Exploring John Lennon's Acoustic Guitar Technique with the Beatles

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In the decades since his passing on December 8, 1980, John Lennons
legend has continued to grow, both for his contributions to the Beatles
and his accomplishments as a solo artist.

Even so, he is rarely singled out for his acoustic guitar playing. This is
perhaps due to the spotlight-grabbing abundance of stand- alone
acoustic Beatles cuts written by Paul McCartney, such as Blackbird,
Yesterday, Michelle and Mother Natures Son.

But Lennonwielding his Gibson J-160E or Martin D28is the man

behind many other Beatles acoustic classics, including "Norwegian
Wood," "Julia," "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and "Dear Prudence."

Lets look at what makes these tracks tick. Lennon used a version of
Travis picking, a somewhat country-flavored fingerstyle approach named
after session musician Merle Travis, to shape much of his acoustic
output.

FIGURES 1ad deconstruct Lennons favorite pattern via an open C

chord, beginning with bass notes, to focus on the pick-hand thumbs
activity (FIGURE 1a). With the C chord held down, use your fret-hands
ring finger to alternately fret C (A string, third fret) and G (low E string,
third fret), on beats one and two, respectively. These notes, and the E
note at the second fret on the D string (struck between each bass note),
are plucked with the thumb (p).

As FIGURES 1bd unfold, one note is added at a timeplucked on the

high E string with the ring finger (a), on the G string with the index finger
(i) and then on the B string with the middle finger (m)until the entire
pattern is pieced together (see FIGURE 1d). Once you have this pattern
down, youre ready to tackle a host of Lennons acoustic Beatles songs,
like Julia (from The Beatles, a.k.a. the White Album), which
informs FIGURE 2. (Note: Lennon used a capo at the second fret on the
original.)

Written as an homage to Lennons mother, this track features C, G, Am7

and Em chords, each with a high G common tone fretted with the pinkie
on the high E strings third fret. Interestingly, although two of these
chords, G and Em, have sixth-string roots, Lennon employs his fifth-
string-root pattern throughout Julia. As a result, instead of hitting the
roots of the G and Em chords first, he sounds a different chord tone the
moment the chord change occurs. This creates the sound of temporary
inversions (chords with a third or fifth in the bass).

Happiness Is a Warm Gun (from The Beatles), hinted at in FIGURE

3, also uses this fingerpicking approachwith Em, Em(add2), Am13 and
Am7 voicingsas does Dear Prudence. While George Harrisons Here
Comes the Sun is viewed as the pinnacle of standalone acoustic
Beatles pick-style tunes, Lennons Norwegian Wood (from Rubber
Soul), which FIGURE 4 approximates, certainly isnt far behind.

This riffperformed in 6/8 and played with a capo at the second fret on
the originalis nestled within an open D chord shape, with the fret-hands
pinkie and index fingers employed to interject melody notes. Carefully
study the string pairs/trios shown in the tablature and pick them using the
indicated pick strokes to best bring out the melody.

PART 1

PART 2