Chords for How Ryan Adams plays "Oh My Sweet Carolina"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, we're back again with another installment of how Ryan out of places songs.
This time we're going to do
Oh My Sweet Carolina, one of his greatest songs, if not his greatest song, and one that he continues to play
to this day after all these years.
And there are a whole bunch of acoustic
solo performances out there that you can take a look at and model off of.
I've linked a few below.
_ The song is capo on the third fret, and so we can play the E flat harmonica in the instrumental break of the song.
And [G] the song consists of four chords, actually five, and [Ab] four is the first [Eb] chord is C,
[Gm] _ G,
_ [Ab] F major seventh, [G] _ A minor, and the fifth chord is [Bb] really a G suspend
_ _ where you do a G [G] chord, but your index finger and middle finger are in [Bb] the C chord position.
So, _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Gb] and he uses [E] that a lot in this song and other [Ab] songs as well.
_ _ It's all open chords in the first position as I've shown [Eb] and
what makes a song work are the single note strikes, hammer-ons, and pull-offs as is typical of a lot of the songs.
_ So the song starts off something like this and _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ it's basically [Ab] C with hammer-ons on the D string _ [Eb] and G string, second fret. _ _ _ _
And you strike that C [F] note, or actually it's a D sharp
because of the capo, but C chord position at [Gb] second fret, second string, [Eb] third fret. _ _
_ _ _ _ So it's
_ _ [G] _ _ then open a G string,
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ open G,
[Cm] _ _ [F] open, _ [Eb] and then
_ _ then D string,
_ [F] back to G string,
open, _ and [Fm] open D string.
[Eb] And that's the sequence.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [F] _ _
Boom.
_ Two on that open D string at the end.
And that's basically [A] what he does
pretty consistently all the way [Gb] through.
He finger picks it, but you can use a pick too to do that and
those, that progression is
operates [Eb] consistently throughout the song.
_ So when the singing part comes,
_ _ it's C, _
[Ab] F major seventh, C.
So, but with that rhythm.
I went down to your street,
and [Ab] I stopped in a [Eb] sanitary room,
and I passed up the station.
_ [Bb] _ _ _ One G, one strike G, [Eb] _ and [Bb] _ then that G suspend.
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] You want to get [Eb] that effect on the transition. _ _ _
_ Sometimes on the _ F major seventh chord or F position chord in the first [Ab] line,
he hits that
_ _ _ [G] first fret low E string, and then [Eb] back to the C position.
And he does it with his
middle finger.
He kind of moves his middle finger all the way over, which it's really hard for me to do.
My hands aren't quite
as big as flexible as his.
_ [Ab] But you get that effect too.
And when he's, sometimes he just strikes [Fm] that note and lets it ring out, and with an amplified
acoustic guitar, it works pretty well.
So it might go something [Eb] like this. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [G]
It's a little out of tune there.
Hold on. _ _ _ _
[Eb] Let's try it again. _ _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ You don't want to play any chord,
_ [Eb] then just shift.
[D] And you can kind of watch him do that.
Now sometimes he does [G] that, and then sometimes he doesn't.
Okay?
_ And the third line of the verse [Ab] _
[Eb] is F, [Gm] C, [C] walk down. _ _
[Gm] Cowboy chord walk down [Eb] with a C, C, [D] second fret, [Gm] A minor, third string, E,
[Cm] _ _ _ F major [D] seven.
So, I passed up the [Bb] station for the bus. _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Ab] Trying to [Eb] find me [Gm] something, but I wasn't sure just [Ab] when.
[Eb] And I ended up
[Bb] _ pockets full [Eb] of dust.
C, G, C [F] on the end, and at _ _ _ _ _ [Gm] the end of the verse.
[Gb] Okay?
So that's the [C] verse structure, and [Ab] all the verses pretty much go that way.
And you can watch him do some slight variations and slight intonations and
_ _ _ different kind of sonic effects [C] that he does.
[Ab] But it's all, those are the progressions [Gb] that he uses.
And then the chorus [Cm] is _ [C] A minor,
_ [Ab] _ F major [Eb] seventh, _ _ _
[Gm] _ _ and then you do that _ _ partial hammer-on that you do in the opening [Eb] instrumental part.
_ _ _ _ Like that.
_ [Gb] _ And then walk down with the second fret, A [Cm] string.
_ Then back to A minor,
[Ab] _ F major seventh,
_ [Gb]
G, and then the [F] G suspend.
[Eb] _ _ [Bb] _
Like that. _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ [Gb] Okay, so it's,
_ [Cm] _
_ _ _ And [G] he does the shift on that sort of second [Gbm] syllable or [Cm] second consonant of [Gb] my sweet and compels.
Com-pels is that [Ab] _
[C] F major seventh.
So,
_ [Cm] _ _ _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
Walk [D] down,
_ [Cm] _ _ _ [Ab]
What compels [Bb] me to go,
G suspend, _
_ [G] Oh my [Cm] _ sweet [Ab] _
_ _ [Eb] disposition.
And [F] _ you [Gm] do like three hammer-ons there.
_ _ [Eb] _
May you one day,
[Bb] G carry [G] me.
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
Then you can go [Eb] right back into C,
_ that instrumental part.
_ _ _ But sometimes [Cm] at the end of that second verse line, he does a rundown from the F major seventh.
So,
_ We'll go something like this.
Oh my _ [F] sweet
[Ab] _ _ _ [Eb]
disposition.
[F] One, two, [Eb] three.
May you one day, [Bb] straight G carry [G] me.
_ [Ab] _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
All [Gb] right, so it's like,
[Eb] _ _ [Ab] It's all on the D string.
_ _ _ _ [F]
And then [Eb] _ [C] hit that C.
So, [Ab] third fret, second, open, third,
third [Cm] fret, A string.
[Ab] So,
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And you're right back into the,
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Gm] _ and that's basically the song.
That's how it works.
_ _ Watch him do it.
Like I said, he's pretty consistent in the way he does it.
_ _ When he does the instrumental part, or the instrumental break with the harmonica,
_ _ [Ab] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] he ends [Eb] it often with just strumming rather than really picking.
So it's like,
_ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [Ab] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[Eb] Up here in the city.
[Ab] Okay, so that's, so just again, watch him, [G] watch him do that.
And he ends the song on C.
So,
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ [A] Watch the way he ends the song.
[Gb] It's pretty consistent in the way he does it.
_ _ And, [Cm] but it's the same chords.
[C] _ [Eb] A minor, F, _ _
C.
And there are a bunch of ways that you could do it too, if you wanted to.
But anyway, watch what he does.
Play along with him,
Because the song is pretty easy from a chordal point of view.
The tricky part is, of course, the hammer-on. _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
Okay, anyway, there you go.
Hope that's helpful.
Thanks. _ _
_ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [N] _ _ _