Chord/Tab song: Ramblin' on My Mind

Subject: TAB: Ramblin' On My Mind/Robert Johnson

Song basics

Ramblin' On My Mind is a typical Delta Blues, written by Robert Johnson, one the best
early Blues musicians, who had a great influence on EC. Just listen to the Unplugged-
record - a lot of these songs were written by Robert Johnson.
The original Delta Blues was strictly acoustic ("unplugged"), and the guitar was played in
a way to emulate a whole band, with bass lines and picking patterns. It was the very first
Blues form, starting in the early 1900s in an area in the southern part of Mississippi called
"the Mississippi Delta", which is not the mouth of the Mississippi river near New Orleans.
The electric version played by EC is a kind of electric Delta Blues, compared to the Chicago
Blues style it sounds cruder, less jazz-like. Recently EC played Ramblin' unplugged, closer
to the original.
Ramblin' on my mind is a slow basic Blues shuffle in E, with a quick change 12 bar Blues
scheme. You can use the minor pentatonic Blues scale as described before.

You need the following chords: E7 - A7 - B7 (I-IV-V)

The main chord progression is (12 bar quick change Blues)

[E] [)7] [-] [A7] [-] [E7] [-] [E7]
[A] [)7] [-] [A7] [-] [E7] [-] [E7]
[B] [)7] [-] [A7] [-] [E7] [-] [B7]
The song structure is:
1st verse, 2nd verse, solo, 3rd verse, ending

Rhythm guitar
This is the basic riff, played with some variations. You can use also other fitting riffs
or start with playing chords. Try them out!

[E7] [A7] [B7]

I-------------------I I-------------------I I------------------- )I
I-------------------I I-------------------I I----0-0--0-0--0---- )I
I-------------------I I-------------------I I------------------- )I
I-------------------I I--2-2-4-4-5-5-0----I I------------------- )I
I--2-2-4-4-5-5-0----I I--0-0-0-0-0-0---4--I I--2---2------------ )I
I--0-0-0-0-0-0---3b-I I-------------------I I----------------3-- )b-I

Intro
The intro starts with with a double stop (two notes played together) combined with a
bending on one of the notes, followed by some common Blues licks:

0tr1 means a triller: fast hammer-on and pull-off (0h1p0h1p0 etc.)

I---7--7--I-7--7--7\----0-I-----------------------I-----------I------------------ )I
I---8b-8b-I-8b-8b-8\------I-----------------------I-----------I------0---0-0----- )I
I---------I---------------I-----------------------I---0h1-2-3-I-4\--------------- )I
I---------I---------------I-0tr2--0h2-------------I-2---------I------------------ )I
I---------I-----------2---I-----------2-1-0-------I-----------I----2---2-----2h4- )I
I---------I---------------I-----------------3b-0--I-----------I--------------0--- )I

|- piano starts here I've got

First Verse

[E7] [A7] [E7] [E7]

I-------------------I--------------------I-------------------------I------------------------- )I
I-------------------I--------------------I-------------------------I------------------------- )I
I-------------------I--------------------I-----0tr1-2-0tr1---------I-----0tr1-2 0tr1--------- )I
I-------------------I--2-2-4-4-5-5-0-----I-------------------0-1-2-I-------------------0-1-2- )I
I-2-2-4-4-5-5-0-----I--0-0-0-0-0-0---4---I-----------------2-------I-----------------2------- )I
I-0-0-0-0-0-0---3b--I--------------------I-0-0---------------------I-0-0--------------------- )I

ramblin' I've got ramblin' I've got
all on my mind

[A7] [A7] [E7] [E7]

I-------------------I--------------------I-------------------------I------------------------- )I
I-------------------I--------------------I-------------------------I------------------------- )I
I---------------2---I---------------2----I-----0tr1-2 0tr1---------I-----0tr1-2 0tr1--------- )I
I-2-2-4-4-5-5-4---2-I-2-2-4-4-5-5-4---2--I-------------------0-1-2-I-------------------0-1-2- )I
I-0-0-0-0-0-0-0---0-I-0-0-0-0-0-0-0---0--I-----------------2-------I-----------------2------- )I
I-------------------I--------------------I-0-0---------------------I-0-0--------------------- )I

ramblin' I've got ramblin Is to leave
all on my mind

[B7] [A7] [A7] [A7]

I-------------------I---------------------------I-------------------------I------------------- )I
I---0-0--0-0--0-----I---------------------------I-------------------------I----0---0---------- )I
I-------------------I---------------------------I-------------------------I----2-2-2---------- )I
I-------------------I-2---2----2--4b-2-4-2---2--I------0-1-2-0------------I--2----------0-1-2- )I
I-2---2---------3b--I-0-0---/4-------------4----I--------------2-1-0------I-----------2------- )I
I-------------------I---------------------------I--0-0---------------3b-0-I------------------- )I

my baby, 'cause she treats me so unkind I'm goin'

Second verse
(I'm goin') down to the station,
catch that old fast milk train, you'll see.

