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Salt of the Earth – How To Play on Guitar and Harmonica

Quick Facts

Recorded in 1968 and released on the album Beggars Banquet.
Keith sings the first verse, which up to that time, was his largest stint at lead vocals.
Beggars Banquet was the first album produced by Jimmy Miller.
The release of Beggars Banquet was delayed for several months because the original artwork for the album was rejected by the England and US record labels.
Beggars Banquet was the last Rolling Stones album released with Brian Jones.

Sheet Music

The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet

Guitar Chords, Lyrics, Harmonica Tabs

Salt of the Earth music and lyrics are property and copyright of their owners and provided for educational purposes and personal use only.
The following is my transcription of my version of this awesome song. If you want how the author intended, check out the links above.

Harmonica Tabs – Melody
7 -7 -6 6 6 | -6 6 6 -6 6
7 -7 -6 6 6 | -6 6 6 -6 6
7 -7 -6 6 6 | -6 6 6 -6 6
7 -7 -6 6 6 | -6 6 6 -6 6
-6 6 -6 7 | 5 6 5 -4
– 6 6 -6 6 -6 | 5 6 5 -4
-5 -5 -5 -5 | 7 7 7 7 7
7 6 -6 7

Chords and Lyrics
Intro
C F C F
Verses
C G F C F C x 8
C F C F C F C

Bridge
Am Em
Am Em
Dm7 C G G7

Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and
Black and white
They don’t look real to me
In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and
Black and white
They don’t look real to me
Or don’t they look so strange

Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth
Let’s drink to the two thousand million
Let’s think of the humble of birth

Musical Instruments and Recording Equipment

Takamine Acoustic-Electric EG Series Guitar

In this video I am playing a Takamine Electric Acoustic EG series guitar similar to the one pictured here.
It has a solid spruce top with nato back and sides and a rosewood fretboard with abalone fret markers.
The built-in Takamine TK-40 preamp features EQ Bypass, Notch Filter, Mid Contour, Bass, Mid, Treble and Gain in addition to a built-in electronic tuner.
This guitar performs great and records great.

Hohner 560 Special 20 Harmonica C
I’m using a Hohner Special 20 in the key of C for Salt of the Earth. I’ve transposed the song to the key of C and am playing harmonica in first position.

Hohner Harmonica Neck Holder
I made my first harmonica holder out of an old wire coat hanger. It wasn’t beautiful but it worked and put me on the road to earning my McGyver certificate at an early age.
For me now, a comfortable and properly fitting harmonica holder is a must for hands free harmonica playing. This
Hohner Harmonica Neck Holder works great for me.
Another harmonica holder that you may want to try that has gotten great reviews is the
Lee Oskar Harmonica Holder. You can also check out other harmonica holders on my George’s Harp Shop page.

Video Transcription

Hi George here. Welcome to this video where I show you an easy way to play The Rolling Stones Salt of the Earth. I’ll go through the guitar chords, strumming pattern, choose a harmonica and tab out and demonstrate the melody on harmonica and then jam through it. I’m going to call this version the campfire version and the reason for this is I’m not going to play in the key the Stones recorded it in on the Beggars Banquet album. I’m going to play it in C so the chords are easy and I’m going to use standard tuning whereas Keith uses open tuning and bar chords. Ok? Right on, let’s do it.
Let’s start with the intro. It starts with C and F. Use a simple form of F because we’ll be switching back and forth quickly between C and F. It’s easier to do it there than doing it as a bar chord.
The verses are made up of little 2 bar segments. C for two beats, G for two beats, then F, C, F, C counted as 1 (2) 3 (4) 1 & (2) & (3) & 4e&a. That’s repeated eight times for a verse.
Let’s look at the bridge. It starts in Am, to Em and repeats. Then Dm7, F, G, and G7.
That’s the three parts to the song – intro, verse, and bridge. It doesn’t really have a chorus.
Looking at the harmonica – there’s no harmonica in this song so I’m playing over the melody. We’re playing in C and I’m playing in first position so I’m using a C diatonic harmonica. What I’ll do here is play slowly with the chords and put the tabs up and highlight them so you can follow along.
Let’s jam this out. Make sure your in tune and let’s give this a go.

Alright, Salt of the Earth off the Stones Beggars Banquet album, campfire version, right? Easier chords. We talked about the chords and strumming patterns. Talked about the harmonica and went through the harmonica tabs for the melody followed by a jam through. I hope you enjoyed it and got something out of it.
See you in the next video. Peace