Johnny Cash – Sixteen Tons (Guitar Tab)

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Sixteen Tons was orignally written by Merle Travis about a coal miner, based on life in coal mines in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. According to Travis, the line "another day older and deeper in debt" from the chorus was a phrase often used by his father, a coal miner himself. This and the line "I owe my soul to the company store" are a reference to the truck system & to debt bondage. Under this scrip system, workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with non-transferable credit vouchers that could be exchanged only for goods sold at the company store. This made it impossible for workers to store up cash savings. Workers also usually lived in company-owned dormitories or houses, the rent for which was automatically deducted from their pay. In the United States the truck system and associated debt bondage persisted until the strikes of the newly formed United Mine Workers and affiliated unions forced an end to such practices.

[INTRO-RIFF]
e|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--/5-5-5-5p4p3---3h4p3---------/5-5-5-5p4p3---3h4p3----------------------------------|
G|---------------5-------5--2-----------------5-------5-2------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
        / = slide
        p = pull-off
        h = hammer-on

After the intro-section play the following instrumental part:

[RIFF 1]
   Am
e|---------------|
B|---1--1--1--1--|
G|---2--2--2--2--|   2 times,  
D|---2--2--2--2--|   then directly into 1st verse [RIFF 2]
A|-0-------------|
E|-----3--1---0--|

Verse:

[RIFF 2]
   Am
e|-----------------|
B|---1---1---1--1--|
G|---2---2---2--2--|    2 times (1st & 2nd line of the verses),
D|---2---2---2--2--|    then, for the 3rd and 4th line play:
A|-0-------0-------|
E|-----0-------0---|            

[RIFF 3]
   Am        Dm         Am      
e|-------------1---1--|-0x-----------| x means MUTE GUITAR (again, listen to the song
B|---1---1-----3---3--|-1x-----------| and you'll know what I mean ;-)
G|---2---2-----2---2--|-2x-----------|
D|---2---2---0--------|--------------|
A|-0-------------0----|-0x-----------|
E|-----0--------------|--------------|

Chorus:

   Am
e|---------------|
B|---1--1--1--1--|
G|---2--2--2--2--|   2 times, then go over to RIFF 3, and after the chorus
D|---2--2--2--2--|   play the INTRO-RIFF (2x) and back to Verse
A|-0-------------|
E|-----3--1---0--|

---------------------------------------------------------------- Intro tabbed by cuauhtli90 Majority of tab was posted by pkrickl but this version has been slightly revised.