Bruce Springsteen – Highway 29 (Guitar)

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By Bruce Springsteen (From the album "The Ghost of Tom Joad") Note: This is a wonderful song that isn't too tough to play, once you get the picking pattern down. For ease of play (I'm not sure if Bruce does this or not, but I suspect it due to the sound of the fill before the last verse) tune the low E up to an F. This will make the piece much easier to play than doing full barres for the F. Picking Pattern and Chord Formations:

   C            F            Am7          C/G          G
e|------0-----|------1-----|------0-----|------0-----|------3-----|
B|--------1---|--------1---|--------1---|--------1---|--------0---|
G|---0------0-|---2------2-|---0------0-|---0------0-|---0------0-|
D|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
A|-3----------|------------|-0----------|------------|------------|
F|------------|-0----------|------------|-2----------|-2----------|

[Intro] C

                 F                            C
I slipped on her shoe; she was a perfect size seven.

                                          Am7      C/G
I said, "There's no smoking in the store, ma'am."

                         F
She crossed her legs and then

                                                     C
We made some small talk; that's where it should have stopped.

                   Am7    C/G             F
She slipped me her number; I put it in my pocket.

                                                    C
My hand slipped up her skirt; everything slipped my mind

               Am7        F
In that little roadhouse

           C
On Highway 29.

 F                            C
It was a small town bank; it was a mess.

              Am7   C/G               F
Well, I had a gun.  You know the rest.

Money on the floorboards, shirt was covered in blood

                   C     Am7    C/G             F
And she was cryin'; her and me we headed south

         C
On Highway 29.

                     Am7                      F
In a little desert motel, the air was hot and clean.

                         C              G
I slept the sleep of the dead; I didn't dream.

              Am7                            F
I woke in the morning, washed my face in the sink.

                      C                             G
We headed into the Sierra Madres, 'cross the border line.

            F                         C
The winter sun shot through the black trees

                 Am7
I told myself it was all something in her

                      C/G               F
But as we drove I knew it was something in me,

                                       C
Something that'd been comin' for a long, long time

                       Am7            F
And something that was here with me now

          C
On Highway 29.

[Fill] C with walking bass notes: C F G A G C

                               F                         C
The road was filled with broken glass and gasoline.

                   Am7   C/G               F
She wasn't saying nothin'; it was just a dream.

The wind come silent through the windshield,

                                  C
All I could see was snow, sky and pines.

                              Am7
I closed my eyes and I was runnin'.

C/G                          F
I was runnin' and then I was flyin'

[Outro] F C Am7 C/G F