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Me and Bobby McGee

by Kris Kristofferson • Lesson #565 • Oct 3, 2024

About This Lesson

Hey there, friends! The lessons below will help you learn to play Me and Bobby McGee in the style of Kris Kristofferson. I’ll teach the chords, strumming, and walking basslines to help you recreate the magical vibe he captures with this song. Remember, I have a separate lesson teaching the Janis version – find that below!

Lesson #565 - Full Playthrough

A beginning-to-end playthrough in the style of Kris Kristofferson. Includes lyrics, chords, and walk-up tabs all shown on-screen. Recorded in October 2024.

Lesson #417 - Strumming Tutorial

A strumming explanation for both the Kris and Janis versions! Explains how they tackle things differently, with tabs & diagrams for each chord used in the song. Recorded in February 2022.

Note, please ignore whenever I refer to “Patreon” – that’s the website I previously used for membership! As of late 2022, all members-only content can be found here on songnotes.net (here’s how to join and unlock all my Premium content).

Practice Notes 3 pages

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Download PDF

Here's a print-friendly PDF I made with all of my practice notes for this lesson. This lets you follow along with everything I show in video tutorial at your own pace.

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Lesson Discussion

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

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Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

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Audio Backing Track (Drums Only)

If you want to strum along with some laid-back percussion keeping a steady time, you’re in luck! Here’s a drum-only audio backing track, which mimics the drums heard in Kristofferson’s recording. It’s ~8 minutes, allowing you to jump in & out anytime you please when practicing. You can hear me use this drum in my play-along cover further above on this page (lesson #565).

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Drum Track (132bpm) (download):

Want to Play it Like Janis Joplin?

Back in 2017 I recorded a tutorial teaching this song in the style of Janis Joplin’s recording, which has a much different vibe than Kristofferson’s version. If you’re interested in learning it in this manner, see the video linked below! The page linked below also has a link to my licensed song sheet, with full lyrics and chords used in the Janis recording.

"Me and Bobby McGee" as recorded by Janis Joplin

$ Song Sheet Available

Techniques Used in This Song

Here’s links to all previous lessons I’ve made which teach techniques used in this song. These will help you get up to speed with with strumming (e.g. using alternating bass notes) and the walk-up riff, in particular.

Bass Note Strumming

★ Instructional PDF

Alternating Bass Notes

★ Instructional PDF

Walk-ups, Walk-downs, and the fretboard

★ Instructional PDF

Using flat-thirds and flat-sevenths to add GRIT to your walk-ups and walk-downs

★ Instructional PDF

How to Strum Without a Pick

Looking for more Kris Kristofferson?

I’ve taught a few other songs he has his fingerprints on! These are both from the early days of my Song Notes journey, so thanks for your understanding should any of the video or audio production (or just the lesson overall) not meet my current standards.

"Sunday Morning Coming Down" by Kris Kristofferson / Johnny Cash

$ Song Sheet Available

"Highwayman" by The Highwaymen

$ Song Sheet Available

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