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My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight
by John Prine • Lesson #238 • May 17, 2019
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Editor’s notes
Hey friends! In this lesson I’ll teach you how to play the fingerstyle introduction to “My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight” as covered by John Prine. I’ll teach you the three chords (including the variations needed for each), explain the alternating bass notes your right thumb will need to play, talk about the hammer-ons you’ll add, and break down the fingerstyle one phrase at a time. This one took me a few weeks to get comfortable with, but patience and practice paid off – and I’m excited to share these notes with you.
- 0:00 Playthrough & lesson overview
- 1:34 Chord shapes needed
- 7:08 Right thumb alternating bass notes
- 9:18 Adding left-hand hammer-ons
- 12:10 Tip: break it into phrases!
- 13:58 Melody, part 1 & 2
- 19:12 Melody, parts 3 & 4
- 21:50 Farewell
If you’d like to see a lesson for the full song, please let me know – I’d like to get to it one day. Thanks and best of luck! - David Pots (May 16, 2019)
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