Welcome to our Mr. Jones guitar lesson. This song is ideal for beginners to develop their rhythmic skills. Mr. Jones was released in 1993 and comes from the Counting Crows’ album August and Everything After. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay charts.
Song structure
Mr. Jones has a common song structure consisting of:
- Intro
- Verse 1
- Chorus
- Verse 2
- Chorus
- Bridge
- Chorus
Chords
The song contains the open chords C, G, A minor and D minor. It also contains the bar chord F.
Guitar part
Mr. Jones is in standard tuning. Below is the rhythm guitar part that is played in the intro and verses. It is an 8-bar chord progression. Note how the chords F, D minor and G are played with an up strum on the “and” of beat 4 of each bar. Use the up and down pattern provided to assist you in getting into the rhythm flow.
Intro & Verses
Below are the chords and rhythms used in the chorus. The chord progression consists of chords C, F and G. Note the syncopated rhythm used in bars 1-2 and bars 3-4.
Chorus
The excerpt below shows the song’s bridge section. It consists of a 4 bar chord progression made up of chords A minor, Fmaj7, A minor and G which repeats four times. Each of these chords is held for 4 counts for the first 3 times through. For the fourth time, the progression starts with one strum of chord A minor and one strum of chord Fmaj7 each held for 4 counts. This is followed by four strums of A minor. The last bar of the bridge consists of quavers (eighth notes) and two semiquavers (sixteenth notes) at the end. The sign below the last G chord is called a crescendo. It means gradually playing louder.
Bridge
Conclusion
And that’s it for this Mr. Jones guitar lesson. It is a fun and easy to play song with beginner chords. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.
Note: The score excerpts and lyrics in this lesson are here for learning purposes only.
