Learn how to play Holocene by Bon Iver

Listen to the recording

Watch + learn

Read the tab

Difficulty: Novice
Capo: 1st
Tabbed by: Joe V.
E-mail: mrfoo2013@yahoo.com

Tuning: ***CAPO 1***, Memphis Tuning/Stringing (still EADGBe)

***This tab sounds best in Nashville Tuning. I will explain that, but first, a

***Note on Nashville tuning: Nashville tuning is a different way of stringing a guitar. 
For this song, and maybe the whole album, Justin Vernon decided to
re-string his guitar to get a higher-pitched, banjo-esque sound. To achieve
the sound of the original recording, your guitar must be tuned Full Nashville. 
However, to get the fullest sound if you are playing solo acoustic, 
I recommend what I call 2/3 Nashville. If you don’t want to re-string your guitar, 
that is ok too, as it sounds great standard, 2/3, or Full.

***How to tune/re-string your guitar Full Nashville:
Grab your standard guitar. What we are trying to achieve is a higher-
pitched effect, and to do this, we are going to remove the 6th, 5th,
4th, and 3rd strings (EADG strings), leaving the 2nd and 1st (B and e)
strings strung on the guitar. Now, open a new pack of standard
guitar strings. Grab the 1st (e), 2nd (B), 3rd (G), and 4th (D) strings
and take them out of the package. String the new 1st string where
your old 3rd string was, the new 2nd string where your old 4th string
was, the new 3rd string where your old 5th string was, and the new
4th string where your old 6th string was. Therefore, in gauge, you
should have, from lowest to highest, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st. The
purpose of doing this re-stringing with thinner gauged strings is
so the EADG can each be brought up an octave. Therefore, the tuning
is still EADGBe. If these instructions make no sense, this guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neBMd1oP0os does a really good job
of explaining it.

***How to tune/re-string your guitar 2/3 Nashville(RECOMMENDED):
Grab your standard guitar. What we are trying to achieve is a higher-
pitched effect, but still with some bass, and to do this, we are 
going to remove the 4th and 3rd strings (D and G strings), leaving the 
6th, 5th, 2nd, and 1st (EABe) strings strung on the guitar. Basically, 
we are replacing the two middle strings with thinner ones while 
keeping the four outside strings where they are. Now, open a new 
pack of standard guitar strings. Grab the 1st (e) 2nd (B) strings and 
take them out of the package. String the new 1st string where your 
old 3rd string was and the new 2nd string where your old 4th string 
was. Therefore, in gauge, you should have, from lowest to highest, 
6th, 5th, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st. The purpose of doing this re-stringing 
with thinner gauged strings is so the D and G can each be brought 
up an octave. Therefore, the tuning is still EADGBe. This is why
I call this 2/3 Nashville, because 4 of the 6 strings are in the
Memphis style. If these instructions make no sense, this guy 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neBMd1oP0os does a really good job 
of explaining it.

***Or, you can leave your stringing standard.

***************************************************************************
***WHATEVER PATH YOU CHOOSE, YOU STILL NEED TO CAPO THE FIRST FRET*********
***************************************************************************

All notes and chords are relative to the capo.

---INTRO---

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|


   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
                                              (Wavy sounds come in)

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
                        (Marimba)                                      (Marimba)

   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
  (Marimba)  (Marimba)

---VERSE 1---

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
   Someway    Part       Apart  Me

   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
   Laying     Halloween

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
   Fucked     On         Struck Street

   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
   In         Off

---CHORUS 1---

   Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|
G|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|
D|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|
A|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|
   Once       Knew       Not        nif

   Am         Am         G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||


   Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|
G|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|
D|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|
A|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|
   Strayed    bove       High       way Aisle

   Am         G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||


   F          Am         C          G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----2--2-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|----------|-0--------|-3--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|-1--------|----------|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||
   Jagged     Vacance    Thick      Ice

   Am     F      G      C
e|---0--|---0--|---0--|-------0--0~~~~~~~~~~~~||
B|--1-1-|--1-1-|--1-1-|---1----1-1~~~~~~~~~~~~||
G|------|------|------|--0-------0~~~~~~~~~~~~||
D|------|------|------|----0h2---2~~~~~~~~~~~~||
A|-0----|------|------|-3--------3~~~~~~~~~~~~||
E|------|-1----|-3----|-----------------------||
   Miles  Miles  Miles

