Pearljam– Justbreathe

Learn the folky left turn from the Seattle grunge giants that took them to new heights in the 21st century

Some will say you need to look back to Pearl Jam’s early output for their most iconic material. We’ll let you make your own decision on that thorny subject, however, Just Breathe, the second single from 2009’s Backspacer album, marked a massive Stateside success for the Seattle grunge pioneers, subsequently becoming their only US platinum-certified song to date. Not that we care too much about that. More important than its commercial success, Just Breathe is simply a beautiful song, showcasing the emotive vocals and Travis picking talents of frontman Eddie Vedder.

Typically, this fingerstyle approach is characterised by a constant alternating bassline played with the thumb, while melody notes are dealt with by the first and second fingers. If you’ve never attempted the technique, we advise practising the thumb-picked line first (the arrangement of our notated section should help!). From there, you can gradually introduce other notes, assembling the part piece by piece.