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In Spite of Ourselves
by John Prine • Lesson #437 • Jun 4, 2022
Today we’ll learn In Spite of Ourselves, the classic John Prine duet that he recorded with Iris DeMent (1999). I’ll start off by showing you campfire chords & strumming, allowing you to play this song even if you’re just getting started with guitar. From there, I’ll pile on a few additional tricks (e.g. strumming with alternate bass notes) before diving headlong into the Travis Picking fingerstyle used in the song’s intro. This passage took me a while to learn, but with time and persistence, I got over the hump! And I’m sure you can learn it just the same. Enjoy!
Free Video Lesson
Timestamps:
- 0:00 Preview & Lesson Summary
- 0:57 Basic Chord Shapes
- 3:51 Chord Progressions
- 5:51 Strumming Patterns
- 7:50 Alternating Bass Notes
- 13:40 Fingerstyle: Right Thumb
- 19:45 Fingerstyle: Melody Notes
- 23:48 Fingerstyle: Full Tab
- 27:52 Full Playthrough
- 29:38 Tour of my Song Sheet
Print-Friendly Song Sheet 5 pages
Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.
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Buy at Musicnotes.comListen to John Prine Play This Song
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Hey there! My name is David Potsiadlo, and I'm the creator of the 400+ weekly lessons here at Song Notes, going back to 2013. Here’s my guitar story »
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