Chords for Video Lesson: Exploring John Prine’s Simple but Distinctive Guitar Work

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[G] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ Hey, this is Jeffrey Pepper Rogers here for Acoustic Guitar with a lesson on the guitar style of John Prine,
who passed away back in April 2020 from complications from the coronavirus. _
And John Prine was a legendary songwriter, best known for his lyrical gifts,
for his ability to create these amazing stories and characters _ in his songs,
and also write some classic comic _ material as well.
_ But the foundation of all his music was his acoustic guitar,
and he didn't do anything fancy, just a handful of chords,
a few flat pick and finger style techniques that he used,
but it was everything that he needed to accompany a lifetime of songs.
And one of the things about his style is his guitar parts were simple, but distinctive,
and even if you play them by themselves without singing, they sound like songs.
_ So in this lesson, we're going to take a look at his guitar style by way of examples based on some of his best known songs.
So let's get rolling.
First up is Paradise from his debut album in 1970.
Song's been covered by tons of people, and Prine was steeped in old time country music,
and this really comes through in this song.
It's a straight up waltz, which he plays with a pick. _
_ D shapes, no capo, just three chords, and something like this.
One, two, three, one, two, three.
[D] _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [N] The next example is based on Hello in There, also from his debut album,
and one of John Prine's great character songs.
_ It has more chords than a typical Prine song,
and this one is finger picked in the style of Elizabeth Cotton, Mississippi John Hurt,
an artist that he studied when he was learning how to play guitar. _
_ For this song, capo at the fifth fret, and use G shapes.
_ So this is played with an alternating bass with the thumb.
Prine typically used a thumb pick, but I'm going to play it with no picks here. _ _
_ _ Also, he used his thumb a lot for fretting notes on the sixth string,
which I also won't be doing, but the _ _ [F] fingerings are all adaptable to using the thumb or not.
So here's an example based on Hello in There. _ _
One, _ _ [C] one, two, three, four.
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[G] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] This example is based on Souvenirs from John Prine's second album,
originally recorded with Steve Goodman,
and _ Prine's part played with a capo at the fifth fret, like I've got here.
Steve Goodman played with a capo at the seventh fret, so they were using different chord shapes.
_ So once again, this is a finger picked song, all _ alternating bass,
except for just a couple spots where it stayed on the same bass note for a few beats,
_ and the melody on top in that Mississippi John Hurt sort of style. _
One, two, three, four, one.
_ [A] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
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[C] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ This example is inspired by Dear Abby, one of John Prine's great comic songs.
It was a live track on his 1973 album Sweet Revenge.
[B] _ And like Paradise, _ this is a waltz, flat picked, more upbeat.
_ So for this song, we use G shapes with a capo at the fourth fret,
so it sounds in the key of B.
_ And we use a lot of kind of light, down-up strums in this one.
_ _ _ Two, three. _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G#] Now let's look at In Spite of Ourselves,
_ which he released at the end of the 90s when he was coming back from a bout with cancer,
and he made this album of duets.
This is the title track, and performed originally _ with Iris Dement,
and they _ toured a lot together,
and a great song that's been also covered very widely, a very funny song.
So this is in that melodic finger picking style.
It really stands on its own, just kind of as an instrumental, even without the singing. _
No capo for this, and playing out of C shapes with _ the bass alternating with the thumb
throughout almost the whole thing.
One, [C] two, three, four. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ [C] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] And our last example comes from Summer's End,
which was a track on John Prine's last album,
a beautiful song that he co-wrote with Pat McLaughlin. _
Again, the album is called The Tree of Forgiveness.
And for this one, I'm going to finger pick this with C shapes, capo at the second fret,
so it's sounding in the key of D.
_ But the shapes used here are [F#m] C and E minor, _ [G] _ _ [A] F and G.
_ [F] One, two, three, four.
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _
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[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] So that concludes our little tour of some of John Prine's songs
by way of the guitar parts in them.
_ Well worth going back and revisiting his catalog, so many amazing songs,
and a reminder of what you can do in songwriting
with really simple ingredients to make songs that last.
_ _ Once again, for Acoustic Guitar, I'm Jeffrey Pepper Rogers,
and thanks for watching. _ _ _ _ _ _