Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Jan 8, 2016 7:41:00 GMT -5
This one took a lot longer than I had anticipated. Miles from Nowhere is now officially up on the site -- what a beautiful song it is!
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Jan 7, 2016 14:37:24 GMT -5
It's taking me a little longer than usual to transcribe Miles from Nowhere simply because it's a piano piece in the main that needs to be re-arranged for guitar first. I chose to do so because the basic rhythm guitar Al plays in that piece doesn't get the beauty of the song across without Steve playing the lead piano.
Fortunately, the high piano bits can be adapted fairly well for guitar. I'm almost through, stay tuned.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Jan 2, 2016 21:08:11 GMT -5
I've completed transcribing Father and Son, the original intro plus Al's solo and more included.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Jan 1, 2016 9:34:04 GMT -5
Happy New Year to everyone! Chris, the tabs I sent you might be outdated by now since I did revise them quite a bit. I suggest I send in new versions for you to upload once you're fully back onboard. Hope you're getting well soon. Well, I fully transcribed On the Road to Find Out (which see) on New Year's Eve. As is always on my mind, big thanks to DJ for all the fabulous groundwork to build upon.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 29, 2015 12:45:19 GMT -5
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 27, 2015 17:03:46 GMT -5
I've slightly reworked the fingerpicking patterns of Into White to become consistent throughout the different passages and to also better match what Steve's playing on guitar. It's difficult keeping the two acoustic guitars apart on this track and in live performances since Al does such a fantastic job complementing the piece.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 26, 2015 10:35:25 GMT -5
And what's even more intriguing about the upcoming 2016 album is that Paul Samwell-Smith, Steve's old producer, is going to give the album his infamous "zen sound," as Steve calls it. Though, the more recent An Other Cup was superbly produced as well.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 26, 2015 10:32:38 GMT -5
Happy holidays everybody! The tab train keeps rolling, fully-tabbed Into White has arrived on the site. PS. If there's anything I can do to improve the tabs or the site itself, please let me know. It's still early days, so nothing's set in stone.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 24, 2015 14:32:49 GMT -5
And one for Xmas Eve -- I completed transcribing Wild World, featuring all the original chords and riffs.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 23, 2015 15:31:21 GMT -5
One for the holidays, happy Xmas everyone! Hard Headed Woman is up on the site now. Not sure whether I went overboard with all the transitional chords, but better have it too detailed than the opposite.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 21, 2015 6:29:30 GMT -5
Hm, I wonder how ragged such a 45-year-old T-shirt will look like nowadays...
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 20, 2015 19:39:45 GMT -5
I'm making good progress tabbing Tea for the Tillerman. Where Do the Children Play? is up on the Cat Stevens Guitar site, with the original D-G strumming pattern Steve uses.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 19, 2015 4:02:09 GMT -5
Yeah, you can tell that when Neil Diamond is the name giver of a guitar they really mean it.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 17, 2015 11:08:03 GMT -5
As I've posted over on the Gibson forums, I have recently got hold of a rare Epiphone version of Steve's Everly Brothers guitar (Gibson J-180). Model No.: SQ 180 Neil Diamond Year of manufacture: 2000 Place of manufacture: Korea History: Bought in November 2015. Conversion for left hand together with setup by expert luthier in December 2015. Bridge slightly shaved off to lower the action in general, saddle and nut replaced with lefty, handcrafted triple-A parts. Black dots added to lefty side of neck. Pickguards and guitar strap knob left in their original places. Sound and performance: clean intonation and low action. A rather tender player but that has, similar to the J-180, an offensive tonal character, with powerful mids being rich in overtones and high sustain. Well-articulated bass tones without much boom however (contrast to FT-79 Texan), producing an overall well-balanced sound between treble, mids, and bass especially when playing with a pick. Ideal for pieces and performances where the vocals take center stage (i.e., Cat Stevens & Co). Description: Sporting a 1.55"-narrow (!) neck at the nut and a small jumbo body, the SQ-180 is Epiphone's version of the popular J-180 Everly Brothers by Gibson. The SQ 180 Neil Diamond Signature model differs from the standard model (SQ 180/EB) by ways of tone woods used (solid spruce top, maple back and sides), nonstandard saddle construction, finish (black-metallic), pickguard (a pair of two small interconnected diamond-shaped pickguards), fretboard inlays (diamonds), mechanics (Gotoh SG, partly gilt), headstock (Neil Diamond signature). Photos:
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 17, 2015 11:04:12 GMT -5
Lilywhite has been completed. For now I'll leave Mona Bone Jakon (no worries, I'll return later) to begin transcribing the main of Tea.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 14, 2015 15:03:24 GMT -5
I just finished tabbing Maybe You're Right and uploaded it on the Cat Stevens Guitar site. It shouldn't be long until it's up on Majicat as well. As to the song itself, you might be surprised how varied Steve plays that song on guitar. In terms of tabbing for right-handed or left-handed it's really all the same and not all that glorious: the base strings on my lefty guitar are on top as well, the treble on the bottom. There is no rethinking involved as far as I'm concerned. I'm currently looking for an Ovation Legend Lefthand (L717 or something), but they are difficult to come by especially outside the States. I love vintage acoustic guitars with a fast, narrow neck.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 13, 2015 18:59:44 GMT -5
Various live performance by Steve have revealed that there be a lot more to "Maybe You're Right" than is traditionally understood to be the case. Steve plays the song with quite some variety on guitar.
