Lesson Plan

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Lesson notes

Townes Van Zandt was one of the best songwriters to come out of Texas in the second half of the 20th century. Pancho And Lefty might be his best known song but there are dozens of others that stand up to that high bar. The song was originally released on Townes' third album, Townes Van Zandt in 1969, and there are a few live versions of it available as well.

He is also know for his fingerpicking prowess and this lesson goes deep into his style. It is part of the Travis Picking genre but Townes added some of his own touches. The picking is fairly basic for anyone who has some familiarity with keeping alternating bass notes going under a few melody notes played on the top strings. The lesson includes a chart and tab to one verse, with suggestions on how the student can make it their own.

Townes plays the song in the key of C Major with a capo at the 4th fret but it can be done anywhere the players' voice fits.