Honeymoon Blues - Robert Johnson - With Free Tab

 

In this video I want to share with you my version of Robert Johnson's song 'Honeymoon Blues'. This is a nice piece of delta blues music typical of Johnson's style and very similar to his other song 'Me and the Devil Blues'. 

The music is in the key of A and played on a guitar in Standard Tuning. It is in 4/4 time and it is a fingerstyle piece. Johnson's original was in the Key of Bb, so if you want to play it in this key, you can stick a capo on fret 1 or tune all the strings up a 1/2 step. I like it just in the Key of A.

The music is 12 bar blues and the 12 bar sequence is repeated through the entire song with different variations. 

In my version I give you the intro, the first 2 playthroughs of the 12 bar section, and the outro 

Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab.

Mr Conductor Man Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT

 

• 2/4 Bar - TIn bar 12 of the music there is a 2/4 bar added which can easily trip you up whilst playing. Not only is the 2/4 uncommon in a 12 bar blues, but it also incorporates a chord that is hard to determine from listening to the music. In a normal 12 bar in the Key of A this bar would be played with an A chord and be in 4/4 time. I believe he has used an altered A chord like an A/E chord (which is what ive used) and used 2/4 time. If you dont like this 2/4 bar or are struggling to play it, just replace it with a standard 4/4 bar played with the A chord.

• 1/8th Bass Notes - The music has a standard bass picking pattern with the bass notes being played as quarter notes on each beat of the bar. However, in a few of the bars, Johnson likes to throw in some of 8th notes and this can be tricky to play, especially with the 8th notes being played as split triplets, as it is easy to loose the regular timing. If these are causing you problems, just leave them out and just play all the bass notes as 1/4 notes on each beat of the bar.

• Double Bass Notes - The bass notes are played regularly through each bar, as you would expect from a Delta blues piece. However, listening to the music it would seem Johnson sometimes played 2 bass notes on adjacent strings instead of just 1. In my version I have put some bass notes as single notes and some as double notes to facilitate ease of play. Its up to you how you want to play these bass notes, you can play them all as single notes or all as double notes or, like me, just find out what works best for you in each bar. Just remember, when you are playing the bass notes, make sure they are the correct notes for the underlying chord.

• Palm Muting - The bass notes are mostly played palm muted, as is common in Johnson's music. It helps deaden their sound and lets his vocals ring out. Its up to you if the play the bass notes with palm muting or not. Th technique can be tricky if your not used to it but you should be able to do it with a bit of practice. If you are singing over the top of the music, incorporating the palm muting might be a good idea so the voice is more prominent. If you are just playing the guitar without singing, maybe dropping the palm muting might be a good idea so the guitar sound is more prominent. However, it wont effect the music too much regardless of whether you use the palm muting or not.

This is about all I need to say about this piece. It is quite a straightfoward piece of music to play, there are just a few fidgety sections which may trip you up. But with a little practise it should be easy enough to play.

Thanks for Reading,
Neil