The tab will follow tomorrow, making me wonder whether Steve didn't actually compose the song on guitar first and then decided to adapt it for piano later to have the melody with its high single notes stick out more.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 10, 2015 17:19:09 GMT -5
I just finished transcribing " Fill My Eyes" and hope to complete the guitar tabs for "Maybe You're Right" and "Lilywhite" by the weekend. Chris, it's great to hear from you! I sent you an email a week or so ago with some revised tabs. It would indeed be great to have a subforum again for those interested in discussing how to play Steve's songs.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 9, 2015 1:42:45 GMT -5
Thanks a lot! As I'm wrapping up Mona Bone Jakon this weekend, Tea is up next.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 6, 2015 4:29:58 GMT -5
I have recently begun to transcribe Steve's songs for guitar again, revising my old tabs as well as starting afresh. To have a unified place with all the Cat Stevens guitar tabs under my editorial control, I have gone ahead and created the website catstevensguitar.wordpress.com. Go have a look! As tabbing out songs is quite time-consuming, it will take me a while to transcribe Steve's stuffed catalogue raisonné. So expect a lot more content on the site as time goes by.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Dec 1, 2015 2:17:36 GMT -5
It's pretty established by now, and confirmed by Yusuf on TV if I'm not wrong, that the chorus keeps repeating "Carly Simon" over and over again.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Nov 28, 2015 3:42:16 GMT -5
I wish we still had a subforum for us guitar tabbers as we used to have one way back. It was a great educational tool to exchange ideas with other players concerning the accurate tabbing of Steve's songs and his way of playing the guitar.
I'm in the process of revising my old tabs already on the site and creating entirely new ones as well, starting chronologically with the album Mona Bone Jakon.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Apr 16, 2013 22:06:02 GMT -5
Submitted the tab to Chris. Hopefully it will be up soon on the site.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Apr 9, 2013 22:41:35 GMT -5
Hi mods! I tried to reach you via private message, but no one's responded yet.
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Apr 6, 2013 19:51:05 GMT -5
It's never too late to start trying...
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Apr 5, 2013 8:07:07 GMT -5
I'm pretty much done tabbing the song anew. I'll submit the tab as soon as I know who handles that stuff for Majicat.com now.
Below you can find a sneak peek (the spacing will be all messed up on the forums here):
##------------------------PLEASE NOTE-----------------------## This file is the author's own work & represents their own interpretation of the song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. ##----------------------------------------------------------##
######## ######## ####### ## ## ######## ## ######## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ######## ## ## ## ## ######## ## ###### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ####### ####### ######## ######## ########
Words & Music By Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam Tabbed by Jacky Bryant
INTRODUCTION
I felt that "Trouble" was never properly transcriped according to how Steve played the song on guitar. That became especially clear to me after watching various, more recent live performances by him on Youtube.
Steve is also known for sticking to a particular way of playing a song of his. So tabbing "Trouble" by taking recent live footage as a basis seemed a safe bet to me in order to get as close to the studio version (on Mona Bone Jakon) and to his playing style.
For more high-quality guitar tabs, visit http://majicat.com/. If you want to get in touch with us tabbers, don't forget to visit the message boards as well (http://majicat.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tabs).
Happy playing and, as Alun always says, play well!
TUNING
CAPO at 2ND FRET STANDARD TUNING (EADGBE) All chords and notes relative to capo position
INTRO B | E B |
VERSE 1
E B F#m Trouble, oh, trouble set me free, A I have seen your face, F#m A RIFF And it's too much, too much for me.
RIFF 3/ B/A A D/F# (...E) /4 d u d u d u E||-----------(2-2)-| B||--4-4--2-2--3-3--| G||--4-4--2-2--2-2--| D||--4-4--2-2--4-4--| A||--0----0---------| E||-----------------|
E B F#m Trouble, oh, trouble, can't you see? A You're eating my heart away, F#m A And there's nothing much left of me.
CHORUS 1
| F# D/F# B |
C#7* F# E B I've-----drunk your wine, E B You have made your world mine, F#m! A So won't you be fair, so won't you be fair? C# F# E B I-----don't want no more of you, E B So won't you be kind to me? F#m! A RIFF Just let me go where... I have to go there.
