How to play acoustic guitar like John Denver

An audio lesson with high-quality tab

Guitar Techniques (Stuart Ryan), Fri 23 Oct 2009, 11:53 am BST

The late John Denver was one of the great American songwriters and performers.

He penned classics that topped the pop charts and entered the public's consciousness, including Take Me Home Country Roads (covered by Olivia Newton John and Ray Charles), Annie's Song and perhaps his most covered number of all, the sadly prophetic Leaving On A Jet Plane, with which Peter Paul and Mary had a monster chart-topper.

Denver's pastoral style is reflected in his guitar playing, which is full of gently strummed chords and arpeggiated open chord patterns. As with many singer songwriters, Denver's guitar was primarily there to accompany his vocals so his guitar parts were always tasteful and suited to the song. He would often use short fills to make a chord sequence more interesting and also leave some space if strumming patterns got too busy.