The other tab on here is incorrect in a lot of places, also the video covers I've seen
of this song on the Web also have it wrong. I put this together based on the actual
videos of Jakob playing this song. I'm pretty sure these chords are correct. You can use
a variety of fingerpicking patterns for this song, including Travis-style. Jakob's patterns
are very simple, but you can embellish a lot. I can sing this song from start to finish,
matching Jakob's melody with these chords. Enjoy. Roger Dale Adkins
Will It Grow
Jakob Dylan
Capo IV
Intro (Using straight forward fingerpicking rolls, but you can vary this).
The chords for the first part of the intro are Am, F, G, Am (fifth fret):
e---------------------------------------------------------|
B--------1-------1-------3-------5------------------------|
G------2-------2-------4-------5--------------------------|
D----2-------3-------5-------7----------------------------|
A--0-------0-------0-------0------------------------------|
D---------------------------------------------------------|
The intro then moves back to open position C. With your picking hand, move the bass line
with your thumb and pick the treble strings with your first or second (or both)
fingers(again you can vary the picking pattern if you like as this is an approximation):
e-------------------------------------------------|
B---------1----------1---------1---------1--------|
G-------0---0------0---0-----0---0-----0---0------|
D-------------------------------------------------|
A----0----------3----------2----------------------|
E------------------------------------3------------|
The rest of the chords are as follows (I tried to put the changes where they occur, but
you can listen to the recordings and watch the videos to work out the exact timing):
Am Fmaj7 C
I made a promise to not let go
G Fmaj7
Our tug of war has only made me want you more
G C Fmaj7
Steeped in hard luck and doomed to roam
G Am
My love is braver than you know
Am Fmaj7 C
My forefathers, they worked this land
G Fmaj7
And I was schooled in the tyranny of nature's plans
G C Fmaj7
Dressed in thunder a cloud came around
G Am
Oh, in the shape of a lion a hand came down
Chorus:
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/j/jakob_dylan/will_it_grow_crd_ver_2.html ]
Am Fmaj7 C
Now, damn this valley and damn this cold
Am
Well, take so long to let me know
Am Fmaj7 C
It's plant and reap and plow and sow
C Esus4
But tell me, will it grow?
Play the intro again before the next verse:
Am F C
Dig my ditches in the golden sun
G F
I'd be robbing these trains if I could catch me one
G C F
Now, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday's gone
G Am
Got me stone cold sober in a drought so long
Boarded mansions and ghost filled yards
There's a boy in a water tower counting cars
Steel trap open in empty stalls
Now there's a well-worn saddle but the horse is gone
Repeat Chorus
Break: Am, G/B, C, G, F
Jet black starlit midnight rolls
I am down in the garden where I let you go
Up on the surface the earth looks round
But it's a godless city of cold flat ground
Chorus:
(Use the same chords as in the break for the final refrains. The embellished "oh" sound
in "Will it Grow" moves right through the chord progression.)
Am, G/B, C, G, Fmaj7
Will it grow oh grow oh oh x2
Will it grow?
The last line is slightly more subdued than the preceding two, but the chords stay the same.
End on the intro.
A couple of the chords you might not be familiar with:
Esus4
e--0------|
B--0------|
G--2------|
D--0------|
A--2------|
E--0------|
Fmaj7
e--0------------|
B--1------------|
G--2------------|
D--3------------|
A--3------------|
E---------------|
C/B (This is really just a transition chord to get from Am to C, it's mostly just a
"walk-up" on the bass line:
e--------------|
B--1-----------|
G--0-----------|
D--0-----------|
A--2-----------|
E--------------|
Notes on the chords used in the break and final chorus:
Am, G/B, C, G, Fmaj7
If you're a good fingerpicker, you can really embellish on the F chord here to find a
lot of the trademark notes. What I try to do is distill some of what the second guitar
plays into this little break. This is one of the only points where I deviate from
Jakob's use of the Fmaj7 chord in order to free up the pinkie on my left hand to play some of the
other embellishment notes.
