Ready to Play Like a Lion, Like a Lion. A Finger Picking Guide to The Art of John Fahey This is the first installment of a series of articles on the songs of John Fahey. Each article covers about the history, lyrics, and playing suggestions for one song. The last article will cover all of the songs in a given album. The name for this series comes from the song Finger Picking Patterns in Session I: “I’m ready to play like a lion, like a lion…” In this article we cover the first track on the first album, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death. Blind Joe Death The first track, Blind Joe Death, is the most famous and widely played track on The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death. It has a wonderful rhythm to it and it definitely feels like John Fahey was really trying to play this song. I recommend looking for the high B string where he sustains that high note for a few seconds before moving on to the next chord. For this particular recording of Blind Joe Death Fahey is using a steel/ nylon string acoustic guitar and tuning it to Open D. You’ll find it a lot easier to finger this song if you’re using a light gauge guitar string, this would be between 12 and 14 gauge. For this recording Fahey is using Dronet finger picks which are much softer than traditional flat picks. Make sure to practice with them before you start to play. It’s always a good idea to work on fingering patterns by picking a pattern then stopping and making sure you have the finger positions down. You’ll want to play through this song slowly and carefully. Don’t rush it and be ready to stop at any time. It’s very important to listen to the song and know when it’s over so that you don’t play past the end of the song. There are 3 choruses to this song, a repeating verse, and then a third chorus. The first verse should have the D and G strings playing. The second verse should have the B and E strings playing. The last verse should have the E, D, and B strings playing. The last chorus should have the E and A strings playing. Here’s a video of John Fahey performing Blind Joe Death in his living room. It’s pretty great: Here are some other videos to listen to: Videos: Blind Joe Death by John Fahey (with pictures and text) You can view many more videos of Fahey’s concerts on youtube.com. Finger Picking Patterns 1 – D | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x 2 – G | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x 3 – D | x | x | x | x | D | x | x | x | x | B | x | B 4 – G | D | D | A | G | A 5 – E | A | E | G | D | E 6 – D | G | A | E | D | G 7 – D | G | A | D | G | A 8 – G | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x In The Bellows of My Crying Eyes In the Bellows of My Crying Eyes is a sad and sad story. Fahey starts off the song with a beautiful guitar picking pattern and then stops midway and starts a new one. It would seem that this piece is more about the melody than it is about the guitar playing. This song is in a minor key, so keep that in mind as you practice playing it. Play it slowly at first, making sure you have the finger positions down. 1 – D | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x 2 – G | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | B | B | B 3 – D | x | x | D | x | x | B | x | x | x | x | B | x 4 – G | D | D | D | G | G | G | D | A | A | G | A | G 5 – E | A | A | A | E | E | E | A | E | E | A | E | E 6 – D | G | G | G | D | D | D | G | D | D | G | D | D 7 – D | G | G | G | D | D | D | G | D | D | G | D | D 8 – G | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x In A Vision In A Vision has one of the coolest soundtracks ever. I recommend using the same picking pattern that Fahey used for Blind Joe Death but play it slowly, with just the A and D strings. At first the A string only has the 1st finger on it, with the rest of the fingers only lightly touching it. When Fahey moves onto the second A string he plays with 3 fingers instead of 2, but the 3rd finger is always starting off a little farther back so that there’s an easy transition to the A string that is tuned higher than a 5th string. Finger Picking Patterns 1 – D | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x 2 – G | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x 3 – D | x | x | D | x | x | B | x | x | D | x | x | B 4 – G | D | D | A | G | A 5 – E | A | E | G | D | E 6 – D | G | A | E | D | G 7 – D | G | A | D | G | A 8 – G | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x An’ I Buked Them All An’ I Buked Them All has a cool ending that has the guitar strumming a G major arpeggio. When you get to the bridge you play D, D, B, B, B, G, A. I’m sure you know this because it’s part of the chorus, but it’s cool that Fahey leaves it off the recording. Finger Picking Patterns 1 – D | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x 2 – G | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x 3 – D | x | x | D | x | x | B | x | x | D | x | x | B 4 – G | D |