Level: 2/3
Tuning: Standard

Rev. Davis had a bag of E minor songs. They tended to deal with the deeper themes of life, offering an archetypal profundity. These are themes that generally come out of the Old Testament. Like the ancient prophets, Rev. Davis (and Blind Willie Johnson, who also was at home with these songs) urges us to keep the light of the soul burning brightly, and our hearts set on the greater life to come.

Rev. Davis uses three different E minor inversions. The first position uses the natural open strings in the country blues tradition. Here the Em pentatonic scale falls easily to hand. Rev. Davis€۪ innovation is to run down the treble strings while ascending in the bass. He does this while walking through the progression: C Em B7 Em. The first C in this progression is in the A form, between the third and fifth frets. This C is easily interchanged, with the fingering Rev. Davis uses, with the second position Em, the Dm form. The song begins on the third position Em, the Am form between the seventh and ninth frets. It rocks back and forth to the E form B7 chord on the same fret. He likes to take a break on the open strings for the chorus.