Learn How To Rock Out To Me And Bobby McGee on Guitar!

Hey, guitar enthusiasts, I have a great song here by Janis Joplin that uses some really great chords and really great strumming. So let's get into it. The first section of the song is completely different than the second section of the song. So let's talk about the chords we're going to be using. We're going to start off with the G chord, a C chord, and we also have a D7 chord. All right, that's going to be our seven chord in this first section. If you can't play D7 chord, it's okay. You could just play the regular D chord. There's nothing wrong with that. It will sound fine. It just won't have that bluesy twang that the song has. That's where we get that twangy sound. It's that D7 chord. Okay, so we have G, C and D. Now the song starts off on a bunch of G chords and then we're mostly going to be focusing around the G and the D7. But let's talk about our strumming pattern before we get into playing along.

So the way my chart is written, you guys can go follow along with the lesson notes over on my website. It's written as a 16th note pattern, but I'm going to simplify this by just telling you to play two eighth note strumming patterns. Alright, so the pattern itself is just so you guys can hear it. It's going to be 1 and 2e and a 3 and 4e and a 1 and 2e and a 3 & 4e and of. Now, if you're not used to counting 16th notes like that, you could simply just count 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 1, 2, 3 and 4 AND. Okay, so basically two eighth note strumming patterns, two measures of eighth notes actually equals a 16th note pattern. Alright, so for you guys that are used to counting 8th notes, it's going to be 1, 2, 3 and 4. And 1, 2, 3 and 4 of you who are getting started with 16th notes, it'll be 1 and 2e and a 3 and 4e. And now you can probably hear I'm doing some things with the bass notes here. Okay, so let's just take that simple eighth note pattern. And what we're doing, instead of just doing two down strums in a row, instead of just going.

Okay, so Whether you're counting 8th notes or 16th notes, the rhythm is down, down, down, up, down, up, down, down, down, up, down. Okay, so there's no difference there. On the first down, we're going to play a bass note. So instead of doing, it's going to be bass down. Okay, so bass down, bass down.

Bass down, down, up, down, up. Bass down, down, up, down.

Up. Where the bass note is the lowest note of the chord. So on our G chord that would be the sixth string. So on the C chord that will be the fifth string. And on our D or D7 chord, it doesn't matter, it's both going to be the fourth string. Okay, so G, C, E. Alright, so what's that going to sound like?

All right, so you can hear that we've got a bass note and then a down strum and then a down, up, down, up. And you can count it however you want. Okay. Just know you have to go down, down, down, up, down, up twice for every chord. So the intro of the song just starts off with the G chord. So we're just going to sit on that. And then our verse, we're going to be alternating between a G chord and a D chord. And then the chorus, we're going to start introducing our C chord. So we'll throw some chords and strumming patterns up there for you to follow along. Once again, if you want to follow along with the lesson notes on my site or put a link in the description below. So let's take it from the intro just to get our timing ready. So we got 1, 2, ready M.

Face down, down, up, down, up, face down, down, up, down, up.

Here we go.

Ready? Busted flat in Baton Rouge Waiting for the train When I was feeling it Faded as my jeans.

Bob the diesel down Just before it rained and rode us all the way to New Orleans.

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana Was playing the song while Bobby sang the blues.

Windshield I was slapped in time Was holding Bobby's hand in mine Sang every song that drive anew.

Freedom's just another world for nothing left to lose and nothing and nothing ain't clean.

Feeling of a season long oh, and it's safe for blues. Your feeling good was good enough for.

Me.

So you can hear on that chorus towards the end there when I got to that D7, feeling good was good enough for me. I kind of brought the volume down a little bit.

Kind of brings the dynamics down. So when you're playing songs like this, always think of the performance of the song, the performance, and how it's going to come across to your audience and keep things exciting. We want to start trying to play with different volumes of our guitar. So now we've come to the second part. Of the song and it completely changes. So we take all those chords we were just playing, we throw them out the door, and we have a whole new set of chords that is coming in. So now we have an A major chord, we have a D major chord, so you don't have to worry about that D7 anymore. So a major D7. And then we have this E7 chord. But I'm going to show you a little trick on this one. So the version I'm playing right now is a four fingered version. Okay. You can see my pinky's down here. It's just playing an E major chord and then I'm adding the pinky on the third fret of the B string. It gives it very bluesy, twangy sound. Yeah, all right. Which you will hear in the song. All right. But for some people, they're not used to reaching their pinky out like that. So the easy way to do an E7 chord that I show people in my seven level guitar system is to play an E major chord and lift up your third finger. Okay. Still has that bluesy twang. It doesn't stick out as much as this high note. So listen to the difference. Here's the one with the pinky. Very bluesy.

Steel, bluesy, has some of that twang. It's just, it's much, you know, it's much more prominent when we use the B string. But if this is a new chord for you, just go right ahead, lift up that third finger. It's going to be perfectly fine. And for those of you who don't know me, my name is Lauren Bateman and I help make guitar make sense. I take things like crazy E7 chords and make them easier for you to play so that you can have more fun with songs just like this one. So in terms of the strumming with these chords we're going to be playing, our E chord is going to be a six string chord. So we playing the bass note is going to be the top string, the A chord. The bass note is going to be the A string and then the D chord. Nothing's changing. It's going to be that fourth D string. So once again, the E7 chord.

Okay, the top string is going to be our bass note, the A chord.

We have the A string and then the D chord. Nothing has changed on that. So let's throw it back into the verses and choruses and see how it's going to sound. One, two.

Ready? From the Kentucky coal mines to California sun yeah. Bobby shared the secrets of my soul.

Through all kinds of weather.

Everything we done Bobby kept me from the go.

One day up nest and lead us along I let him slip away wave he's looking for a home Where I'll be finding.

Will I trade on my tomorrow spong single yesterday to behold Wise body next to mine.

Freedom's just another.

Left to lose and nothing that's how that Bobby left me.

Feel When I was in love when you sang the blues Feeling good? It's good enough for me.

Good enough for.

Me.

So now, this next part of the song, we get into the part where, you know, Janice starts going.

And all we're doing there is we're alternating between. It's going to be two measures of A, four measures of E7, and back to two measures of A. Even when she starts going.

When she starts going all crazy and stuff, it's the same chord. She's just changing up the pitch of her voice. All right, if you want to do a little bit more strumming in there, you could, but you can keep the same strumming pattern. It'll work perfectly fine. Now, if you really liked this bass strumming pattern, then I highly recommend you go check out Folsom Prism Blues by Johnny Cash, because we're going to develop this strumming pattern a little bit more.