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Today we will study a favorite song of mine. Friend of the Devil.
In 1998 I played Friend of the Devil with Author John Dawson which was always a dream of mine from the time I was 18.
The song has taken many forms over the years from Fast Blue grass to Slow Ballad.
For the Lesson we will play the song in a moderate country tempo.
Below is the the chord and Lyric sheet provided by rukind.com, a excellent resource for all things Grateful Dead.
We will also discuss how you can create a Descending chord harmony.
The Opening Melodic line in the intro is a descending G major scale.
Here is the Descending G major scale:
E|—————————–
B|—————————–
G|—————————–
D|–5–4–2——————–
A|———–5–3–2———–
E|——————–5–3—–
You can create a chord melody by using the following chords changing2 chords a bar.
G major / F# Minor / E minor / D major / C major / B minor / A minor / G major The G major and C Major are the main chords and the rest are passing chords. I start with the G chord :
E|–3–
B|–3–
G|–4–
D|–5–
A|-x—
E|-x—
I use this form for the F# and E minor chords but change the note on the G string to make a minor chord:
E|–3–2–0–
B|–3–2–0–
G|–4–2–0–
D|–5–4–2–
A|———–
E|———–
I then move to the traditional open D major and C major Chords
The rest of the chords look like this:
E|–2–0–2–0–3–
B|–3–1–3–1–3–
G|–2–0–4–2–0–
D|–0–2–4–2–0–
A|—–3–2–0–2–
E|—————3–
By Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter and John Dawson
G
I lit out from Reno,
C
I was trailed by twenty hounds
G
Didn’t get to sleep that night
C
‘Till the morning came around.
CHORUS:
D
Set out runnin’ but I take my time
Am
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
D
If I get home before daylight,
Am C D
I just might get some sleep tonight.
2nd Verse:
Ran into the devil, babe,
He loaned me twenty bills
I spent the night in Utah
In a cave up in the hills.
Set out runnin’ but I take my time,
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine,
If I get home before daylight,
I just might get some sleep tonight.
I ran down to the levee
But the devil caught me there
He took my twenty dollar bill
And vanished in the air.
Set out runnin’ but I take my time
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight,
I just might get some sleep tonight.
D
Got two reasons why I cry
D
Away each lonely night,
C
The first one’s named Sweet Anne Marie,
C C C#
And she’s my hearts delight.
D
The second one is prison, baby,
D
The sheriff’s on my trail,
Am
And if he catches up with me,
C D
I’ll spend my life in jail.
Got a wife in Chino, babe,
And one in Cherokee
The first one says she’s got my child,
But it don’t look like me.
Chorus:
Set out runnin’ but I take my time,
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine,
If I get home before daylight,
I just might get some sleep tonight.
Extra Verse
You can borrow from the devil
You can borrow from a friend
The devil’ll loan ya twenty
But your friend got only ten
