Rusted Root – Send Me on My Way (Tab)
Rusted Root’s Send Me on My Way was a bit of a flop when it was first released. But it’s jaunty nature and semi-comprehensible lyrics have given it success in soundtracks to Ice Age, Matilda and that millipede.
There are a lot of rapid notes to get your fingers around in this one. Even at this slightly slowed tempo, it’s tricky to pull off.
Intro: The classic riff. Making use of the high-g string to avoid moving up and down the neck.
Verse: No avoiding moving up and down in this part. But it’s not too difficult until the end of bar 14 with the mabubadeesay mabubadeeum bit (lyric sheets claim he’s saying, “You know what they say about the young,” but there is no way). This includes my favourite trick: playing the same note on different strings (g and E) to allow for quicker picking.
Chorus: Busting out the strums for the chorus. Nothing too difficult here.
Bridge: The trickiest bit with the very quick “Send me on my way”s. I’ve cut down the number of notes in some of these to make them easier to play.
Solo: The funnest bit. As long as you keep the strumming up, you can play around with this section as much as you like.
Outro: Just strumming out the chords in the outro followed by a stripped down version of the riff.
