Guitar Sessions 33: Play Joni Mitchell’s “Just Like This Train”
This week, Joni Mitchell made a dramatic, surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival—singing a full set with host Brandi Carlile and a stage full of ecstatic performers. This was Mitchell’s first real concert in 20 years, and marked a stunning recovery from the brain aneurysm she suffered in 2015.
Mitchell mostly sang, but she did pick up a guitar to play an instrumental version of her classic song “Just Like This Train,” from Court and Spark. An unforgettable moment. Watch it here.
To mark the occasion, I made an episode of Guitar Sessions teaching how to play “Just Like This Train,” which uses the tuning CGDFCE. I interviewed Mitchell back in 1996 for Acoustic Guitar magazine, and we actually transcribed “Just Like That Train” along with my feature on her pioneering alternate-tuning-based guitar style.
Watch my video lesson above and download the complete tab/chart for “Just Like This Train” on Patreon.
More
Read my complete 1996 interview with Joni Mitchell in the book Rock Troubadours.
For an in-depth lesson on Mitchell’s guitar style, see the book/video Play Guitar Like the Great Singer-Songwriters.
Join Patreon for chord/lyric charts and guitar tab for every episode of Guitar Sessions, plus live guitar workshops every month.
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