Chords for Tom Feldmann: Son House - “Death Letter Blues” Riff
Tempo:
80.725 bpm
Chords used:
G
F
D
Bb
C
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[G]
[C]
[G]
[D] [C] [G]
Hi, I'm Tom Feldman and that is the main riff of Death Letter Blues by Son House.
We're going to be in open G tuning for [Dm] this lesson.
Let's get into tuning underway.
We've got our 6th string D, [G] 5th string G, [D] 4th string [G] D, 3rd string G, 2nd string [D] B,
1st string [G] D.
That is open G [D] tuning.
Now I'm going to show you the main riff of this song.
This is something he used as My Black Mama in the 1930s and then used it for quite a
few different songs in the 40s and also [F] into the 60s, most notably obviously Death Letter
Blues as I mentioned.
Our [Bb] slide is only doing two things.
Sliding from the 2nd to the 3rd [G] fret and then [Ab] at the 5th fret with that [F] 1st string.
We've got our snap.
6th string, [Bb]
3rd fret, we're going to fret.
You can use your [F] slide, you can use your finger.
We're going to use our finger because that's what Son House did.
Now to get a good snap, what you're going to want to do is get your thumb underneath
the string and let it slip off the string.
[G] Then we're going to do a strum down.
After the strum [Bb] down, we're going to slide.
So we're going to go.
[G] [C] The only thing I'm plucking when I'm doing that slide is the 3rd string.
But because [G] we just had that open [Bb] strum, we're going to be getting a lot of different string
noises as we make that slide.
So lay that slide flat, but [F] only hit the 3rd string [Ab] and you're going to get a lot of other
sounds going on which are very, very cool.
Dirties it up [G] really nice.
And then [Db] 5th fret, 1st string.
[G] Before we get to that 5th fret, 1st string, we're basically doing a pull off.
[F] [G]
So that is [N] the main riff used by Son House throughout his career.
If you're interested in more Son House lessons, check out a lesson that I did called The Guitar
of Son House through Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop available at GuitarVideos.com.
If you have any requests for more of these riff lessons, contact me at Tom at TomFelden.com.
Take care.
[G]
[C]
[G]
[D] [C] [G]
Hi, I'm Tom Feldman and that is the main riff of Death Letter Blues by Son House.
We're going to be in open G tuning for [Dm] this lesson.
Let's get into tuning underway.
We've got our 6th string D, [G] 5th string G, [D] 4th string [G] D, 3rd string G, 2nd string [D] B,
1st string [G] D.
That is open G [D] tuning.
Now I'm going to show you the main riff of this song.
This is something he used as My Black Mama in the 1930s and then used it for quite a
few different songs in the 40s and also [F] into the 60s, most notably obviously Death Letter
Blues as I mentioned.
Our [Bb] slide is only doing two things.
Sliding from the 2nd to the 3rd [G] fret and then [Ab] at the 5th fret with that [F] 1st string.
We've got our snap.
6th string, [Bb]
3rd fret, we're going to fret.
You can use your [F] slide, you can use your finger.
We're going to use our finger because that's what Son House did.
Now to get a good snap, what you're going to want to do is get your thumb underneath
the string and let it slip off the string.
[G] Then we're going to do a strum down.
After the strum [Bb] down, we're going to slide.
So we're going to go.
[G] [C] The only thing I'm plucking when I'm doing that slide is the 3rd string.
But because [G] we just had that open [Bb] strum, we're going to be getting a lot of different string
noises as we make that slide.
So lay that slide flat, but [F] only hit the 3rd string [Ab] and you're going to get a lot of other
sounds going on which are very, very cool.
Dirties it up [G] really nice.
And then [Db] 5th fret, 1st string.
[G] Before we get to that 5th fret, 1st string, we're basically doing a pull off.
[F] [G]
So that is [N] the main riff used by Son House throughout his career.
If you're interested in more Son House lessons, check out a lesson that I did called The Guitar
of Son House through Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop available at GuitarVideos.com.
If you have any requests for more of these riff lessons, contact me at Tom at TomFelden.com.
