My Hometownby Bruce Springsteen

My Hometown is the last track of Bruce Springsteen’s commercially most successful (1984) ’Born In The USA’ album.

This lesson teaches how to play the song in the keys of A, G, and C.

We of course take a look at the key of A, as done on the original recording. The progression features only four chords and a relatively simple strumming pattern.

To make it a little easier for beginners, one could also play it in the key of G (Capo II).

Another good option would be the key of C, capo V, because I bumped into one recording of Bruce playing it like that on the guitar. This puts the progression in the absolute key of F, two whole steps lower than A, which is how he occasionally performs it on piano as well. Instead of strumming it at the speed of 8th’s, he does it with double time instead.

The song is synthesizer-based and features chords with a melody line throughout most of the arrangement. The main focus of this lesson is to copy that on the guitar. We do that by fingerpicking at least the intro and 1st verse. This, of course, makes it all a bit harder to play.

All in all, there is a little bit of everything for everyone.