ANGEL - John Hiatt
------------------
|G |C |C G |D | x6
D G C G D
It is a hurtin' thing, you don't wanna talk about it
G C G D
Pain in your heart, well, it's takin' your breath away
G C G D
You left it in lipstick on the mirror: no use talkin' about it
G C G D
Love like this just don't come along every day
G C G D
Somebody just stop calling you angel
G C G D
Somebody just let love get up and go downtown
G C G D
Somebody just stop calling you angel
G C G D
Angel wings out in the snow and mascara running down
They called you tookie in high school; you didn't mind it too much
Kind of nice to have a nickname, kind of like they thought about it
You wish that it stuck with you: didn't have to trade it in on
Some crazy lover's petname- wind up hurtin' so much
Em D
He peeled the skin off of the world and you stopped breathin'
C D
You drew a breath, he sighed, the air was freezin'
Em D
Two blood red hearts pumpin' hard out in the open
C D
You skinned your knee at kickball twenty years ago against all hopin'
(Same chords as chorus)
Y'all put that hammer down and drove through love's angel food cake
Tastin' every spongy layer and lickin' frosting off the moon
Wild eyed with excitement but childishly disappointed
Maybe even tasted better when mama let you lick the spoon
Somebody just stop calling you angel (x3)
------------
There are 3 guitars on the album: 1 clean guitar, which plays the
introduction and is mixed centrally; and two distorted, rhythm and
lead, mixed left and right respectively. After the introduction, the
clean guitar is mixed pretty low, so this transcription is an
arrangement for 2 guitars - the rhythm guitar plays the introduction
clean, and then stomps on the distortion for everything else. I'm
going to call the rhythm guitar John, and the lead guitar Michael, for
obvious reasons.
By the way, this song has a well cool bass line- bassists take note.
Anybody fancy transcribing it?
Comments and corrections welcome, as usual...
NB John is in 'dropped-G' tuning (low to high EADEBE) with a capo on
the third fret- fret positions are given relative to the capo. Michael
is in standard tuning.
Intro riff: x2
John
+ + + + + + + +
|---------|---------|---------|---------|
|---0---0-|----0-0--|-0--0---0|-0--0-0--|
|---0--0--|---0-0---|---0---0-|-2-2-2-0-|
|-2-------|-7-----7-|-7---6---|-4-------|
|---------|---------|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|---------|---------|
Chorus figure: x4
John
+ + + + + + + +
---|----0-0--|----0-0--|----0---0|----0-0--|
---|---0-0---|---0-0---|---0---0-|-0-0-0---|
---|-0-------|-0-------|---------|-x-------|
-4-|-2-----2-|-2-------|---------|-4-----4-|
-2-|-2-----2-|-0-----0-|---------|-2-----2-|
---|-0-----0-|---------|/5--/4---|-2-------|
Michael | | | |
---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
---|-5-------|/10------|-10-\5---|/12------|
---|-5-------|/10------|-10-\5---|/12------|
---|-3-------|/8-------|-8--\3---|/10------|
Verse: x4
John
+ + + + + + + +
|---------|---------|----0---0|---------|
|-0-------|-0-------|---0---0-|-0-------|
|-x-------|-0-------|---------|-x-------|
|-4-------|-2-------|---------|-4-------|
|-2-------|-2-------|---------|-2-------|
|---------|-0-------|/5--/4---|-2-------|
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/j/john_hiatt/angel_tab.html ]
Bridge: (sustained chords)
John
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|
|-----|-----|-----|-0-0-|-0---|-----|-----|-0---0---|
|-4---|-----|-----|-x-x-|-0---|-----|-----|-x---x---|
|-6---|-----|-----|-4-4-|-2---|-----|-----|-4---4---|
|-4---|-----|-----|-2-2-|-0---|-----|-----|-2---2---|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|
Michael | | | | | | |
|-0---|-----|-0-0-|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|
|-0---|-----|-0-0-|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|
|-9---|-----|-9-9-|-7-7-|-5---|-----|-----|-7---7-7/|
|-9---|-----|-9-9-|-7-7-|-5---|-----|-----|-7---7---|
|-7---|-----|-7-7-|-5-5-|-3---|-----|-----|-5---5---|
|-0---|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|
John
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|-7---|-----|
|-----|-----|-----|-0-0-|-0---|---------|-7---|-----|
|-4---|-----|-----|-x-x-|-0---|---------|-7-STRUM---|
|-6---|-----|-----|-4-4-|-2---|---------|-9-RAPIDLY-|
|-4---|-----|-----|-2-2-|-0---|---------|-9---|-----|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|-7---|-----|
Michael | | | | | | |
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|-----|-----|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|-----|-----|
|/12--|-----|-----|-7-7-|-5---|-------5/|/7-7-|-7-7-|
|-----|-----|-----|-7-7-|-5---|-------5/|/7-7-|-7-7-|
|-----|-----|-----|-5-5-|-3---|-------3/|/5-5-|-5-5-|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---------|-----|-----|
Solo: (Backing is much the same as a chorus)
(G Major Pentatonic all the way)
Michael
+ + + + + + + +
|---------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
|---------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
|---------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
|---------|-----------------|-------------5-5-|---------7p5-7b9-|
|---------|-------------5-5-|-5-------5/7-----|-----------------|
|-3~~~~~~~|-3-------5/7-----|-----------------|-----------------|
+ + + + + + + +
|-----------------|---------|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|---------|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|---------|-----------------|-----------------|
|--------b9r7p5---|-5-------|-----5-----------|-----------------|
|---------------7-|---------|-5h7---5h7p5-----|-----------------|
|-----------------|---------|-------------7\--5b7r5-3---3-------|
+ . . . + . . . + . . . + . . .
|-------------------------|-------------------12-12-|
|-------12----10h12----12-|p10-10-10h12----12-12-12-|
|-------12----9-h12----12-|p9--9--9-h12----12-------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
+ . . . + . . . + . . . + . . .
|-12p10-------12-12-12p10-|-------12-12-12p10-------|
|-12p10-------12-12-12p10-|-------12-12-12p10----12-|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
+ . . . + . . . + . . . + . . .
|-----------------------------|-------------------------|
15b17r15-12-------------------|-------------------------|
|-----------12-14b16r14p12----|-14----12-12-------------|
|--------------------------14-|----14-------------14\\--|
|-----------------------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------------------|-------------------------|
+ . . . + . . . + . . . + . . . + +
|-------------------------|-------------------------|--------||
|-------------------------|-------------------------|--------||
|----------------12-14b16-|------------b16r14p12----|--------||
|----------12h14----------|----------------------14-|-12-----||
|----12h14----------------|-------------------------|-12-----||
|-15----------------------|-------------------------|-10-----||
Format:
Intro riff
Chorus figure
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Solo
Verse (stab the first chord then play nothing
for the remainder of the first 2 bars)
Chorus x2
Chorus/Out-solo
I can't be bothered transcribing the out-solo - it doesn't sound too
complicated, so just fiddle about with G minor pentatonic.
Notation used:
+ = Marks the beat
. = Marks a quarter-beat
p = Pull-off
h = Hammer-on
/ = Slide
~ = Vibrato
b = Bend
r = Release bend
Sorry if the bending notation is a little confusing - notating bends
is always a bit awkward. Just to clarify,
---7b9------b9r7p5-----
means bend from the seventh fret up two frets, hold, restrike, release
bend and then pull off to the fifth fret.
Enjoy!
