Level: 2
Tuning: Standard

Woody Guthrie experienced the story told in "So Long It's Been Good To Know You," or something pretty near, and it was one of the first original songs he recorded, in 1940. That same year it was played on the radio as a big production number with a symphony orchestra and interposed sound effects and dramatic dialogue. A tobacco company paid him to revise the tune so they could use it as the theme song of CBS' "Pipe Smoking Time" variety show. Ten years later he helped the Weavers turn it into a love song, sans dust bowl, for their heavily orchestrated pop recording...and the folk-pop era was underway. The song is a waltz, and in this key-of-A arrangement, the accompaniment to the verse consists of a thumb-picked bass notes and two brushes down on the treble strings. During the chorus, the thumb plays three ascending notes, one on each beat, while the fingers play occasional treble notes to fill out the rhythm. The solo is like the accompaniment, with three thumbpicked bass notes per bar, while the fingers pick melody on the high strings.