Inside the soulful guitar style of Bill Withers
Few artists have made such a deep imprint on the music world in such a short time as Bill Withers.
He launched his music career relatively late—he was 32 when his debut album came out in 1971—and then walked away from it all within 15 years. And yet during that stretch of the ’70s and early ’80s, Withers delivered a string of classic songs, from “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Grandma’s Hands” to “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day,” and “Just the Two of Us,” that continue to reverberate today. Built on the earthy grooves of his acoustic guitar, Withers’ music drew on soul, blues, gospel, and country, but those genre distinctions seem irrelevant. With a rare gift for distilling an emotion or story down to its essence, Withers created songs that feel timeless and universal.
Bill Withers playing one of his Brazilian-made Craviola guitars.
“He made such an enormous impact,” says Son Little, whose own take on guitar-based R&B has drawn frequent comparisons to Withers. “I don’t remember first hearing ‘Lean on Me.’ His songs have had such power and reach that they’re really a part of the culture. It’s true folk music.”
Withers passed away in March of 2020 from heart complications at age 81, prompting a fresh look at his musical legacy. While he always put the spotlight on his vocals and lyrics, one of the special features of Withers’ music was his use of acoustic guitar—a rarity in the realm of soul/R&B, then and now. Withers himself was the first to point out that he was far from a fancy instrumentalist. “I can’t play the guitar or the piano,” he once told the New York Times, “but I made a career out of writing songs on guitars and piano.” He developed a stripped-down accompaniment style that was the perfect vehicle for his songwriting, from gentle ballads to funked-up blues.
“He, more than anybody else, employed the acoustic guitar in R&B music in a really special way,” Little says. “The songs break down easily into really simple patterns that you can play on an acoustic guitar. As with a lot of great music or art, its biggest strength is its simplicity.”
Withers recognized that quality in his own work. “If you research it, very few songs that live in the minds of people are written by virtuoso musicians,” he said in an interview with American Songwriter. “The things that they do are too complicated. There’s an almost inverse ratio between virtuosity and popularity. Simplicity is directly related to availability for most people.”
This video lesson goes inside some of Withers’ best songs—especially from his first few albums, when his own guitar was most prominent—to reveal the understated accompaniment style that carries them. The lesson covers these songs:
Ain’t No Sunshine
Grandma’s Hands
I’m Her Daddy
Hope She’ll Be Happier
Use Me
Lonely Town, Lonely Street
Let Me in Your Life
Lean on Me (piano part adapted for guitar)
Listen to the original tracks on Spotify.
Find the full text and notation in the May/June 2021 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine and online. The print/digital issue also includes the music and lyrics to Withers’ “Lovely Day.”
