Greetings everyone.
Don't know how familiar you are with James Blunt. He's taken the UK by storm this year with his debut album "Back to Bedlam" - a mixture of acoustic ballads and piano songs telling tales of lost love etc. He's an ex soldier, has the voice of an angel, well worth checking out. I saw him play a live set at Glastonbury and he was excellent. Makes extensive use of the capo on a lot of songs, to demonstrate the vocal range he's got, this song is capoed at the third fret - his recent hit "You're beautiful" is capoed at 8 even though the opening chord (G) is the same on each record. Quite a talent, for sure.
The secret of this song is very much in the strumming. I have indicated a pattern for the verse and for the chorus. Note that in the verse you are holding most of the chords for 2 bars, while in the chorus its one.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. This is spot on, trust me.
Capo on third fret to play along to the CD.
Chord shapes
Chords –
G 320033
B11 x21200 (The "top" part of the B7 chord shape)
Em 022000
A7 x02020
Am7 x02010
A7sus4 x02030
C x32010 (standard C chord)
C* x32013 (standard with linky on 3rd fret high E)
D xx00232
Emb6 032000 (C with unfretted B string, and play the low E string)
Em6 042000
Its vital you use the correct C at the appropriate time as the fretted high E version gives the song the melody.
Strum Pattern
verse Down (pause) Down (pause) Up Down Up / Up down Up for each bar
Chorus down down down up/down/up down down
And here's the tab - note the 4 bars of G that give you time to get into the right rhythm!
Intro – G G G G
Verse One
G G
……..beautiful dawn………….
B11 B11
….Lights up the shore for me there is
Em Em
Nothing else in the world ….
A7 A7
I'ld rather wake up and see with you
G G
……..beautiful dawn………….
Em Em
.. I'm just chas-ing time again
Am7 Am7
…..thought I would die a lonely man…
A7sus4 A7sus4
..in endless nights, but now I'm
chorus
C* D Em C
High…………..running wild among all the stars above
C* D Em
…some-times……its hard
C*
To believe you remember me
Verse two
G G
……..beautiful dawn………….
B11 B11
Melts with the stars again…do you re-
Em Em
-member the day when my journey began?
A7 A7
Will you remember the end……of time
G G
……..beautiful dawn………….
Em Em
You're just blow-ing my mind again
Am7 Am7
…..thought I was born to endless night…
A7sus4 A7sus4
…until you shine………
chorus
C* D Em C
High…………..running wild among all the stars above
C* D Em
…some-times……its hard
C*
To believe you remember me
Bridge
Em
Will you be my shoulder,
Emb6
when I'm grey and older
Em6
Promise me tomorrow
Am7
starts … with you.. getting
chorus
C* D Em C
High…………..running wild among all the stars above
C* D Em
…some-times……its hard
C*
To believe you remember me
C* D Em C
High…………..running wild among all the stars above
C* D Em
…some-times……its hard
C*
To believe you remember me
End on G G
And that's it. If I get a good response to this, or a request to post it, I'll put up "you're beautiful" as well.
Cheers
Matt
Nice one mate, ill give it a try in a minute :D
Nice work Matt - I don't know the song, hell I haven't even heard "You're Beautiful" yet....but those chords look like they must have been murder to work out......
One little thing, the Emb6 you've tabbed is actually an alternative way of playing Cmaj7....for any maj7 chord, you need the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th of the scale....so for Cmaj7, you'd need C, E, G and B....reading left to right on your chord plan, you've got E C E G B E.....
I suppose technically it's an inversion, and technically could be labelled Cmaj7/E....
But hey, they're nice chords to strum along with....
Looks like it should be a fairly slow song....any idea how many BPM? Or failing that, any old classic rock song you could compare it with, tempo-wise?
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I have no idea who the artist is or the song but the chord progression and strumming pattern(s) sure sounds sweet. I just played it at a moderate speed. If it wasn't for an up beat strumming pattern it sure would sound like a sad song. I guess I will have to find a sound clip or the song itself and see how close I got.
Thanks for the effort on this.
I always look out for your submissions Matt as they are always songs I know or like.
itunes will give you 30 seconds of this which should be enough to get a feel for the song.
High there everyone.
Yeah its a moderately paced song, I haven't got the book with me here so I can't say for certain what bpm it is - if I remember i will have a look tonight and post tomorrow.
Vic yeah that's exactly what I thought - Cmaj7/E but the chord name came straight from the sheet music so that's what i went with.
I agree this is a lovely progression and great to strum along to - it really is a nice album and well worth a listen, the guys got a really unusual voice.
All the best and thanks for your comments
Matt
Hi Matt
Just wanted to say thanks for posting this song. It's the first one I've tried from the ESD having only been playing just over a month. i printed the instructions and this sounds fantastic. My wife even came into the lounge and said "That's James Blunt!"
I was merrily strumming the tune right up until my dogs had a fight and I got bitten in the process. Dented my little finger and it's very very soer this morning! Oh well, no playing for me for a couple of days!
Just a quick question though. With the capo on the 8th fret it's very hard for my fat fingers to put the ring and pinky in the same fret. Is there an easier way of playing the G chord up that high? Would barring those two strings help as they don't move anyway?
Thanks again!
Collin
Looks great... I'm about to try it out. And since no one else has, I'll request the "You're Beautiful" TAB. :) These are both great songs...
So, I'm literally just finishing up downloading this whole album (plus a bonus digital booklet and a video!) from iTunes after hearing a few songs at my friend's house...
...and I pop in here only to see a lesson for the great song I heard that made me think "Hey, I could probably play that."
Pure awesomeness packaged up in coincidental lesson form. Will be working on this one tonight, thanks a million! 8)
Well thanks guys - I was a little disappointed at the amount of feedback on the original post.
As for ways of playing the G that high up the neck. Hmm no easy answer I am afraid. A mini barre probably won't work as it will restrict the other fingers too much.
Only thing i can suggest is really squeezing the two fingers (pinky and ring) together as tightly as possible. Or move the capo down two frets but you'll lose the distinctive Blunt sound.
Watch this space for "you're beautiful" coming soon.
Matt
THanks Matt - I suddenly realised that I was posting about Beautiful, not High - mixing the two songs up while trying to learn them is not really a good idea!
Anyway, I have really enjoyed learning this, and although the chord progression is still a little slow, I'm getting there!
Thanks for posting such a fab tune!
Waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy looking forward to you posting "you're beautiful", there's a couple of bits I'm really struggling with! A month of playing, it's not really surprising though is it!
Collin
I was watching him play High at AOL, and he plays with the capo on the 2nd friend, just a note.
Geek
His voice must have been a bit low that day....I have the sheet music and its definitely at 3 - if you play along to the CD you will need to anyway.
All the best
Matt
Great work Matt,
Got to say this is the first song I can now play right through from start to finnsh without any major problems thanks to your much appreciated hard work......Looking forward to Your Beautiful....
