Sun/C79

[lke2]

I have been searching high and low for the tabulatures of Sun/C79. If anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Leonard]

Now that you mention it, I still have it somewhere but I havnt finished tabbing it yet. But that should be no problem, there is also enough video material of Cat playing it that tabbing it accurately is easy enough.

Stay tuned, will send it in.

[lke2]

Thank you very much! I'll stay tuned.

[DJ]

Hi, lke2,

I don't check in much these days, but noticed your message. I tabbed this song out in 2001, but I must have missed sending it to Christine with all my other tabs.
I'll post it on to her this week.

[Leonard]

Sorry, for being absent for quite some time, too.

I just sent in my C79 version. ^.^

DJ, thank you very much for all the great guitar tabs that you made over the time, with masterly tabbed versions of On The Road To Find Out, Novim's Nightmare, How Can I Tell You (cant figure out the verse parts though lol), Portobello Road, Miles From Nowhere, The View From The Top, Fill My Eyes.

These great tabs helped me greatly ^.^

[DJ]

Thanks, Jacky, for your kind words, and for your own contributions to the tab pages.

I had a look at my tab for 'How can I tell you', and realised I play it a bit differently these days, a bit closer to the original, with some added bass notes in the verses. This is one of my most favourite songs of Cat's, and I think I can make a better job of this tab now, I might send in an updated version which I hope might make things clearer,( or might actually end up more complicated, we'll see... LOL)

All the best, DJ

[Leonard]

DJ, I would simply virtually hug you really tightly if you did a revised version of 'How Can I Tell You', which might be the most beautiful love song on Earth. Alun Davies always played a very intelligent, and tricky variant - hard to figure out, especially on 'Teaser & the Firecat', for another guitar is in the background, too - and they both are so much in harmony.

Cat Stevens' masterpieces of songs made me learn the guitar, and your TABS were the first inspiration, and in-sight I got into Cat's world. Thus I gotta thank you alot, though there is one thing I never could figure out.
How the heck did Steve play Bb, B, C, etc ... in his non-full-barré style? Well, I know how he does it nowadays, but back then, if you have a look at the videos his chord fingering is unique, and I can't figure it out. It seems as if he barred with Index, and Thumb, and then substitute the normal "A-Chord" fingering with a middle finger barré ... awkward ...

Happy New Year, and best wishes,
Jacky

[DJ]

Jacky, I agree it is a beautiful song, this and 'If I laugh' are my favourites from 'Teaser'.

I've never really studied videos of Cat and Alun playing live that much, I usually just listen as closely as I can to the records and try to capture the feel of what everyone is doing and combine it into the simplest way I can of playing it on solo guitar. (It's rare, as in the case of 'On the road to find out', if I've tried to work out the two separate parts, which was a request for it from someone posting on Majicat )

As you say, the players are so tight it's not always easy to separate what they're doing.
I was very lucky indeed to have met Alun Davies a few years ago, and he showed me how he played 'How can I tell you', it is a memory I will always treasure.

I'm sure you're right about the way Cat used to play barre chords, after many years playing I still find the 'A' shape barre chords uncomfortable to play and avoid them whenever I can, as I don't have long fingers and it's always a stretch for me at the lower end of the fretboard. It's possible that Cat has slightly more double jointed fingers and can barre chords his unique way. I have found this with another favourite singer/songwriter and 'label mate' of Cat's, Nick Drake, where his slender fingers and joints enabled him to play very strange chord shapes that I could never hope to emulate. I think this is the case with the middle finger you mention, he must have been able to make the 'A' shape and bend the finger back enough to clear the top string.

Now he is older, and has not been playing guitar for many years, his joints may not bend back as they once did, so it may explain why Yusuf plays a more standard shape these days. It could also be that he seems to favour a more classical, wider necked, guitar than in his early days, the narrower steel strung guitars he used to use would have enabled him to hold the bottom 'E' down with his thumb, unless you are blessed with very large hands it is much trickier on a classical guitar.

A Happy new Year and Best wishes to you too,
DJ

[Leonard]

First of all, I envy you for meeting Alun. That'd be a dream to question him out how he played this or that piece , but also how he enjoyed the time with Steve musical-wise. I always say: Cat Stevens wouldn't have been the great Cat without Alun Davies, a team who plays guitar in total harmony.

Nowadays, Steve tends like to play classical guitar more, favoring a much wider neck. If I remember correctly, his Gibson Everly Brother had a specially narrow neck, even for an acoustic guitar. It is hard to play full-barré on this guitar, as a friend of mine once told me. Maybe that is the reason, why he sticked to thumb-index barré, but who knows.

I always liked the way Cat played the guitar; his feeling for rhythm is still unique. Alun played Thumb-barré, too, in the beginning but later on, he brought in new techniques, and got rid of bad habits. To me, he is simply is "The Guitar." ^.^

I can play full barré, of course, but I simply don't like it. It feels uncomfortable, not the barréing itself, but the distance from my barréing hand to the neck, and the uncomfortable way to change to "normal", not-barré chords from full barré. Therefore, I still play like Cat in the old days. He still plays F, etc... as Thumb barré (without the thumb now, though - cos it's impossible on a classical), but plays Bb, etc. as power chord barré with Index, and Little Finger ignoring the high e string.

In spite of you, I always want to have a look at the videos how Cat, and Alun did it. E.g. for "If I laugh", which is a picking master piece: you simply gotta see it, IMO Open E-tuning sounds wonderfully ^.^
Cat created this song really well, and must have worked on it pretty long, and intensively.


