John Pearse (12 September 1939 – 31 October 2008) was a British guitarist, folk singer and music educator, who came to prominence in the 1960s presenting the popular BBC2 television guitar tuition series, Hold Down a Chord.
He learnt to play Piedmont style guitar (a form of fingerstyle) after hearing Big Bill Broonzy, who toured Europe in 1957.
It was shown in many countries and taught viewers the rudiments of fingerstyle guitar as played by guitarists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy and Reverend Gary Davis.
[5] This was a timely series, because of the ongoing British folk revival and the popularity of singer-songwriters and guitarists like Bob Dylan.
Amongst the many inspired by Pearse was a young Martin Carthy who went on to become a major figure in the UK Folk scene.