"Letter
Home"
Lyrics
Written By: Al Schnier
Lyrics
Transcribed By: Amy Ross
Debut:
September 5, 1997
Official recording(s) (if any): Tin Cans and Car Tires
Blue
skies of April
An eighteen hour drive
Atlanta at Three-AM...New York City tonight*
My home, my heart, my best friend
Life has been pretty good
Who am I kidding it's been grand
Chorus:
I've been thinkin' 'bout this and that
I've been thinkin' 'bout the way it should be
I've been thinkin' 'bout the weight of the world
I've been thinkin' 'bout the way it could be
Dog days of summer further on down the road**
All the kids just keep on dancing long after the show***
My road, my heart, my best friends
Life has been pretty strange
All the freaks are getting toasted on the range
(Chorus)
Getting ready to harvest
Workin' on a bridge
One more trip to the left coast
Wonderin' where it is
My home, my heart, my best friend
Never knew that it could be this way
Ah, what the hell did I know anyway?
(Chorus)
(Chorus)
(Chorus)
*often replaced
with the name of the city in which the band is playing
**possibly further down the road on the Furthur (Festival)
***"The Music Never Stopped" (Grateful Dead):
No one's
noticed, but the band's all packed and gone. Was it ever there at all?
But they
keep on dancin...C'mon children! C'mon Children! C'mon clap your hands...
Al:
"Letter Home" is just that - a letter home from our recent year on the road, 1997. Each verse is a page from each tour, each season. The song had given us some trouble for awhile, as evidenced by the various incarnations you may have heard since its inception. It went from being a simple country song to include an extended bridge with an odd-metered world beat extravaganza, and even became a reggae song at one point, before coming full circle and becoming the song it always was - a simple country song. And it wasn't until the end of our fall '97 tour, as we were returning home, that the song also 'returned home.' Life vs. art? Let's call it a draw.
Letter
Home
Guitar Tabs:
Transcribed
by moegreene aka Erold Kroft
the intro:
Chuck:
-7---------------------------8----------------------------------
--8-------------------------------------------------------------
---9-\-8^9---------9-------------9^7------5--4---0--------------
--------10--------10--------------------------------------0/-2--
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
Al:
---0--2--3--2--0---0--2--3--2--0--0--2--3--2--0--0--2--3--2--0---
--1-1--1--1--1--1---1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--
-0---0--0--0---------0--0--0--------0--0--0--------0--0--0-------
--------------2---------------2--------------2--------------2----
------------------3--------------3--------------3--------------3-
-----------------------------------------------------------------
here, Al is playing the G-C progression that is basically the same all the way throughout the song
--------------------0-----------0--------------
--0----1--------0---1--------0--1-------0--1---
--0----0--------0---0--------0--0-------0--0---
--0----2--0h2p0-0---2--0h2p0-0--2-0h2p0-0--2---
--2----3--------2---3--------2--3-------2--3---
--3---(3)-------3------------3----------3--3---
chuck plays a country inflected lead break,
doing a countryfried G chord,but bending the 14th fret note a whole step,then
releasing it on the way down.wire this.it's such a cool lick
--15---15-----------15--15--14--14-12-12---
--15-----15-15--------------------------15-
--14B-------14r-12-------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
------15----------------------------------------------------------
---15B--15r--13-12-13-12h13p12----------------13-12---------------
------------------------------14-12------12-14-----14-12----------
------------------------------------12-14---------------12/14\12--
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
the chords are
C
for the intro
G-C
for the verses
D-A-C
for the chorus
F-C-Eflat-Bflat-C#-G#-C
(the bass is doing this for overall harmonic analysis)
for the break,
however, the guitar is playing a much simpler pattern that is
C-Bflat-G#-C
(at least Al is)
^=slur
/=slide up\=slide down
B=bend one whole step
b=bend one half step
r=release bend
Chuck starts off the proceedings with this arpeggio and is in the background adding ethereal sonic wisps with volume swells, and on this i gather, slide.
