anyone have a tab for this? id really appreciate it

Nobody else has responded so I will give it a go. I've seen video of Son House playing that--it was to him what Oh Death is now to Ralph Stanley. My guess would be basically D tuning (DADF#AD) with straight bars sliding into the chords and strumming with more passion than most of us will ever know.

If you check the BigRoadBlues.com forum there are likely tabs for it there, or at least several blues fanatics that can give you more detail.

Son House used almost exclusively open G tuning, and Death Letter is no exception. It is a (fairly) straightforward G-C-D 12 bar blues arrangement. Since Son usually played by himself, however, the timing isn't very strict and the tempo moves up and down a little. There are a bunch of videos on youtube that you can follow. It's pretty easy bottleneck playing.

great Song, easy to play but impossible to perform with the same emotional power, Son House is really inimitable...

Here ya' go. bluestab.skyrock.com/2.html Death Letter is the second one down. By the way to the "Hangout" as you already see, great people, friendly, patient and willing to help. Check out the forum archives lots of information, the video and mp3 archives for some entertainment and instruction. Good luck to you and happy pickin'
Son House Rules !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

Edited by - Grizz on 10/01/2010 13:15:43

I play Death Letter in open D and it works fine (hi to lo: DAF#DAD) with a slide. The tough part is the rythmn,it's kind of syncopated. And you have to mean every word, every note of it.