Song · Custom tuning

Cello Song — Nick Drake

Drake reused this tuning across several songs, and "Cello Song" leans into it differently than "Northern Sky" does — instead of a static vamp, it moves through a real turnaround: a D chord opens, gives way to an open-sounding A "no 3rd" (a power-chord-like A5), slides through a B minor voiced with D still ringing in the bass, then resolves through F# before returning home. The tuning lets that bass note sit underneath the moving chords almost for free.

This is the core turnaround as commonly transcribed, not a note-for-note copy of the full arrangement — open the progression below to hear the real shapes in D A D G D F#, including the real Bm/D bass voicing.

Every chord verified against the app's own voicing engine in the real D A D G D F# tuning — no standard-tuning substitute.