Gillian Welch "Scarlet Town"

Lesson description: There are many words that I could use to describe Dave Rawlings's playing on "Scarlet Town." Inventive, ingenious, serpentine, and celestial come to mind. The brilliance lies in his use of open strings, with a high capo placement, to generate scale-ular melodies as well as counter-intuitive drone tones.

For example, the song is in D modal minor (in reference to capo), and Dave is using his open high E string as a drone--which is the 9th of the key! Similar to their earlier tune "Caleb Meyer," this creates a tonal ambiguity that is positively rapturous.

Video version: https://youtu.be/SFIjAJi50I8

Format: Sibelius-created digital score with tabs & standard notation

Delivery: Tablature is available as convenient .pdf download, and my custom made backing track is included as a free extra! You'll find the download links on your checkout page and in your email. We encourage you to make a customer account when you check out, so all your future purchases can be found in one place.