Take care.
[G]
Key:
G
F
D
Bb
C
G
F
D
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [G] _
Hi, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I'm Tom Feldman and that is the main riff of Death Letter Blues by Son House.
We're going to be in open G tuning for [Dm] this lesson.
Let's get into tuning underway.
We've got our 6th string D, [G] 5th string G, [D] 4th string [G] D, 3rd string G, 2nd string [D] B,
1st string [G] D.
That is open G [D] tuning.
Now I'm going to show you the main riff of this song.
This is something he used as My Black Mama in the 1930s and then used it for quite a
few different songs in the 40s and also [F] into the 60s, most notably obviously Death Letter
Blues as I mentioned.
Our [Bb] slide is only doing two things.
Sliding from the 2nd to the 3rd [G] fret and then [Ab] at the 5th fret with that [F] 1st string.
We've got our snap.
6th string, [Bb]
3rd fret, we're going to fret.
You can use your [F] slide, you can use your finger.
We're going to use our finger because that's what Son House did.
Now to get a good snap, what you're going to want to do is get your thumb underneath
the string and let it slip off the string.
[G] Then we're going to do a strum down. _
After the strum [Bb] down, we're going to slide.
So we're going to go. _
[G] _ _ [C] The only thing I'm plucking when I'm doing that slide is the 3rd string.
But because [G] we just had that open [Bb] strum, _ we're going to be getting a lot of different string
noises as we make that slide.
So lay that slide flat, but [F] only hit the 3rd string [Ab] and you're going to get a lot of other
sounds going on which are very, very cool.
Dirties it up [G] really nice.
_ And then [Db] 5th fret, 1st string.
[G] _ _ _ Before we get to that 5th fret, 1st string, we're basically doing a pull off. _ _ _
[F] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ So that is [N] the main riff used by Son House throughout his career.
If you're interested in more Son House lessons, check out a lesson that I did called The Guitar
of Son House through Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop available at GuitarVideos.com.
If you have any requests for more of these riff lessons, contact me at Tom at TomFelden.com.
Take care.
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [G] _
Hi, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I'm Tom Feldman and that is the main riff of Death Letter Blues by Son House.
We're going to be in open G tuning for [Dm] this lesson.
Let's get into tuning underway.
We've got our 6th string D, [G] 5th string G, [D] 4th string [G] D, 3rd string G, 2nd string [D] B,
1st string [G] D.
That is open G [D] tuning.
Now I'm going to show you the main riff of this song.
This is something he used as My Black Mama in the 1930s and then used it for quite a
few different songs in the 40s and also [F] into the 60s, most notably obviously Death Letter
Blues as I mentioned.
Our [Bb] slide is only doing two things.
Sliding from the 2nd to the 3rd [G] fret and then [Ab] at the 5th fret with that [F] 1st string.
We've got our snap.
6th string, [Bb]
3rd fret, we're going to fret.
You can use your [F] slide, you can use your finger.
We're going to use our finger because that's what Son House did.
Now to get a good snap, what you're going to want to do is get your thumb underneath
the string and let it slip off the string.
[G] Then we're going to do a strum down. _
After the strum [Bb] down, we're going to slide.
So we're going to go. _
[G] _ _ [C] The only thing I'm plucking when I'm doing that slide is the 3rd string.
But because [G] we just had that open [Bb] strum, _ we're going to be getting a lot of different string
noises as we make that slide.
So lay that slide flat, but [F] only hit the 3rd string [Ab] and you're going to get a lot of other
sounds going on which are very, very cool.
Dirties it up [G] really nice.
_ And then [Db] 5th fret, 1st string.
[G] _ _ _ Before we get to that 5th fret, 1st string, we're basically doing a pull off. _ _ _
[F] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ So that is [N] the main riff used by Son House throughout his career.
If you're interested in more Son House lessons, check out a lesson that I did called The Guitar
of Son House through Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop available at GuitarVideos.com.
If you have any requests for more of these riff lessons, contact me at Tom at TomFelden.com.
Take care.
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _