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"Me and Bobby McGee" as recorded by Janis Joplin

Lesson #114 • Dec 19, 2017

Song Sheet with Lyrics 4 pages

A printed arrangement with the lyrics, chords, and other guitar parts taught in my video lesson. Available for purchase through Musicnotes.com.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, I’ll teach you how to play Me and Bobby McGee on guitar. Originally written by Kris Kristofferson, this lesson is more influenced by the Janis Joplin version of the song — which has a more straight-ahead & driving rhythmic groove. This is one of the first songs I learned on guitar! I’ll show you the chords needed, the strumming pattern, and explain how to change keys midway through the song.

  • 0:00 Playthrough (partial)
  • 0:57 Greeting
  • 1:38 Chords needed
  • 4:49 Strumming pattern
  • 6:07 Changing keys from G to A
  • 9:33 Playthrough (complete)

My Other Bobby McGee Videos

A few years after recording the video above, I got asked about the approach Kristofferson takes to strumming this song… and made a separate video diving into this topic (lesson #417). That lesson compares the strumming in both versions (Kris vs Janis), showing the tabs for each chord as strummed in both of their recordings. I also recorded a tutorial teaching how Kris Kristofferson plays this song. Find all these via the links below.

"Me and Bobby McGee" Strumming Comparison (Kris vs. Janis)

★ Instructional PDF

How to Play "Me and Bobby McGee" like Kris Kristofferson

★ Instructional PDF

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Title (long)
"Me and Bobby McGee" as recorded by Janis Joplin
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0ZxZQnxs
Thumbnail (video)
Video thumbnail for
Thumbnail (pdf)
PDF thumbnail for
Slug
114
Lesson URL
/lessons/114/
PDF num pages
4
Patreon URL
https://www.patreon.com/posts/27233343
Discussion URL
n/a
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