist a break. It…. just…. keeps…. going…. and going. I use this chord progression as a measure of my endurance and chording precision whenever I start to feel like I’m on top of my game. It usually leaves me humbled.