by jhc » Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:37 pm
I just stumbled across this, and as I'm playing this song regularly these days, here's what I do.
This is pretty much most of the song
D-|-|-|-G-|-|-|
v*v^----v*v^
where:
v* = downstroke emphasizing bass note(s)
v = full chord downstroke
^ = upstroke (usually emphasizing the top 4 strings)
The big exception is the "twenty-one in prison" line where it goes into a 2/4 time (or feels that way)
D-|-D-|-C-|-D-|-
v---v---v---v^v
The Bm which comes immediately after sounds best to me with the standard root-strum-5th-strum pattern (where these represent the 4 beats of the measure, root and 5th are single notes - B and F# in a Bminor - and strum = play the chord) This pattern can also be used throughout the whole song for a more "rolling" feel.
(looking back that may be exactly what "whatever" meant by boom-tap-boobmboom-tap)