Various Artists - Ill Fly Away

tabbed by : orgnldave

this song is beautiful , but it’s also kind of repetitive to play and sing .
it’s basically A 2 – 3 chord song depending on how you play it , usually .

i started off with the jars of clay version for general rhythm , and spent A
whole bunch of time after that making it much more interesting to both play
and sing .

it gives a very gospel – y feel . for rhythm , i’d recommend starting out with
the jars of clay version ( which only use G and C , sooooo repetitive on solo guitar ) and
from there . . .

since we’re using very specific chord forms i’ll tab them out here .

E A D G B E
G5 3 x 0 0 3 3
g7a 3 x 3 0 0 3
G7b 3 x 3 0 0 1
C/E 0 3 2 0 1 0
C7/E 0 3 2 3 1 0
G6 3 x 2 0 3 3
Em 0 2 2 0 0
x G11 3 3 0 0 1 0
Gm11 3 3 0 3 1 0
G/B x 2 0 0 3 3
G/D x x 0 0 3 3

( chorus )

G5 g7a C/E C7/E G5 G6 G5
i’ll fly away , oh glory , i ’ll fly away

G5 Em G11 Gm11 G5
when i die , hallelujah by and by , oh i ’ll fly away

* *

the C7/E and Gm11 are very short , almost transitional chords . the G5/G6/G5
just comes in between to liven it up a little .

the verses are very similar to the first chorus line
* *

( verse )

G/D g7a C/E C7/E G5
some bright morning when this life is o’er , i ’ll fly away

G/B G5 g7a C7 C7/E G5
to a land on god’s celestial shore , oh i’ll fly away

* *
we continue on pretty much like this , with some variations discussed at the
end
* *

when the shadows of this life have gone , oh i’ll fly away
like a bird from these prison walls , ill fly , oh i’ll fly away

chorus

oh how glad and happy when we meet , oh i’ll fly away
no more cold , iron shackles on my feet , oh i’ll fly away

chorus

just a few more weary days and then , oh i’ll fly away
to a land where joy will never end , oh i’ll fly away

chorus x2

* *
variations

if you were looking , we didn’t use G7b at all . that’s because sometimes it’s
nice to transition halfway through a g7a to A G7b when you’re really kicking
it later in the song , or just play A G7b . it adds to the gospel – y “falling”
sound some , and opens up the strings in another way . other variations are
available , depending on the tonal quality of your guitar : you may wish to
interchange G5 , G/B , G/D , and both full open forms of G . this is roughly how
it plays well on my guitar’s tonality .

the reason the C/E and C7/E are so important is that i usually do a bass
note hit just before a chord . sometimes its good in the middle instead
though . . .

anyway , i’ll probably be uploading a video tutorial too so you can see how
awesome this version sounds . taking A 2 – chord song and arranging it to sound
nice is very rewarding .

this is marked ’novice’ because one could technically play it , but really , the strumming
and especially later on when you let loose and the strings are singing , the fingers can
jammed around a little .