{"id":120151,"date":"2023-04-28T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=120151"},"modified":"2023-05-31T20:01:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T03:01:02","slug":"video-lesson-exploring-john-prines-simple-but-distinctive-guitar-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/video-lesson-exploring-john-prines-simple-but-distinctive-guitar-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitar Lesson: Exploring John Prine\u2019s Simple but Distinctive Acoustic Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At any given song circle, open mic, or other gathering of guitar pickers and singers, it usually won\u2019t be long until someone breaks into a John Prine<\/a> song. From \u201cParadise\u201d<\/a> to \u201cAngel from Montgomery\u201d<\/a> to \u201cIn Spite of Ourselves,\u201d<\/a> Prine\u2019s songs are essential repertoire in the country\/folk\/Americana songbook, because they are both accessible and unforgettable. With the simplest ingredients\u2014a handful of chords, a rough-hewn voice with limited range\u2014Prine created evocative stories-in-song that could be poignant, profound, and funny as hell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prine\u2019s place in the pantheon of American songwriting became clear when the hard news hit in April that he\u2019d passed away, at 73, due to complications from the coronavirus. His health had long been poor, as he endured multiple bouts with cancer, but Prine had delivered the warm and wise album The Tree of Forgiveness<\/a><\/em> in 2018\u2014the highest-charting release of his career\u2014followed by triumphant touring, and it seemed like his music would keep coming. In the weeks following his death, tributes poured in from generations of artists: Bonnie Raitt, Roger Waters, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Brandi Carlile, Dave Matthews, Jeff Tweedy, Kacey Musgraves, and on and on. The words that stuck with me most came from country\/folk singer-songwriter Iris DeMent, Prine\u2019s long-time friend and frequent collaborator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJohn Prine was, without a doubt, one of the greatest songwriters this world will ever know,\u201d DeMent wrote on Facebook. \u201cHere\u2019s why he rests on my heart\u2019s mountaintop: Because he cared enough to look\u2014at me, you, all of us\u2014until he saw what was noble, and then he wrapped us up in melodies and sung us back to ourselves. That was the miracle of John Prine. And it was enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prine was known most of all for his lyrical gifts, but the foundation of all his music was his flattop guitar, which he strummed and fingerpicked with a few classic styles that provided everything he needed to accompany a lifetime of songs. This lesson takes a tour of Prine\u2019s music by way of his guitar style, using examples drawn from some of his most-loved songs. As with every aspect of his music, Prine managed to make simple guitar patterns distinctive. Even without the melody and words, the guitar parts sound like songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Singing Mailman Delivers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1970, journalist Roger Ebert happened to walk into a Chicago folk club called the Fifth Peg and caught a set by Prine, who had only started performing the year before and worked by day as a mail carrier. Ebert was astounded to hear the young, unassuming singer deliver songs like \u201cAngel from Montgomery\u201d (see Acoustic Classic on page 62 of the print and digital edition) and \u201cHello in There,\u201d and he wrote a full-page review for the Chicago Sun-Times<\/em> under the headline \u201cSinging Mailman Who Delivers a Powerful Message in a Few Words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ebert quoted the devastating chorus of \u201cSam Stone,\u201d <\/a>Prine\u2019s portrait of a drug-addicted veteran: \u201cThere\u2019s a hole in Daddy\u2019s arm where all the money goes.\u201d Ebert wrote, \u201cYou hear lyrics like these, perfectly fitted to Prine\u2019s quietly confident style and his ghost of a Kentucky accent, and you wonder how anyone could have so much empathy and still be looking forward to his 24th birthday.\u201d Anyone spinning Prine\u2019s self-titled debut<\/a> from the following year would have to wonder the same thing\u2014how could any songwriter deliver songs with such depth, maturity, and emotional range seemingly right out of the gate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prine was steeped in early country music, from the Carter Family to Hank Williams, and had learned old-time styles through his older brother. In \u201cParadise,\u201d <\/a>one of the many gems from his debut album, Prine so successfully tapped into traditional sounds that even bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe initially mistook it for a song from the \u201920s. In 1967, when Prine was in the Army, he received a letter from his father with a newspaper clipping about how his childhood home of Paradise, Kentucky, had been bought, strip-mined, and torn