~ Jacky

[workahollis1]

Good discussion here! I've noticed that Steve always played B type chords using just the cheat style with out base notes. Alun or a base player provided the base note. Example EADGBE XX4442 I don't believe its possible to make the thumb curl over that far and grab the base note so effortlessly possible yes but the elbow would be up all the way to the players neck pointed straight up in the air. I have noticed him play C-sharp/D-flat like this however, x43x24 by making a C shape with a high G and moving it down 1 fret and blocking the G string because G is not in the categorie of being an inside or outside note in C-sharp/D-flat it's an alien so it's muted. It also sounds very bad if this note is added. Try it out also for E flat on the 4th fret base note bieing on the 6th fret.
Usually Alun plays with a capo using the same chords but different shapes usually down at the 2nd, 5th or 7th frets just like How Can I tell you, whilst Steve is strumming along on open chords usually base note, random note, strum. Using thumb and index fingers and feel. Moon shadow Alun capoed at 2nd and played chord shape D, Dsus4 whilst Steve played E open chord same chord different ranges. I love my dog Steve played E, Esus4 alun played at 7th fret A , Asus4. Tuesdays Dead Steve A, D Alun 5th fret E, A . Not very complete I know but You get the idea.
By the way does anyone know how aluns part in if I laugh goes ? I know Steve used open E but it looked like alun stuck with standard tuning and used alot of bar chords.
Very impressive to have met Alun. I just wish we could talk him into helping us out with some of these tabs. Alun are you listening?? LOL. DJ outstanding work on all your tabs it's much more complete than the Cat Stevens Song book I have. Good work!!

[Leonard]

workahollis1 said:

Good discussion here! I've noticed that Steve always played B type chords using just the cheat style with out base notes. Alun or a base player provided the base note. Example EADGBE XX4442 I don't believe its possible to make the thumb curl over that far and grab the base note so effortlessly possible yes but the elbow would be up all the way to the players neck pointed straight up in the air. I have noticed him play C-sharp/D-flat like this however, x43x24 by making a C shape with a high G and moving it down 1 fret and blocking the G string because G is not in the categorie of being an inside or outside note in C-sharp/D-flat it's an alien so it's muted. It also sounds very bad if this note is added. Try it out also for E flat on the 4th fret base note bieing on the 6th fret.
Usually Alun plays with a capo using the same chords but different shapes usually down at the 2nd, 5th or 7th frets just like How Can I tell you, whilst Steve is strumming along on open chords usually base note, random note, strum. Using thumb and index fingers and feel. Moon shadow Alun capoed at 2nd and played chord shape D, Dsus4 whilst Steve played E open chord same chord different ranges. I love my dog Steve played E, Esus4 alun played at 7th fret A , Asus4. Tuesdays Dead Steve A, D Alun 5th fret E, A . Not very complete I know but You get the idea.
By the way does anyone know how aluns part in if I laugh goes ? I know Steve used open E but it looked like alun stuck with standard tuning and used alot of bar chords.
Very impressive to have met Alun. I just wish we could talk him into helping us out with some of these tabs. Alun are you listening?? LOL. DJ outstanding work on all your tabs it's much more complete than the Cat Stevens Song book I have. Good work!!

Hi Workahollis,

1. Steve used Bass notes for Bb, B, etc. by thumbing the 5th string. It is only possible for guitars with a smaller neck though. No chance for classical guitars. It's actually not hard to do; the difficulty is to do the A-shape.

2. Never noticed him playing x43x24. It's really awkward. At which song did he use this kind of C# chord?

3. For Moonshadow: Cat plays not with E open tuning, but with guitar standard tuning using D5, D4, D, D4, etc ...

4. For If I Laugh: Alun plays along using standard tuning, and the same chords as Cat plays with E open but, of course, Alun uses the standard chords for that where he gotta play barré alot.

[workahollis1]

Jacky~
For number one you could look at it either way of course it's possible but not neccesary to thumb the 5th string when you have a base player and alun next to you.
For 2 He used this chord on the Late Late show playing I think I see the light. It's not anymore akward to play C# than it is to play a C just slide down one fret and Mute the G note and add the G# with your pinkie finger.
3. You must have misunderstood me. I said Open E chord 022100 not open E tuning. He plays in standard tuning open using open chords D, A, G, Fm#, BM and E. Alun capoes at 2nd fret and plays C, G, F, EM, AM and D with also DSUS2 during Did it take long to find me I ask the faithfull light. Like this ~ D//// Dsus2 \ D\ G / ///// then repeat and Steve plays E//////A///// in standard tuning.
4. If I laugh. If you can offer advice on which chord shapes to use. I've watched alun but I can't follow him very well. Maybe my chords are wrong. Steves part I understand perfectly fine. But I do like the background Alun provides to fill out the song and would like to know what he's doing. The picking part I'm a natural at with-out thought but the chords are where I'm having difficulty. Mostly because they are not standard chord shapes. Help!!
As for I think I see the light Yusuf did a key change the verse is in EM //// G //// A //// Asus4 / A then repeat. I'll send in the tab soon but it in cludes this chord during the chorus. I forget where but it's there. I'll need to refer to my notes. In the meantime check out the video of him playing it. Look for my new tabs soon! Christine may have them up by the end of the weekend. Ciao

[workahollis1]

Correction to last line E not EM for I think I see the light. cosi E //// G //// A //// Asus4 / A.

[lke2]

Hi Jacky and DJ, I'm new here and want to thank you both for sending the C79 tabs. But a silly question: where do I find them? Have a great start to the new year! lke

[Leonard]

Christine, the site admin, gotta upload the TAB to the site first. When she is done, you will see it as BIG announcement on majicat.com opening page. So no worries, you cant miss it.

[lke2]

Thanks Jacky!!