Steve's Guitar Chords Thread

[Leonard]

Hello all Guitar fans out there,


Cat Stevens is the man in the guitar and music world that most guitar players wanted to copy or to reinterpret.
Back in the 60's and 70's playing full barré wasn't quite popular because of the width of the neck of the guitars, etc.
Great players such as Steve, Jimmi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, etc. never played barré in the time back then.
Then the 70's came and a new style of playing guitar evolved - e.g. Alun Davies playing full barré and half- or thumb barré.

Well, the question that drives me is which chords has Steve played instead of a fully barréd Bb, B, or Fm, etc. Steve never learned guitar from a guitar teacher. He taught it himself - and developed an own way of playing uncomparable to others. It is also known that Steve disliked some chords, and never played them - such as B7 in the first fret. You will never see him playing it there.

As for Bb (as in Hard-headed woman) I am of the opinion he played:

Bb
x10221
-T-RLI


CHORDS FINGERING: T= Thumb
I= Index finger
M= Middle finger
R= Ring finger
L= Little finger


But what about B ? There are some songs such as "Oh Very Young," "Another Saturday Night," "The Day They Make Me Tsar", etc. where you will need this chord.

Can anyone help here, and tell me the Genuine Steve Chord for "B"?

[whitesatin]

At the moment i`m practicing here comes the sun by the Beatles I do play Cat steven but i tell u which one off his of hard to master its has to be How can I tell u ... its has so many chords its unbelieveable but I have given it a go and still at it.... E(susE7) E7get me and B7

Jan

[Leonard]

How Can I Tell You is played by Alun with a Capo at the 7th fret, using Am D etc..

Cat simply strumms it with Em7 Asus4/E (+addG) D D/F# (D-String) Em/E (on D-string) G G4, etc.

Watching the BBC Theatre live performance helps quite a lot ^.^

[whitesatin]

Picking is better it give the song a meaning saying how can I tell in a medley that is soften when picking , have you try ...

Jan

[Leonard]

Just have a look at the picking version by DJ Illingworth, its pretty close to the original. Alun Davies used a Capo in the 7th fret for picking "How Can I Tell You".

[whitesatin]

cool

Jan

[matthew]

jacky said:

Steve never learned guitar from a guitar teacher. He taught it himself - and developed an own way of playing uncomparable to others.

how is that! how long did it take? guitar is very very hard ???do you think he learned that from a book probably

[whitesatin]

Some people are gift,

Jan

[gianmaria1973]

Oh, Matthew mate, I can assure you it can take just a month if you're really into it!
I knew nothing about the guitar, having been a piano man throughout my teenage, then at 20 I met a guy who was trying to learn how to play the guitar: he was very much into West Coast stuff, which I adore, so he got me in and we PLAYED IN FRONT OF EACH OTHER, with an ordinary book in our hands.
Playing in front of each other really was the key: whenever I couldn't perform a barrè he was there, so I had to follow him if I really wanted to play say 'Take it Easy' or 'Horse With No Name' or 'You've Got a Friend'. That's how I managed to learn all chords and variations in one month, I swear!
So remember: passion at first, and BOUNCE-BACK EFFECT secondly. It works so much.
As for Cat and Alun: I used to think Cat always played penned chords whereas Alun was going to be the arpeggio man, and I was wrong: you can clearly see it when they play 'If I Laugh', Cat performs the arpeggio and Alun plays penned chords.
That's what made them magic: same chords but played differently, SOMETHING NO-ONE HAD EVER DONE BEFORE.
That's the same thing that made me love Genesis, for instance, but they got it from Cat (they said it).

[Leonard]

Cat had only a little chord book and a cheap Italian guitar to start playing with. His first chords were E, E4, and A - if I'm not wrong. And there you almost have "I Love My Dog."

^.^

Can no one tell me the genuine Steve chord for "B" ?

[matthew]

gianmaria1973 said:

Oh, Matthew mate, I can assure you it can take just a month if you're really into it!
I knew nothing about the guitar, having been a piano man throughout my teenage, then at 20 I met a guy who was trying to learn how to play the guitar: he was very much into West Coast stuff, which I adore, so he got me in and we PLAYED IN FRONT OF EACH OTHER, with an ordinary book in our hands.
Playing in front of each other really was the key: whenever I couldn't perform a barrè he was there, so I had to follow him if I really wanted to play say 'Take it Easy' or 'Horse With No Name' or 'You've Got a Friend'. That's how I managed to learn all chords and variations in one month, I swear!
So remember: passion at first, and BOUNCE-BACK EFFECT secondly. It works so much.
.

thank you for the encouragement mate

[matthew]

jacky said:

Cat had only a little chord book and a cheap Italian guitar to start playing with. His first chords were E, E4, and A - if I'm not wrong. And there you almost have "I Love My Dog."

^.^

Ok hmmm i 'll try to buy such a book