Choosin’ Texas

Below you’ll find tabs for “Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley, written out for fiddle in D major.

Ella sings it in D flat, which sounds amazing for her voice. But D flat is rough on the fiddle, because there’s no open strings. So I transposed the tune to D major. Same tune, much friendlier for the left hand.

Tabs

Print it, put it on a music stand, and start with the riff.

Warm Up

G1-2 | D0-1-2-3-A0-1-2-3

Play the scale for the song first. It sets you up for success with the song.

Riff

(A0-1-3-3)
A1-1-0-0 | D1-1-0 | D2

(A0-1-3-3)
A1-1-0-0 | D1-1-0 | D2

Verse

(D0-1-2-1)
D2-1-1-2-1 | D2-1-0-G1-1 | D2

(D0-1-2-1)
D2-1-1-2-1 | D2-1-0-G1-1 | D2

Pre-Chorus

(D0-1-2-2)
D1-1-0-G1-2 | G1-D0-1-2-2 | G1-D1-0-0-1

Chorus

(D2-A0-D3-2-1-0)
D1-0-1-2 | D2-1-2-3-2-1-0 | G2-1

D0-2-A0-D3-2-1-0 | D1-0-1-2 | D2-1-2-3-2-1-0 | D2-1

A0-D3-2-1-0 | D1-0-1-2 | D2-0-A0-D3-2-1 | D1-0-1-2

D0-G2-D0-2-1-0-G2 | D1 | G1-2-D0-2-1-0-G2 | D0

The hard part isn’t the notes. It’s the rhythm.

To get the rhythm, alternate between singing and playing each line.

“She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way…”

(D2-A0-D3-2-1-0)
D1-0-1-2 | D2-1-2-3-2-1-0 | G2-1

Sing the line. Then play it. Go back and forth till you can play each line with flow.

How to read this

G D A E — the letter names the string you play on.
0 1 2 3 — the number is the finger. 0 means open string.
( ) — pickup notes. They lead into the phrase.
| — a bar line. Each chunk is one measure.

Tied notes — across a barline or inside one — are written once, at the attack. The tab doesn’t repeat a note that’s just sustaining.

Original version

Listen to the original A LOT before you start to learn it…