A Town Called Malice - with no barre chords! Jam / Weller

Greetings again everyone. For some time now I have been trying to find a way to play this great Jam song, but always struggled because the original is almost exclusively played with Barre chords. Thanks to the forums on this site, and an excellent reply by the site's very own David Hodge, I am pleased to say that by utilising a capo on the 4th fret, we can now play this with nice easy chord shapes and get it to sound half decent.

REMEMBER CAPO ON 4!!!
So what are the chord shapes?
G 320003 (use 320033 at end)
C6 x32210 (or substitute Am x02210)
D xx0232
C x32010
Bm xx0432
F#m 202222
Em 022000

A few things to note first. Strumming this well is the difference between a reasonable rendition and it sounding much like any other song. There is also an interesting use of the guitar body for percussion – more of this later.

The song start out with a G / C6 progression (or use G / Am if you can't do the C6), the timing of this is interesting – start on the G but switch to a quick C6 for the last UUD bit - its almost like the C6 is a transition chord back to G. If I was tabbing this out it would look something like this –
G
E-3--3--3--3--3--3--0-0-0|
B-0--0--0--0--0--0--1-1-1|
G-0--0--0--0--0--0--2-2-2|
D-0--0--0--0--0--0--2-2-2|
A-2--2--2--2--2--2—(3)---|
E-3--3--3--3--3--3--x-x--|
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & a

So play 6 straight downstrums on the G, then quickly shift to the C6 (note – you can easily just use Am here, it sounds ok) and do a quick UUD. You'll get away with Am because you are using mainly upstrums for the C6 part – and you'll see that the only difference between Am and C6 is on the 5th string – x02210 against x32210. Its worth practising this timing for a while, as its used both in the intro and the chorus, you need to be able to repeat it as necessary without thinking.

For the verses, you can do a lot worse than use straight downstrums with the odd DUD thrown in when you see fit – the downstrums will keep the song jogging along nicely. I actually use – D D D D DUD DU for each chord of the verse, this seems to fit it ok. There's a lot of words to fit in some parts, so you don't want to get too complicated!

Ok so play the G / C6 (or G / Am) four times through for an intro, then go straight into the verse, hitting the D on the word “stop”. Keep your rhythm steady. Note the “cheat” Bm – xx0432 – this actually sounds pretty good although you can play around with other voicings. Beginners shouldn't find this Bm too challenging at all, just practice it!

As for timing, just stay on all chords for a steady count of four, where marked – so for instance you stay on C for 2 lots of four in the verse, and on D. This is important

NOW THE CLEVER BIT! Stop strumming on the word “change” (the last word in the first verse, and subsequently, the last word in each verse) and tap the body of your guitar three times as you sing “this town called” then go straight into your intro strumming of G / C6 (or G / Am). You should end up singing “malice” on the first beat of the G.

For a good ending, play your G / C6 bit again, 4 times, then end on a nice full downstrum of G played 320033. Sorted!

Hope all that makes, sense, any questions please ask, and here's the whole song. Don't forget CAPO ON FRET 4. I have also tried it on fret 2 and it sounds ok there too, and is a bit easier to sing (for me anyway, and I need all the help I can get!)

Matt

Intro:
G C6 x 4