Al is arpeggiatinga C-chord adding a rising and descending walking line on
the High E string.
the verse part:
Al's rhythm part during the verses.he doesn't change it at all throughout
the song.:
--------------------0-----------0------------------
--0----1--------0---1--------0--1-------0--1-------
--0----0--------0---0--------0--0-------0--0-------
--0----2--0h2p0-0---2--0h2p0-0--2-0h2p0-0--2-0h20--
--2----3--------2---3--------2--3-------2--3-------
--3---(3)-------3------------3----------3--3-------
chuck's rhythm part during the verse.
embellishing the al chords,adding touches and little colors to widen the sonic
landscape of the chord progression. sometimes,it's after the chord,sometimes
on top of it.
he doesn't play on the first G-C chord of the verse, as he decays the note
from the intro leading into the verse.
the beat is in 4:
Blue skies of April
An eighteen hour drive
Atlanta at Three-AM...New York City tonight*
Chorus:
------------------3------------------3--3--------3--3----------
------------------3---------1--------3--3--------3--1-0--------
------------------------------0--------------0---------0-------
------------------------0-2-------------0-2-------------(0)----
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------3------------------3------------3---------------
My home, my heart, my best friend
Life has been pretty good
--------3---------------------------------------3-3-------------
--------3---------------------x--------1p0------3-3-------------
------------------0-----------x--/-12-----0-----------------0---
------------2--0-2--0---------x--/-12-0----0---------2--0-2---2-
------------3-----------------x----------------------3----------
----------------------------------------------3-----------------
Who am I kidding it's been grand
---------3-------------------------
---------3----------------1--1p0---
--------------------------0-----0--
--------------------------2-0----0-
--------------------------3--------
3----------------------------------
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moegreene
Posted: 10/30/06 7:50PM ET
the chorus is straight forward. it is D-A-C
chuck:
---2----------------------------------------------------------
---3--2--5---------7--2--5--------7--2--5--------7-2-5-5-5----
---2--2--5------0--7--2--5------0-7--2--5------0-7-2-5-5-5---
------2--5--0-2----7--2--5--0-2---7--2--5--0-2---7-2-5-5-5---
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Al:
--2----------------2--------------2--------------2------------
--3---2--1---------3--2--1--------3--2--1--------3-2-1-1-1----
--2---2--0---------2--2--0--------2--2--0--------3-2-0-0-0----
------2--2------------2--2-----------2--2----------2-2-2-2----
---------3---------------3--------------3------------3-3-3----
--------------------------------------------------------------
this is Chuck's passage prior to going into the second verse:
----------------------------------------------
----8------12-----15-----17-----19-17h19p17---
-------------------------------------------16-
--8^9---11^12--12^14--14^17--17---------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
----15-------------------------------------------------------------
-15B--15r--13-12-13-12h13p12----------------13-12------------------
----------------------------14-12------12-14-----12-12-------------
----------------------------------12-14---------------12/14--14\12-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
the final installment:
the bridge or mini solo section:
this little ditty is really cool. here is a great exercise of what you can
do with very little and come up with a masterpiece.
this isn't YEM, and doesn't need to be.
the greatest things are the simplest things.
and this is as simple as you can get.
well, the Al part is. so is Chucks.
but, you will see.
here, Al plays a simple arpeggio based on these chords:
C-Bflat-G#-C
Al's part:
-----------------------0---------------------------
--6-5---4-3---2-1-----1-1----6-5--4-3----2-1-------
----5-----3-----1----0---0-----5-----3------1------
----5-----3-----1---2-----2----5------3--------2-3-
-------------------3-------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
---0--2--3--2--0---0--2--3--2--0--0--2--3--2--0--0--2--3--2--0---
--1-1--1--1--1--1---1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--
-0---0--0--0---------0--0--0--------0--0--0--------0--0--0-------
--------------2---------------2--------------2--------------2----
------------------3--------------3--------------3--------------3-
-----------------------------------------------------------------
this is the intro al riff. i was worried ya'll might not get that because
i spaced it too close. this is it.
play it 4x:
-------0--------2--------3--------2--------0-------
----1-----1--------1--------1--------1--------1----
-0-----------0--------0--------0-------------------
----------------------------------------2----------
-------------------------------------------------3-
---------------------------------------------------
here is chuck's lead break for the solo section:
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------10---------8-10-----9-8-------------------------
------9-10--------12----8------10------10-8----7-8-9----7-9-10-
-10-12----(10)------------------------------10-------10--------
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------10-13-11-10-11-10-----------------9-8-----------------
--9-10-12-------------------12-10-12-12-10------10-8----7-8-9---
-----------------------------------------------------10---------
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
this is what chuck is playing over the al C chord arpeggio ala the intro. he is using volumes swells to make it sound like a pedal steel.
---7---10-----15-----19---17--15--
---8---12-----15-----20-------15--
--(9)-----------------------------
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
chuck's final passage before the final verse:
--15---15-----------15--15--14--14-12-14-12-----
--15-----15-15----------------------------------
--14B-------14r-12------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
---15-----15---------------19--19b-19r-17-----
-----------------20-17--------------------20--
-16--16^17--18^19-----18^19-------------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
it goes back to the final verse,
then the chorus 3x