---VERSE 2---

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
   Third      Burnt      Hall   Way

   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
   Where      Celebrate

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
   Automatic  Bought     Talk   Me

   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
   Night      Lip

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
   Not        Nor        Lost   Decree

   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
   Nothing    Enough

---CHORUS 2---

   Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|
G|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|
D|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|
A|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|
   Once       Knew       Not        nif

   Am         Am         G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||


   Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|
G|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|
D|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|
A|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|
   Hulled     From       High       way Aisle

   Am         G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||


   F          Am         C          G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----2--2-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|----------|-0--------|-3--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|-1--------|----------|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||
   Jagged     Vacance    Thick      Ice


e|---0--|---0--|---0--|-------0--0~~~~~~~~~~~~||------------|------------||
B|--1-1-|--1-1-|--1-1-|---1----1-1~~~~~~~~~~~~||------------|------------||
G|------|------|------|--0-------0~~~~~~~~~~~~||------------|------------||
D|------|------|------|----0h2---2~~~~~~~~~~~~||------------|------------||
A|-0----|------|------|-3--------3~~~~~~~~~~~~||------------|------------||
E|------|-1----|-3----|-----------------------||------------|------------||
   Miles  Miles  Miles

---VERSE 3 (It gets janky in here, play it however it feels best)

   C          C          Am     G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1--|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0-|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|------|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0----|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
   Christmas  Clutched   Hallow Bright

   C          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----2--2-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-3--------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||
   Above      I          Tangled

   C          C          Am         G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|
D|-----2--2-|-----2--2-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|
A|-3--------|-3--------|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|----------|----------|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|
   Smoked     Make       Was

   Am         F          F          F          F
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------||
   Know       Memory

---CHORUS 3---

   Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|
G|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|
D|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|
A|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|
   Once       Knew       Not        nif

   Am         Am         G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||


   Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7      Fmaj7
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|
B|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|---1---1--|
G|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|--2-2---2-|
D|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|-----3----|
A|----------|----------|----------|----------|
E|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|-1--------|
   High       bove       High       way Aisle

   Am         G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|-0--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||


   F          Am         C          G          G          G          G
e|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---|------0---||
B|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------|---1------||
G|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--|--0-0--0--||
D|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----2--2-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-|-----0--0-||
A|----------|-0--------|-3--------|----------|----------|----------|----------||
E|-1--------|----------|----------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------|-3--------||
   Jagged     Vacance    Thick      Ice


e|---0--|---0--|---0--|-------0--0~~~~~~~~~~~~||||
B|--1-1-|--1-1-|--1-1-|---1----1-1~~~~~~~~~~~~||||
G|------|------|------|--0-------0~~~~~~~~~~~~||||
D|------|------|------|----0h2---2~~~~~~~~~~~~||||
A|-0----|------|------|-3--------3~~~~~~~~~~~~||||
E|------|-1----|-3----|-----------------------||||
   Miles  Miles  Miles



************************************
| h   hammer-on
| ~   let ring

Sing along

"Someway, baby, it's part of me, apart from me."
You're laying waste to Halloween
You fucked it friend,
It's on it's head,
It struck the street
You're in Milwaukee, off your feet

... and at once I knew I was not magnificent
Strayed above the highway aisle
(Jagged vacance, thick with ice)
I could see for miles, miles, miles

3rd and Lake it burnt away, the hallway
Was where we learned to celebrate
Automatic bought the years you'd talk for me
That night you played me 'Lip Parade'
Not the needle, nor the thread, the lost decree
Saying nothing, that's enough for me

... and at once I knew I was not magnificent
Hulled far from the highway aisle
(Jagged, vacance, thick with ice)
I could see for miles, miles, miles

Christmas night,
It clutched the light,
The hallow bright
Above my brother,
I and tangled spines
We smoked the screen to make
It what it was to be
Now to know it in my memory:

... and at once I knew I was not magnificent
High above the highway aisle
(Jagged vacance, thick with ice)
I could see for miles, miles, miles

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