Townes Van Zandt – For The Sake Of The Song Guitar Lesson Info
Learn how to play Townes Van Zandt – For The Sake Of The Song note-for-note on guitar with our Townes Van Zandt – For The Sake Of The Song Guitar Lesson.
This lesson covers For The Sake Of The Song exactly as Townes Van Zandt played it on his 1969 self-titled debut album. That detail matters here, because Townes recorded this song several times over the years, and the arrangement, feel, and even the emotional weight of it changed noticeably from version to version.This is the original fingerpicked accompaniment, taught note-for-note from that first recording.
At first glance the part looks simple — and in many ways it is — but like a lot of Townes’ playing, it’s deceptively subtle. The timing, the placement of the bass notes, and the way the melody is allowed to breathe are what make it work. Miss those details and it quickly starts to sound stiff or generic.
Technically, this sits at an intermediate level. Most of the song is very accessible, but there is one short lick that uses hammer-ons and pull-offs, and that’s the main technical hurdle. There are no barre chords and no thumb-over chords, so the left hand stays relaxed throughout.
The focus of the lesson is on:
-Getting the fingerpicking pattern to feel natural and unforced
-Blending the thumb and finger notes to sound fluid
-Playing the embellishments cleanly without breaking the flow
-Capturing the restrained feel of the original recording
As with a lot of Townes Van Zandt’s music, the challenge isn’t speed or complexity — it’s playing simply, honestly, and with enough control to let the song speak for itself.
- Difficulty level: Intermediate leaning to easy
- Barre chords: No
- Thumb over chords: No
- Playing Style: Fingerpicked
- Tuning: Standard
- Separate Solo: No
- Separate Bass Part: No
Return to Individual Songs page
Townes Van Zandt – For The Sake Of The Song Download Details
The complete lesson contains a lesson video and a performance-standard play-thru video. It also contains the guitar tabs as PDF files and a songsheet with the chords and the lyrics of the lesson (if applicable), also as PDF files.
The videos are MP4 format and will play on PC’s, Macs and most mobile devices.
You’ll receive an email with a Zip file containing a total of 5 files as follows:
- Part 1: Guitar Video Lesson – Intro
- Part 2: Guitar Video Lesson – Verse, chorus & outro
- Part 3: Performance-standard Playthru Video
- Part 4: Songsheet with tabs & lyrics
- Part 5: Guitar Tab
Total Download size: 281.3 Mb
You’ll need to extract the MP4 and PDF files from the Zip file/s to be able to use them and you’ll need software to do so. If you don’t have a Zip program on your PC you’ll need to install one to open the file. I use Peazip which you can get free, here.
If you want to download to an iPad or iPhone you’ll need an app to do so, please read here to know more about it.
Townes Van Zandt – For The Sake Of The Song Lesson Previews
Playthru & Intro
Tab Preview
Chords & Songsheet Preview
Return to Individual Songs page
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