Chords for Can You Play This Riff? Ep.12 "Tennessee Ernie Ford"
Tempo:
66.15 bpm
Chords used:
F#
B
Bm
G#
A
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
For today's episode we're gonna take a look at a song that was a hit in 1955.
Here is Tennessee Early Folk.
[C#] [B]
[G#] [B]
[C#] I owe my soul to the [B] company store.
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel [G#] and I walked to the mine.
I loaded 16 tons of number 9 [B] coal.
And the straw boss said, well, bless my soul, you load 16 tons.
What do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St.
Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
I owe my soul to the company store.
I owe my soul to the company store.
That's pretty depressing.
The lyrics of this song are absolutely fantastic.
Take a line like, I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel.
That's just amazing.
Now, the music and the lyrics were written by Merle Travis and his version is actually quite different.
But before we get into that, let's first start with Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
For one thing, it has a very catchy bass line.
[G#] [G#m] Hit the [A] road, Jack.
Same bass line, different song.
Anyway, the first thing you want to do is see if you're able to play that catchy, simple bass line and sing some of those great lyrics to it.
Some people [B] say a man is made out of mud.
A poor [G#m] man's made out of muscle [F#] and blood.
Muscle and blood and skin and bone.
[D#m] A mind that's [F#] weak and a back that's strong.
Nice [Bm] chord there.
Notice, by the way, I'm muting the bottom strings with the palm of my right hand.
[A] So none of this.
This ain't it.
[A#] It's
[A] [B] We need to emulate the sound of the double bass we hear on the record.
Now, let's see if we can make the bass line a bit more interesting to get more of a groove.
You want to hit the strings on the second and the fourth beat.
A one, two, three, four.
A one, two, three, four.
[G#]
It's very delicate, not too loud.
[F#] You can tell how important that is if I leave that out.
[A] [F#] Something's missing.
Makes all the difference in the world.
Now, if you can do that, the bass line as well as the percussive element, then you want to [B] add some chords.
Very simple.
Just the A [F#] power chord and the E power [Bm] chord.
Something like
[C#] [Bm] Put it together [F#] with the rest.
[Bm] [F#] And there you go.
That's pretty much all there is to it.
[Em] [Bm] I owe my soul to the company store.
Such a sad chord at the end.
And that's pretty much all there is to it as far as Tennessee Ernie Ford's version goes.
But the original version by Merle Travis is quite different.
[D#] loads
16 pounds.
Why do you get
You get another day older and deeper in debt.
[E] Saint Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
[D#] I owe my soul to the company [Em] store.
[D#] [Em] I owe my soul to the company store.
I remember I used to listen to this song when I was very young and that line used to scare me a little bit.
I owe my soul to the company store.
Oh dear.
Beautiful lyrics.
So what do you think?
Do you prefer the Tennessee Ernie Ford version or the original Merle Travis version?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Me personally, when it comes to playing the guitar, I kind of prefer playing these [C] simple chords.
[F#] You can throw in the odd country band if you want.
But when it comes to listening to the records, I kind of prefer Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
Okay guys, that's
Here is Tennessee Early Folk.
[C#] [B]
[G#] [B]
[C#] I owe my soul to the [B] company store.
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel [G#] and I walked to the mine.
I loaded 16 tons of number 9 [B] coal.
And the straw boss said, well, bless my soul, you load 16 tons.
What do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St.
Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
I owe my soul to the company store.
I owe my soul to the company store.
That's pretty depressing.
The lyrics of this song are absolutely fantastic.
Take a line like, I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel.
That's just amazing.
Now, the music and the lyrics were written by Merle Travis and his version is actually quite different.
But before we get into that, let's first start with Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
For one thing, it has a very catchy bass line.
[G#] [G#m] Hit the [A] road, Jack.
Same bass line, different song.
Anyway, the first thing you want to do is see if you're able to play that catchy, simple bass line and sing some of those great lyrics to it.
Some people [B] say a man is made out of mud.
A poor [G#m] man's made out of muscle [F#] and blood.
Muscle and blood and skin and bone.