I'm going down to the station,
catch that old fast milk train, you'll see.
I've got the (continued as following:)

[B7]

I-----------2---2-------I---------------------------I-0-----------------------I--------------- )I
I---0-0---0---0---------I---------------------------I--------------------0----I---0---0-0--0-- )I
I-------2---------------I---------------------------I------0tr1-1-2-2-3-------I--------------- )I
I-----------------2-0-1-I-2-2--4-4--5-5--0----------I-------------------------I--------------- )I
I-----------------------I-0-0--0-0--0-0-------------I-----------2-3-3-4-------I-2---2---2----- )I
I-----------------------I------------------0--------I-0--0--------------------I--------------- )I

Blues about Miss So 'n So, and the sun got the Blues 'bout me.

Solo
He plays around 1 note (!) doing full, half and quarter bends.
To keep the tab in a comfortable length, I've used (only for this song)
bf for a full-tone bend,
bh for a half tone bend,
bq for a quarter tone bend and
hb for hold bend, that means pick the string after bending it.
It's a good idea to practice these bends before playing the solo. I think it's impossible to
make an absolute exact tab of this solo, you must listen to the record...

OK, now let's try it:

I----------------I---------------------------------- )I
I----8bh---8bh---I-10bf-10hb-10--------------------- )hb-(repeat 7 times)-I
I-/9-----9-------I---------------------------------- )I
I----------------I---------------------------------- )I
I----------------I---------------------------------- )I
I----------------I---------------------------------- )I
I----------------------------------------------- )I
I-10hb-10hb-10hb-8-8bh-10hb-10bh-10bq-10br-8-10- )I
I----------------------------------------------- )I
I----------------------------------------------- )I
I----------------------------------------------- )I
I----------------------------------------------- )I

(If you have problems with the scale at this position, you can also play it like

I--------------------I---------------------------- )I
I--------------------I---------------------------- )I
I-----12bh-----12bh--I-14bf-14bh-14bh-etc.-------- )I
I-/14------/14-------I---------------------------- )I
I--------------------I---------------------------- )I
I--------------------I----------------------I -- )
I-----------------------I-7-5--------------------------I--------------- )I
I-10br-8---8-10-8-----5-I-----7rb-5---7-7bf-bh-7-5-7---I-7bf-7hb-7br-5- )I
I--------9---------/6---I-----------6----------------6-I--------------- )I
I-----------------------I------------------------------I--------------- )I
I-----------------------I------------------------------I--------------- )I
I-----------------------I------------------------------I--------------- )I
I-----7---------7--------------------------------------I------------------------------ )I
I-7bf---7hb-7bf---7hb-5----5-7--7bf-7bf-5-5-5--7bh-----I----3-3----------------------- )I
I------------------------6--------------------------6--I-/4-----\2-2-2tr0------------- )I
I------------------------------------------------------I------------------2---0h2----- )I
I------------------------------------------------------I--------------------2--------- )I
I------------------------------------------------------I------------------------------ )I
I-----0--0-----0-0-----0-0---I---------------- )I
I---0----0-------0-------0---I-0---0--0---0--- )I
I----------3p2-----3p2-------I-1--------2----- )I
I----------------------------I---------------- )I
I----------------------------I---2-2------2--- )I
I-0--------------------------I---------------- )I

Third verse
(Played same as first)

(I got) mean things,
I've got mean things all on my mind.

Little girl, little girl,
I've got mean things all on my mind.

Is to leave my baby,
cause she treats me so unkind.

Ending

I------------------------------3/4---- )I
I------------------------------2/3---- )I
I---0tr1-------2----3----4\----3/4---- )I
I------------------------------------- )I
I------2-------3-3--4-4--5\----------- )I
I-0-------3b-0------------------------ )I

That was it!

---------

Bruno Bezerra Lima (?`') Juliana Barcelos dos Santos
4ever
Fortaleza(The most beautiful city in the hole fucking world), Ceara - Brazil