Level: 3
Tuning: Standard

"After You've Gone" was already a 9 year old Tin Pan Alley commercial hit - hardly a blues - when Bessie recorded it with a 5-piece band in 1927. But listen to earlier recordings of the tune (like Marion Harris's 1918 hit version) to fully appreciate how Bessie reworked it, introductory verse and all, to her own bluesy styling. It remains a much-recorded and performed jazz standard, covered by contemporary artists like Rufus Wainwright and Fiona Apple. In this fingerstyle arrangement in E, the guitar strums through the verse/intro, and fingerpicks in the Travis, alternating thumb/bass style during the main part of the tune. There are several up the neck, jazzy chords (13ths, 9ths, etc.), so become familiar with these shapes before reading the tab and learning the arrangement.