VERSE 2
E B F#m Trouble, oh, trouble move away, A I have seen your face, Fm A RIFF And it's too much for me to-day. E B F#m Trouble, oh, trouble can't you see? A You have made me a wreck, F#m A Now won't you leave me in my miser-y?
CHORUS 2
| F# D/F# B |
C#7* F# E B I've-----seen your eyes, E B And I can see death's dis-guise, F#m! A Hanging on me... hanging on me. C# F# E B I'm------beat, I'm torn, E B Shattered and tossed, I'm worn, F#m! A RIFF Too shocking to see... too shocking to see.
VERSE 3
E B F#m Trouble, oh, trouble move from me, A I have paid my debt, F#m A RIFF So won't you leave me in my miser-y? E B F#m Trouble, oh, trouble, please be kind, A I don't want no fight, F#m A And I haven't got a lot of time! APPENDIX
CHORD FINGERING
T = Thumb I = Index finger M = Middle finger R = Ring finger L = Little finger Note: Keep in mind that this guitar tab is a close rendition of how Yusuf plays "Trouble" himself on guitar. This is also reflected in the various chord selections and shapes and the chord fingering for this tab below that may seem "peculiar" to the one or other classically trained guitar player.
CHORDS
(in order of appearance in the song and relative to capo position) B E F#m A x24442 022100 244222 x0222x -TRRRI -MRI-- TRLIII --III- --RRRI --RRR- -ILLL- B/A A D/F# x0444x x0222x xx4232 --RRR- --III- --RIMI F# 244322 TRLMII C#7* C# Note: For the quick transition at the x4342x x46664 beginning of the chorus (F# Eb/F# B > C#*), -RMLI- -TRRRI Steve prefers to play a C#7* instead of --RRRI the usual C# that's used later in the chorus. --RRR- --III-
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Apr 2, 2013 2:43:40 GMT -5
Thanks for this, DJ. I'm just browsing through your channel right now -- somewhat belated I know, but still!
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Apr 1, 2013 14:02:42 GMT -5
Thanks for finding that video! This is also the way he must have played it in the studio when recording "Trouble" for Mona Bone Jakon. The transition from verse to chorus has always left me wondering and it's never been correctly transcribed either.
If anyone can help out tabbing this anew, feel free to chime in.
Here is what I've got so far:
____
Capo 2nd fret
===== INTRO =====
B | E B |
===== VERSE =====
E===========B====================F#m Trouble, oh trouble set me free,
======A=========== I have seen your face,
======F#m===============A===RIFF 1 (B \ A)===E And it's too much, too much for me.
===== NOTES =====
Left hand Fingers: T= Thumb I= Index finger M= Middle finger R= Ring finger L= Little finger
1. It could perfectly be that Yusuf alternates between F# major and F# minor in the verses (F# pull-off to F#m), since I believe I have seen him use his middle finger in the video while forming the F#m chord. Minor sounds correct though. But, for the chorus (I've drunk your wine...), F# major would be preferred then instead of the minor version.
2. Yusuf barres the A major chord with his index finger (x02222), making this effectively A6. The high (6th) string can be suppressed (X0222x) if desired.
3. As for the other A-shaped barre chords (i.e. B major), I have two main theories on how he plays those: one, he just barres the four high strings with his index and ring finger (his ring finger being on the 444), like so:
B/F# XX4442 --RRRI
Or, possibly, he plays the alternate bass note of the chord on top of it like so, effectively barreing four strings with his ring finger:
B/C# X4444(2) -RRRRI
Or, and that's my other theory, he is actually able to reach the bass note "B" with his thumb:
B X2444(2) -TRRR(I)
As trade-off it's possible that the high note, the F# (all in relation to the capo), comes out dampened, which is why I put the "2" in parenthesis above.
The only other time I've seen Yusuf play these A-shaped barre chords differently is if he really needed the main base note especially when fingerpicking, such as in "One Day at a Time" where I believe he barrés like this:
B -2444- XIRRRx
4. As for F# or F#m, it's perfectly clear to me -- and it's hardly a secret -- that he plays them old school like this:
F# 244322 TRLMII
F#m 244222 TRLIII
5. I believe Riff 1 is just a simple transition from B to A, and then beginning with the new verse, to E. The neat thing is that, if you prefer Yusuf's way of playing barre chords, you can easily play this riff by barreing B major with your ring finger alone, while having your index finger barre the A chord all along. It's a simple pull-off from B to A then (B \ A).
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Mar 5, 2011 3:20:54 GMT -5
Thanks for that. ^.^
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Leonard
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Post by Leonard on Mar 4, 2011 12:39:04 GMT -5
Alright, submitted the tab to Christine. Let's hope for the best.
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