Cover - Hello In There - John Prine

I'm 3 days into a cold and my wife questioned my sanity when I mentioned posting this video. Well, I can't do this song any better than other folks who have posted it so far. That's not the point anyway.

I love this song and I just learned to play it thanks to "how to" videos from jordanthecat. As my wife and I enter the last chapter of our lives, and especially when we visit my 88 year old mother, the words to this Prine song take on very special meaning. I sing this from the other side of those hollow ancient eyes. I feel this song. I live it...

The guitars in order of appearance: Ovation CS247 Deluxe Limited Edition, a 1996 Ovation Balladeer 1861, and a 2007 Ibanez AEF30EACV (my campfire beater), are not plugged in.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• country
• prine
• acoustic
• unplugged
• sing

[Geno589]

Very nice job, nice sounding guitars also. What picking pattern are you using sir?

[rjeroots]

@Geno589 It's a modified form of the pattern used by John Prine. He got the same pattern using just the thumb and 1 finger. I'm using the thumb to alternate the bass note and first 2 fingers to play the rest. Have a look at youtube user jordanthecat's channel. He posted a couple of videos on this finger style and that's where I learned it from.

[Geno589]

@rjeroots I"m totally new to this style of picking . I have watched jordanthecat's version but I just cant follow the pattern.Just learning to play at 62..lol. On a C chord for example. with the alternating bass notes 5 and 4, which treble strings are you playing after the 5 and after the 4 ? Thank you for the quick reply.

[rjeroots]

@Geno589 Well, squinting with these 68 year old eyes, looks like my pointer and signal fingers are picking string 5 and 6 (b & e) mostly. I just picked up a guitar and that's what it looks like up close too.

[Geno589]

@rjeroots So the pattern would go, A-- B-- E--D--B--E ? I'm sorry for all the questions and thank you for your time and patience. I really like your video and want to make sure that I'm practicing your exact sequence.

[rjeroots]

@Geno589 I'll try. Never had to think about it like this before. First letter is T for thumb, I for index, and M for middle finger. Second letter is the string. For the G chord, I'm doing TE IB TD ME. For the Am chord, TA IB TD ME. For the D7 chord, TD IB TG ME. If this doesn't confuse you, nothing will.

[jonasjar]

Maybe a little on the slow side? 6 minutes is a loong tune! :-) Wow! you switched guitars seamlessly, in the middle of the show!!

[mossrun]

Been playing this song for almost 40 years. John and I have been playing it too fast. I really like it retarded like you do it. I am going to slow down.

[howrard]

very nice ! luv this song. thanks

[Geno589]

@rjeroots LOL, didn't confuse me at all. Just the answer I needed. Now just need to practice to get it to sound smoothly. Thank you so much you are too kind sir.