Black -Pearl Jam
I haven't listened to it in a while but here is how I play it. It's a cool song with easy embellishments. I post a clip with the strumming but you should feel comfortable messing around. Generally I emphasize downstrokes on the E and A and up on the sus variants.
All of the tabs I found have Em in the chorus and in listening I think they are wrong. Also the little E to Esus and A to Asus4 are left out of many tabs but I think it makes it move a bit more like the original.
Enjoy
Chords:
E
Esus (A shifted down a string, towards the lower notes) 022200
A
Asus4 (Em shifted up a string, towards the higher notes) 002200
C
Cadd9 x32030
Dsus xx0320
and finally
Em
So start wailing like Eddie and play this a couple of times through:
E Esus A Asus4 A
E Esus A Asus4 A
and hold on E
Now into the song:
E Esus A Asus4 A
Sheets of empty canvas
E Esus A Asus4 A
untouched sheets of clay
E A
Were laid spread out before me
E Esus E Esus
as her body once did
E A Asus4 A
All five horizons,
E Esus A Asus4 A
revolved around her soul (as the earth to the sun)
E Esus A Asus4 A
and now the air I tasted and breathed,
E Esus E Esus
has taken a turn
C E Esus E Esus
..oooh and all I taught her was... everything
C E Esus E Esus
...oooh I know she gave all... that she wore
Dsus
And now my bitter hands
Cadd9
Chafe beneath the clouds
Em
Of what was everything
Dsus Cadd9
All the pictures have all been washed in black
E
Tatooed everything.
E Esus A Asus4 A
I take a walk outside
E Esus A Asus4 A
I'm surrounded by some kids at play
E Esus A Asus4 A
I can feel their laughter
E
So what can I say
C Em
Ooh and twisted thoughts that spin round my head (I'm spinnin', oooh I'm spinnin')
C
how quick the sun can drop away...............
Dsus
And now my bitter hands
C7
Cradle broken glass
Em
of what was everything
Dsus Cadd9
All my pictures have all been washed in black
E
Tatooed everything
D sus
All my love gone bad
Cadd9
turned my world to black
Dsus
tatooed all I see
C7
All that I am
Em
All that I'll be............. yeah
Dsus
I know some day you'll have a beautiful life
Cadd9
I know you'll be a star,
Em Dsus Cadd9
In somebody elses sky, but why, why why
Em
can't it be, can't it be in mine.
I've recently been working on this song, too. A few thoughts/comments:
1. In the E and A and sus parts, I play up the neck at the 7-10 frets to get the higher intonation you hear in the song. This summer, Guitar World put out a Pearl Jam retrospective that also had a bunch of tabs, including Black. It uses various E chords, like E7 (x79797), E (x79997), and in particular, uses the Asus phrasing of x079107 that really sounds like Stone's guitar work in the song. Just some food for thought.
2. A minor correction, but the lyric in the first bridge is "my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds." A common missed lyric (thanks to Eddie's "unique" vocal stylings). http://www.pearljam.com/songs/song.php?song=Black
3. If you want to play the "doo doo doo doo" part at the end of the song, it can be played on the high E string as 7--8-10--8--7--8--7vvv or on the B string as 12--13-15--13--12--13--12vvv.
It is a pretty easy song that sounds great and is fun to play.
Thanks for the updates. What does he say in the line that ends with "....like her body once did"?
If you can play the barre chords, by all means give it a shot. I won't mind. I talked to Eddie though and he said he doesn't mind if you play it this way. :D
I like my arrangement for two reasons, it's easier for beginners to play and this open chord version is fuller than the barre version for solo acoustic purposes. Experiment and find which works for you.
He says "Were laid spread out before me as her body once did." Another commonly misheard lyric...for years, I thought it was either "her lace spread out before me" or "her legs spread out before me" (amazing where the mind leaps to).
I actually have been playing it on my accoustic more than on my electric. It is easier to play with the open chords, but it never sounds right to me, mostly because I think that barre chord Asus is so distinctive to the song. But that may just be me (I am a Pearl Jam dork, as my wife calls me). I do play the bridge and chorus using the open chords. I'll try the verses again with the open chords.
Thanks for posting this song, by the way. Tell Eddie I say hi next time you talk to him.
Thank you guys so much... can't wait to go home and give it a try!
You are welcome.
Iraesq, thanks for that. I've read in tabs "Her legs spread out..." I knew that wasn't right. It makes no sense lyrically. Now I know.
I think you are right about the distinctive quality of the barre chords, maybe there is a happy medium.
:oops: How embarassing. I wrote "C7" by the chord diagram for Cadd9 and used C7 throughout the tab. I changed it, but if you were playing by reading chord names, my apologies.
Nick, I was wondering if you could please suggest a strumming pattern... I've been trying to play this song since you've posted the tab, I can play the chords smoothly but I'll be darnded if I can get it to sound right. Thanks.
Nick, I was wondering if you could please suggest a strumming pattern... I've been trying to play this song since you've posted the tab, I can play the chords smoothly but I'll be darnded if I can get it to sound right. Thanks.
I'd also be interested to see a strum pattern suggestion or even a quick clip of someone playing.
Just one bad guitar player's opinion...
On the verses, I tend to use DD/DUDU/DD. I quicken the pace on the DUDU part. I'll also throw in an arpeggio or broken chord picking ever now and then to keep it interesting.
On the chorus, it depends if I'm using the electric or the acoustic. On the electric, I think it is generally one simple down stroke and held (2 or 3 strokes for each chord). On the acoustic, that sounds way too boring, so I'll use D/DU/UDU and emphasize the first downstoke. Again, to keep it interesting, I'll throw in some arpeggios or broken chord picking. Actually, I do this on the electric, too, from time to time.
Hope this is somewhat helpful. Just remember...you get what you pay for. :D