[D#m] A mind that's [F#] weak and a back that's strong.
Nice [Bm] chord there.
Notice, by the way, I'm muting the bottom strings with the palm of my right hand.
[A] So none of this.
This ain't it.
[A#] It's
[A] [B] We need to emulate the sound of the double bass we hear on the record.
Now, let's see if we can make the bass line a bit more interesting to get more of a groove.
You want to hit the strings on the second and the fourth beat.
A one, two, three, four.
A one, two, three, four.
[G#]
It's very delicate, not too loud.
[F#] You can tell how important that is if I leave that out.
[A] [F#] Something's missing.
Makes all the difference in the world.
Now, if you can do that, the bass line as well as the percussive element, then you want to [B] add some chords.
Very simple.
Just the A [F#] power chord and the E power [Bm] chord.
Something like
[C#] [Bm] Put it together [F#] with the rest.
[Bm] [F#] And there you go.
That's pretty much all there is to it.
[Em] [Bm] I owe my soul to the company store.
Such a sad chord at the end.
And that's pretty much all there is to it as far as Tennessee Ernie Ford's version goes.
But the original version by Merle Travis is quite different.
[D#] loads
16 pounds.
Why do you get
You get another day older and deeper in debt.
[E] Saint Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
[D#] I owe my soul to the company [Em] store.
[D#] [Em] I owe my soul to the company store.
I remember I used to listen to this song when I was very young and that line used to scare me a little bit.
I owe my soul to the company store.
Oh dear.
Beautiful lyrics.
So what do you think?
Do you prefer the Tennessee Ernie Ford version or the original Merle Travis version?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Me personally, when it comes to playing the guitar, I kind of prefer playing these [C] simple chords.
[F#] You can throw in the odd country band if you want.
But when it comes to listening to the records, I kind of prefer Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
Okay guys, that's
Key:
F#
B
Bm
G#
A
F#
B
Bm
For today's episode we're gonna take a look at a song that was a hit in 1955.
Here is Tennessee Early Folk. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C#] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
[G#] _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ [C#] I owe my soul to the [B] company store. _ _
_ _ I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel [G#] and I walked to the mine.
I loaded 16 tons of number 9 [B] coal.
And the straw boss said, well, bless my soul, you load 16 tons.
What do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St.
Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
I owe my soul to the company store.
I owe my soul to the company store.
That's pretty depressing.
The lyrics of this song are absolutely fantastic.
Take a line like, I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel.
_ That's just amazing.
Now, the music and the lyrics were written by Merle Travis and his version is actually quite different.
But before we get into that, let's first start with Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
For one thing, it has a very catchy bass line.
_ [G#] _ _ _ _ [G#m] _ Hit the [A] road, Jack.
Same bass line, different song.
Anyway, the first thing you want to do is see if you're able to play that catchy, simple bass line and sing some of those great lyrics to it.
Some people [B] say a man is made out of mud.
A poor [G#m] man's made out of muscle [F#] and blood.
Muscle and blood and skin and bone.
[D#m] A mind that's [F#] weak and a back that's strong.
Nice [Bm] chord there.
Notice, by the way, I'm muting the bottom strings with the palm of my right hand. _ _
_ [A] So none of this.
_ This ain't it.
[A#] It's_
_ [A] _ _ [B] We need to emulate the sound of the double bass we hear on the record.
Now, let's see if we can make the bass line a bit more interesting to get more of a groove.
You want to hit the strings on the second and the fourth beat.
A one, two, three, four.
A one, two, three, four.
_ [G#] _ _ _
It's very delicate, not too loud.
[F#] You can tell how important that is if I leave that out. _ _
[A] _ [F#] Something's missing.
_ _ _ Makes all the difference in the world.
Now, if you can do that, the bass line as well as the percussive element, then you want to [B] add some chords.
Very simple.
Just the A [F#] power chord and the E power [Bm] chord.
Something like_
_ _ [C#] _ _ [Bm] _ Put it together [F#] with the rest.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ [F#] And there you go.
