How to play Rita Wrote a Letter by Paul Kelly

Song Guides
Written By Michelle Nelson

Three decades after his iconic How To Make Gravy, Paul Kelly delivers the ‘sequel song’ Rita Wrote a Letter. Full of wry lines that reveal what happens to Rita and the kids after Joe gets out of jail, Rita Wrote a Letter is a perfect rejoinder to the Gravy song and, in typical Paul Kelly fashion a great rhythm song for acoustic steel-string and electric players.

Chords: C Dm/C (Dm over a C bass) F G D Dm Em7 E♭m7 Dm7 G7+ (G7 augmented)

Is the D minor right? The recording maintains a low bass C under the repeating C - Dm chords of the Verse. This creates a grounding effect that is released when the Chorus progression takes over. The trick with this chord change is to keep your ring finger on the 5th string (which means yes, you do need to use your pinky on the 2nd string in Dm).

Pick or Fingers? Pick is going to be most effective, certainly on an electric. Fingerstyle for solo acoustic accompaniment could also work.

Acoustic or Electric? Definitely a steel-strings number ; will work well on both types.

Do I need a capo? Not unless you need to change key for your vocals. Rita Wrote a Letter is in the key of C and mostly open position.

How does the timing work? The palm-muted downstroke quaver rhythm in the verse is grouped as 3 + 3 + 2 ; The syncopated feel this produces is clear throughout the verses. Count it as “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and” with the emphasis on the highlighted syllables.

Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : To learn more about the chords and rhythms used in Rita Wrote a Letter see pages 8, 10, 12, 14, 19 - 21, 34 - 35.

 

Need a bit of help?

Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 is the perfect companion for our song guides. It will teach you how to read the rhythm slash notation used in our charts (and in professional theatre and studio charts) and is specially designed to help beginners speed up their chord changes, master strumming patterns, and many other techniques.

 
 
Michelle Nelson

Michelle Nelson is a professional guitarist, composer, and educator with decades of experience across classical and electric styles. A fully accredited VMTA teacher, she has performed in rock bands, classical ensembles, and plucked string orchestras, and currently composes for the Birrarung Trio and Concordia ensemble. Michelle specialises in Classical (Classical era to Modern), Rock, and Blues guitar, and draws inspiration from artists like Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Wes Montgomery, and Mauro Giuliani.

Next

How to play Khe Sahn by Cold Chisel