Papa Ain’t Salty | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| G9 | G9 | G9 | G9 |
| C9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
| D9 | C9 (F#m7b5 Em7b5) |
| G9 | G9 |
Verse 1
| G9 | G9 | G9 | G9 |
Come home little girl, your papa ain’t salty no more.
| C9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
Come home little girl, your papa ain’t salty no more.
| D9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
I need your love and I swear I miss you so.
Verse 2
| G9 | G9 | G9 | G9 |
I know I was wrong, and I know I’ve caused you pains.
| C9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
I know I was wrong, and I’ve caused you pains.
| D9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
I’m sorry pretty baby, I won’t do that again.
Solo
| G9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
| C9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
| D9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
| G9 (C#m7b5 Bm7b5) | G9 | G9 | G9 |
| C9 (F#m7b5 Em7b5) | C9 | G9 (C#m7b5 Bm7b5) | G9 |
| D9 (G#m7b5 F#m7b5) | C9 (F#m7b5 Em7b5) |
| G9 (C#m7b5 Bm7b5) | G9 |
Verse 3
| G9 | G9 | G9 | G9 |
Why or why pretty baby, why did you have to go.
| C9 | C9 | G9 | G9 |
Why or why pretty baby, why did you have to go,
| D9 | N.C | N.C | Ab9 G9 |
Please come back home pretty mama, Papa ain’t salty no more.
Papa Ain’t Salty chords and progressions
Built around a standard 12-bar blues, Papa Ain’t Salty’s chords have been extended to 9 using substitutions.
By substituting each chord with a min7b5, starting on the 3rd, we get this lovely-sounding dom9 extension.
Furthermore, this is slid up a tone, hinting at a 6 extension, before the 9.
I have indicated this by putting the min7b5 chords in brackets. On the original recording, this is only implemented after the solo, you could put it in more often if you like, maybe even in other songs!
The electric guitar pioneer
Like so many Texans before him, T-Bone Walker moved to California to record and it was here that Mr. Walker first got his hands on one of the first electric guitars, a Gibson ES, the Electric Spanish.
Around 1939, T-Bone Walker made his mark in musical history by making the first blues recording with an electric guitar.
T-Bone could have stopped right there and still been a legend! Luckily, he didn’t and the most famous blues guitarist after him cites T-Bone as one of their main influences.
In the video lesson above, you can learn how to play Papa Ain’t Salty, one of T-Bone’s more famous tracks, and a great introduction to Mr. Walker’s legendary licks.
A personal favorite here is the Am-shaped m7b5 chords used as a substitute to create a dom9-sounding chord lick.
Papa Ain’t Salty chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
- Baby Won’t You Please Go Home chords
- Blue Moon chords
- Call It Stormy Monday chords
- Don’t Wait Too Long chords
- Spooky chords
T-Bone Walker
This is it, the root, the granddaddy, the first electric guitar soloist, and most early blues guitar players’ biggest hero: T-Bone Walker.
It was as early as 1929 when T-bone started to record, but as he says: “I’ve been doing it for a long time before that came around”.
T-bone Walker on the web
Blues & Jazz
The foundation upon which popular music stands, Blues & Jazz tunes must be explored in depth by the serious guitar player.
Learn from the best by studying the greatest tunes of the genres. Study the iconic licks and melodies to grasp the language of these most important styles.