That's pretty much all there is to it.
_ [Em] _ [Bm] I owe my soul to the company store.
_ _ _ _ _ Such a sad chord at the end.
And that's pretty much all there is to it as far as Tennessee Ernie Ford's version goes.
But the original version by Merle Travis is quite different.
[D#] _loads
16 pounds.
Why do you get_
You get another day older and deeper in debt.
[E] Saint Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
[D#] I owe my soul to the company [Em] store.
_ [D#] _ [Em] I owe my soul to the company store.
I remember I used to listen to this song when I was very young and that line used to scare me a little bit.
I owe my soul to the company store.
Oh dear.
Beautiful lyrics.
So what do you think?
Do you prefer the Tennessee Ernie Ford version or the original Merle Travis version?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Me personally, when it comes to playing the guitar, I kind of prefer playing these [C] simple chords.
[F#] You can throw in the odd country band if you want.
But when it comes to listening to the records, I kind of prefer Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
Okay guys, that's
Here is Tennessee Early Folk. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C#] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
[G#] _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ [C#] I owe my soul to the [B] company store. _ _
_ _ I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel [G#] and I walked to the mine.
I loaded 16 tons of number 9 [B] coal.
And the straw boss said, well, bless my soul, you load 16 tons.
What do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St.
Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
I owe my soul to the company store.
I owe my soul to the company store.
That's pretty depressing.
The lyrics of this song are absolutely fantastic.
Take a line like, I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine.
I picked up my shovel.
_ That's just amazing.
Now, the music and the lyrics were written by Merle Travis and his version is actually quite different.
But before we get into that, let's first start with Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
For one thing, it has a very catchy bass line.
_ [G#] _ _ _ _ [G#m] _ Hit the [A] road, Jack.
Same bass line, different song.
Anyway, the first thing you want to do is see if you're able to play that catchy, simple bass line and sing some of those great lyrics to it.
Some people [B] say a man is made out of mud.
A poor [G#m] man's made out of muscle [F#] and blood.
Muscle and blood and skin and bone.
[D#m] A mind that's [F#] weak and a back that's strong.
Nice [Bm] chord there.
Notice, by the way, I'm muting the bottom strings with the palm of my right hand. _ _
_ [A] So none of this.
_ This ain't it.
[A#] It's_
_ [A] _ _ [B] We need to emulate the sound of the double bass we hear on the record.
Now, let's see if we can make the bass line a bit more interesting to get more of a groove.
You want to hit the strings on the second and the fourth beat.
A one, two, three, four.
A one, two, three, four.
_ [G#] _ _ _
It's very delicate, not too loud.
[F#] You can tell how important that is if I leave that out. _ _
[A] _ [F#] Something's missing.
_ _ _ Makes all the difference in the world.
Now, if you can do that, the bass line as well as the percussive element, then you want to [B] add some chords.
Very simple.
Just the A [F#] power chord and the E power [Bm] chord.
Something like_
_ _ [C#] _ _ [Bm] _ Put it together [F#] with the rest.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ [F#] And there you go.
That's pretty much all there is to it.
_ [Em] _ [Bm] I owe my soul to the company store.
_ _ _ _ _ Such a sad chord at the end.
And that's pretty much all there is to it as far as Tennessee Ernie Ford's version goes.
But the original version by Merle Travis is quite different.
[D#] _loads
16 pounds.
Why do you get_
You get another day older and deeper in debt.
[E] Saint Peter, don't you call me cause I can't go.
[D#] I owe my soul to the company [Em] store.
_ [D#] _ [Em] I owe my soul to the company store.
I remember I used to listen to this song when I was very young and that line used to scare me a little bit.
I owe my soul to the company store.
Oh dear.
Beautiful lyrics.
So what do you think?
Do you prefer the Tennessee Ernie Ford version or the original Merle Travis version?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Me personally, when it comes to playing the guitar, I kind of prefer playing these [C] simple chords.
[F#] You can throw in the odd country band if you want.
But when it comes to listening to the records, I kind of prefer Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
Okay guys, that's