down by the coal company. So Prine wrote \u201cParadise\u201d for his father. \u201cFirst of all, I wanted to put him in the song, because I knew he\u2019d like the song if he was in it,\u201d Prine said in 2019 while introducing \u201cParadise\u201d at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. \u201cAnd the second reason is, I wanted him to know I was a songwriter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Fogerty, one of the scores of artists who\u2019ve covered \u201cParadise,\u201d told me in a 2009 AG<\/em> interview that Prine\u2019s song is \u201ca touchstone for people like us who becry the way corporations get to run roughshod over what may be desired by the little guy, but he\u2019s powerless to stop it or stand in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guitarist<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParadise\u201d is a straight-up three-chord waltz. Prine used a simple bass\/strum pattern in the key of D, as shown in Example 1<\/strong>. Play bass notes on beat one and strums on beats two and three, with a few connecting bass runs and a quick hammer-on (measure 6) for variety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sketching Characters<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The next example is based on another enduring song from Prine\u2019s debut, \u201cHello in There,\u201d<\/a> a portrait of a lonely older couple who\u2019ve grown disconnected from their kids and each other. In a moving tribute after Prine\u2019s death, Brandi Carlile covered \u201cHello in There\u201d and noted its relevance to vulnerable people living in isolation during the pandemic\u2014as the song asks us not to pass by people with \u201chollow ancient eyes,\u201d but to acknowledge and greet them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHello in There\u201d has far more chords than the usual Prine song. In Example 2<\/strong>, play fingerstyle (Prine typically used a thumbpick and his bare fingers), with an alternating bass and a melody on top\u2014a style that goes back to Prine\u2019s beginnings as a guitarist. \u201cI learned how to fingerpick by trying to pick like Elizabeth Cotten<\/a> and Mississippi John Hurt<\/a>,\u201d he told Fresh Air\u2019<\/em>s Terry Gross in 2018. \u201cWhen I was 14 years old, I\u2019d sit in the closet in the dark, in case I ever went blind, to see if I could play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use a capo at the fifth fret and play a steady alternating bass throughout with your thumb. Pick the high strings mostly on the off beats. Add hammer-ons in measures 2, 8, and 12. Prine often used his thumb for fretting sixth-string notes under chords like G, D\/F#, and F, but this example is also playable without thumb fretting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSouvenirs,\u201d<\/a> from Prine\u2019s second album, Diamonds in the Rough<\/a><\/em>, is another early song that reveals an old soul. In just a few words, Prine evoked the burdens of nostalgia. \u201cBroken hearts and dirty windows make life difficult to see,\u201d he sang. \u201cThat\u2019s why last night and this morning always look the same to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prine often performed \u201cSouvenirs\u201d with fellow Chicago songsmith Steve Goodman, and the version on Diamonds in the Rough<\/a><\/em> entwines their two guitars\u2014Prine playing D shapes at capo five, Goodman using C shapes at capo seven\u2014and also has them trading off lead vocals. (On the later Souvenirs<\/a><\/em> album, released in 2000, Prine dropped the key and capoed at the second fret.) As in many of his songs, Prine picked the melody instrumentally before entering with the vocal, playing a part similar to Example 3<\/strong>. In measure 3, lower the bass a half step under the G, to F#, before going to the A7. Again, Prine would fret these bass notes with his thumb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Light Side<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"John<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a songwriter whose lyrics could be so sad, Prine was a master of sly comic writing, with songs like the cheerfully morbid \u201cPlease Don\u2019t Bury Me,\u201d<\/a> the silly\/flirty \u201cLet\u2019s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian,\u201d<\/a> and \u201cDear Abby,\u201d<\/a> the advice column in song with the useful reminder that \u201cYou are what you are, and you ain\u2019t what you ain\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example 4<\/strong> shows the style Prine used to accompany \u201cDear Abby,\u201d released as a live track on the 1973 album Sweet Revenge<\/a><\/em>. Like \u201cParadise,\u201d \u201cDear Abby\u201d is a flatpicked waltz, played up-tempo using G shapes. Capo on the fourth fret to match Prine\u2019s key of B major, and use quick, light down-up strums for the pairs of chords as in measures 1, 4, 5, and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the \u201990s, Prine came back from a battle with cancer with In Spite of Ourselves<\/a><\/em>, an album of classic country duets with Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, and others. The title track was the album\u2019s sole original, with endearing, mildly risqu\u00e9 banter between Prine and Iris DeMent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Spite of Ourselves,\u201d <\/a>DeMent told me in a 2012 AG<\/em> interview, \u201cwas a big hurdle for me. John had just survived cancer and decided he wanted to go back in the studio. I think that\u2019s one of the first songs he recorded and he asked me to do it, and I said yes before I saw the lyrics… It\u2019s kind of funny, talking about that song now, because I\u2019ve sang it a thousand times with him all over the country and I feel completely comfortable and it\u2019s fun and playful. But when I heard it the first time it was a little bit like… \u2018I\u2019ve got to make sure my mom never hears this.\u2019 That seems silly now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guitar part for \u201cIn Spite of Ourselves\u201d is another example of Prine\u2019s melodic fingerpicking in the style of \u201cFreight Train.\u201d<\/a> In Example 5<\/strong>, play out of C shapes, with the melody on the top strings. Keep up the alternating bass except for in measures 2, 4, and 8, where you stay put on the C bass note for three beats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Chorus<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"John<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prine\u2019s 2018 album The Tree of Forgiveness<\/a><\/em> was in many ways the perfect parting word\u2014it even closed with his musings on the afterlife in \u201cWhen I Get to Heaven.\u201d<\/a> (One posthumous song was released in June: the equally appropriate farewell \u201cI Remember Everything.\u201d<\/a>) The Tree of Forgiveness<\/em> featured a number of co-writes (including one, oddly enough, with Phil Spector) and support from Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, and Brandi Carlile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One track that has been widely adopted by other artists\u2014and Prine\u2019s own favorite from the album\u2014is \u201cSummer\u2019s End,\u201d which Prine wrote with his longtime collaborator Pat McLaughlin. Among the many covers to be found online are lovely versions by Phoebe Bridgers (on guitar) and Sierra Hull (on octave mandolin). Over a wistful melody, \u201cSummer\u2019s End\u201d<\/a> shows Prine\u2019s knack for finding just the right image to convey an emotional landscape:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You never know how far from home you\u2019re feeling<\/em>
Until you watch the shadows cross the ceiling<\/em>
Well, I don\u2019t know but I can see it snowing<\/em>
In your car the windows are wide open<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSummer\u2019s End\u201d is fingerpicked with C shapes and a capo on the second fret, causing it to sound in the key of D major. During the verse, Prine plays a pattern similar to Example 6<\/strong>. Hammer onto the second string for the C chord in measures 1 and 2, then shift to Em; the first four measures serve also as an intro\/interlude. Then move to an F and G for the remainder of the example, maintaining the alternating bass throughout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Song Goes Round<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In April, New Orleans\u2013based songwriter Carsie Blanton\u2014one of countless musicians mourning the loss of Prine\u2014responded in pitch-perfect fashion with the two-minute ditty \u201cFishin\u2019 with You,\u201d <\/a>which borrows its melody from Prine\u2019s song \u201cThat\u2019s the Way the World Goes Round\u201d<\/a> and some chord voicings from \u201cFish and Whistle.\u201d<\/a> In lyrics that quote a bunch of other Prine songs (\u201cCrazy as a Loon,\u201d <\/a>\u201cParadise,\u201d <\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s a Big Old Goofy World,\u201d<\/a> \u201cSpanish Pipedream\u201d<\/a>), she thanks him for the tunes and the way he \u201cmade us all wanna sing.\u201d After a quick selfie video of \u201cFishin\u2019 with You\u201d circulated widely on social media, Blanton released a single with contributions from, among others, Oliver Wood and Sara Watkins with all proceeds going to charities named by Prine\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have loved John\u2019s songs all my life,\u201d Blanton said when I asked what she\u2019d learned about songwriting from Prine\u2019s example. \u201cHe taught me how to be vulnerable and sweet, and how to temper that with humor so it doesn\u2019t cause a toothache.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"john<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"john<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"john<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"john<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n\n<\/a>\n\n

\nThis article originally appeared in the November\/December 2020<\/a> issue of Acoustic Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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