Week 53: Love in Vain



Robert Johnson

The Song

Love in Vain is one of Robert Johnson’s most popular songs, with the Rolling Stone’s cover in 1969 instrumental in bringing Johnson’s music to a much wider audience. Eric Clapton’s 2004 cover has inspired a generation of fingerpickers to learn this tune, though Clapton’s version follows a standard 12 bar and the original had a slightly different structure.

Johnson’s original is played in standard tuning, in the key of G# – either tune up a half tone of use a capo on the 1st fret. It’s a 12 bar which uses a jazz inspired turnaround of II V in bars 9 and 10 rather than the V IV more commonly found in blues. Johnson also inserts half a bar of the V chord in bar 7.

This tune really shows why Johnson is as good as it gets and highlights his strengths perfectly. The main feature is the heavily palm muted bass lines. Johnson ‘strums’ 2 or 3 strings with his thumb on the beat, and the heavy muting makes it sound more like percussion than a guitar. Over the top he plays a melody in his usual restrained style, relying on note choice and his unmatched cleanliness to generate emotion. His melody playing is almost behind the beat – the one thing that Robert Johnson had that very few players ever get close to is an incredible sense of touch. He plays the right note at a microsecond behind the right time, and combined with the percussive bass this creates an absolutely desolate musical landscape that no one else has ever achieved. He plays some notes so softly that they sound like a continuation of the previous note. There is an ocean of space between the bass and treble creating an atmosphere of lonesome regret even without his lyrics and voice.

The song uses repetition and slight variations on a theme without using anything really difficult. This is one of those songs where a beginner can pick up the basic within a day or two, and an experienced guitarist can play after an hour. You will, however, spend the rest of your life trying to make it sound like Robert Johnson.



The Lyrics

G And I followed her to the station, with her suitcase in my hand, C G D7 G And I followed her to the station, with her suitcase in my hand. A7 D7 G Well, it's hard to tell, it's hard to tell, when all your love's in vain, G D7 All my love's in vain. When the train rolled up to the station, I looked her in the eye, When the train rolled up to the station, and I looked her in the eye. Well, I was lonesome, I felt so lonesome, and I could not help but cry. All my love's in vain. When the train, it left the station, there was two lights on behind, When the train, it left the station, there was two lights on behind, Well, the blue light was my blues, and the red light was my mind. All my love's in vain.

The Intro

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The Progression



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The Outro