How to Play When Doves Cry, Neil Finn (Prince)

Today we will be reviewing how to play Neil Finn’s cover of When Doves Cry. The song was originally written and performed by Prince on his Purple Rain album in 1984. It’s a great track and definitely a fun one to sing along with friends.

Our video lesson covers the chords and strumming pattern. We’ll review the verses and the choruses and walk you through the pieces of Neil Finn’s cover. Check out the YouTube video lesson here: https://youtu.be/oZg0wV2eRJQ

Gear Corner

To play Neil Finn’s cover of When Doves Cry, you do not need anything fancy. I recommend learning this song on any steel-string acoustic guitar. It looks like Neil is using a Maton guitar in the video, with a 000 body style. If you’ve got one of these lying around, that’s fantastic and I envy you for having a boutique guitar. For my lesson video, I used my Martin Custom D, and it worked just fine.

Chords!

When Doves Cry is a bit tricky when determining the key. You could argue that it’s in the key of Am, or you could make a claim that it’s in G. Regardless, to play the song, you need to know just three chords. Am, G, and Dm. In Neil Finn’s cover you’ll notice that Neil uses 2 fingerings to shape the Am and the G chords. He uses them interchangeably, so it does not matter which chord fingering you use. If bar chords are a bit too tough for you, toss ’em out the window and use the open positions!

When talking Nashville numbers, it’s simpler to assume the song is in the key of G. Using a G scale, and assigning a number to each ascending note, our scale is G-1, A-2, B-3, C-4, D-5, E-6, and F#-7. The G, Am, & Dm chords mentioned in the previous paragraph correspond to numbers 1, 2, and 5. In the intro, our chord progression is V-II-I (5-2-1), and in the verses our chord progression is II-I (2-1). If we were to try and write the Nashville numbers in the key of Am, it can be done but it involves a bit more music theory. And let’s be honest, we want to learn the song and avoid inducing a headache.

Check out the chord diagrams below!

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You’ll notice that the last photo of Am is a bit different from a standard Am chord. This is because Neil Finn uses a simplified version of the chord to make it easier to fret when changing from Dm to Am to G in the intro. It’s kind of ingenius, and leaving out the E note in your Am does make this intro lick much easier to play.

Strumming Pattern

Please take a few moments to review the strumming pattern in the video. There we cover how the strumming mimics a drummer’s rhythm for the song! You’re following the drummer’s eighth notes here, and you’ll be strumming on the beats and half beats. Sweet!

But how do you actually do this? Simply wave your strumming hand over your guitar stings, up and down. You don’t need to play the strings just yet, what you’re trying to do is to get your strumming hand to move like a metronome. As you bring your hand down and it passes over the strings, this is your first beat, and you count one. Then you bring your hand back up, and this upward motion across the strings is your half beat or eighth note. You repeat this process of waving your hand back and forth over the strings, and the second time your hand moves down over the strings, it’s your second beat.

So, on the downward motions, this is beat 1. On the upward motion, it’s a half beat and you will say, “and.” The next downward motion is 2, and on the next upward motion, you will say, “and,” again. Continuing on this pattern, our hand is going 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and. Understanding this eighth note pattern and the movement of your hand is going to help with the next part. Where we leave out, or skip, certain eighth notes to create a rhythm.

You want to strum your chords on the 1-and-2-and-(skip)-and-4-(skip). We’re skipping the 3rd beat, and the last eighth note! Sounds simple, but it takes a lot of patience, timing, and slow practice to get this rhythm to sink in and stick. So go slow and take your time.

Lyrics & Chords

Time to strum along! We’ll start out with the intro and take it from there!

Intro: Dm – Am (simplified) – G x4

Am…………………….G

Dig if you will the picture

G…………………………………..Am

Of you and I engaged in a kiss

Am…………………………….G

The sweat of your body covers me

G………………………………………………….Am

Can you my darling, can you picture this?

Am………………………..G

Dream, if you can, a courtyard

G……………………………..Am

An ocean of violets in bloom

Am…………………………..G

Animals strike curious poses

G………………………………………………………………..Am

They feel the heat, the heat between me and you

Am………………………………….G

How can you just leave me standing

G…………………………………..Am

Alone in a world that’s so cold? (So cold)

Am……………………….G

Maybe I’m just too demanding

G………………………………………………..Am

Maybe I’m just like my father, too bold

Am………………………………..G

Maybe you’re just like my mother

G……………………..Am

She’s never satisfied (she’s never satisfied)

Am…………………………………..G

Why do we scream at each other?

G

This is what it sounds like When doves cry

INTRO: Dm – Am (simplified) – G x4

Am…………………………G

Touch if you will my stomach

G………………………………Am

Feel how it trembles inside

Am……………………………….G

You’ve got the butterflies all tied up

G……………………………………………………………..Am

Don’t make me chase you even doves have pride

Am…………………………………….G

How could you just leave me standing

G…………………………..Am

Alone in a world so cold? (World so cold)

Am…………………………..G

Maybe I’m just too demanding

G……………………………………………….Am

Maybe I’m just like my father, too bold

Am………………………………..G

Maybe you’re just like my mother

G……………………..Am

She’s never satisfied (she’s never satisfied)

Am………………………………….G

Why do we scream at each other?

G

This is what it sounds like When doves cry

That’s It!

You can play When Doves Cry! Did you opt to learn this with just the open chords? That’s awesome! Need a challenge? Yes? Give those bar chords a try! I know they can be tough, but the more you practice them the easier they get. Now, get out to your next party and host a little sing-along to Prince, or Neil Finn, or whoever for that matter. Just go have fun.

Remember, if you would like to support this webpage, please become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/smellytele! A perk of being a patron? I will make a video lesson specifically for you! If there’s a song you want to learn, but you can’t find a lesson for it, tell me! I’m here to help!

If you’re looking for country lessons, check out our Chris Stapleton lessons on Starting Over and You Should Probably Leave!

Or if you needed something a bit more challenging, break out your electric and try our lesson on Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line by Waylon Jennings!

Also, go check out some of our acoustic guitar lessons! If you’re a beginner looking for more simple chords, try Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show or Willin’ by Little Feat! These simple songs are great to learn!

And if you liked the guitar we used in today’s video, check out our full review of the Martin Custom D Classic Rosewood!

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And if you struggled with any part of this lesson, leave a comment below! I’m happy to help you!