Elliott Smith - Alphabet Town (1995, S/T)
E major: Intro - Chorus (w/o lyrics) - Verse A x2 - Verse B
- Chorus (w/lyrics) - Verse A x2 - Verse C - Verse B
- Chorus (w/lyrics) - Verse C - Verse B
- Chorus (w/lyrics) - Chorus (w/o lyrics)
Standard tuning. Major chords designated by a capital letter; minor chords by
a lower-case letter. All chords are in open fingering where possible. The
chords designated b1 and a1 are explained further below, as well as some of the
other "strange" ones. Measures are delineated by the | character, beats by
either a chord name or the - character, in which case you keep playing whatever
chord you were playing already.
Intro: E, with an f# on top every now and then (2nd fret on the high e string)
Chorus: b1 - a1 - | C6 - - - (x4)
Verse A: E7 - - - | F#7 - - - | C/G - - - | a - - -
Verse B: E - - - | c#11 - - - | C/G - - - | a - E -
Verse C: C6 - b1 - | Fmaj7 - - - | b1 - - - | a1 - - -
b1 a1 C6 c#11
e 0 0 0 4
b 3 3 3 7
g 4 4 0 (6) (play this note if you can)
D 2 2 2 6
A 2 0 3 4
E x x x x
------------------------ NOTES ----------------------------
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/e/elliott_smith/alphabet_town_crd_ver_2.html ]
b1 and a1 are named after their bass notes, for lack of a better knowledge of
music theory. The notes in b1 are, from low to high, (b,e,b,d,e), and in a1,
(a,e,b,d,e), where the bass moved down one whole step. The following C6 chord
is probably also a Cmaj7, it's just that on one guitar it's hard to get all the
notes in neatly (c,e,g,b,d). Likewise it's a bit tough to play a c# with an
added f# (I labelled this chord c#11), although you could try barring it
higher up the neck, e.g. (9-9-11,9,9,9) or even (9-11-11-11-9-9) if you can
muster it.
Here's a trick you can do to make the song much more interesting, like the
recording. I'm not sure why two notes make such a difference, but they do...
During the chorus, we always hear this one guitar doing a hammer on from d to
e, presumably 3h5 on the b string, every time a chord changes. You can imitate
this as follows: with your thumb or pick and some other finger, pluck only the
bass note (i.e. the A string) and the b string, and then quickly follow by
plucking the high e string. Those top two notes are d and e, respectively, in
every chord during the chorus. Finally, strum the chord normally for the rest
of its duration. Basically this way you emphasize the bass (this especially
important in the outro chorus), and also get in that little d-to-e motif. Makes
it sound much cooler! :-) Do it for all three chorus chords, b1, a1, and C6.
For corrections or thoughts, ninestraycats AATT gmail DDOOTT com
