Paper Planes Chords & Tabs
This is my first tab so I'm sorry if its not perfect.
I'll start off by telling you that this is a song by M.I.A. (which you probably knew already).
M.I.A. sampled The Clash's song, Straight to Hell. Well just the beginning of that song anyways.
This song is done by Street Sweeper Social Club and they did a really good cover. Here's
link to the song on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsjgM0b385g
They did a great job. Before you start tune your guitar to Drop D. I made the mistake by
D tuning. So tune your low E to D then you're ready.
You can play along to the SSSC version or the M.I.A. original.
Ledgend
/ slide
b bend
X pick behind nut of guitar
v vibrato
Alright! If you saw the video, Tom Morello is playing lead of course. Here's his main
for the intro and verse...
He plays 3 simple power chords. D, then A, then G.
e)-------------------------------------------|
B)-------------------------------------------|
G)---7--7--7--7------------------------------|
D)---7--7--7--7------7--7----5--5--5--5------|
A)---5--5--5--5------7--7----5--5--5--5------|
D)-------------------7--7----5--5--5--5------|
The number of strums is not to scale but you will get it once you listen to it. And
Tom's part for the beginning. Real simple.
The other guys part is the rythym. He does this throughout most of the song.
e)--22-22-22-22-22-22-22-22-21-21-21-21-21-----------------------------------|
B)-----------------------------------------20-20-20-20-20b-20b-20b-20b-20b---|
All of this is tremolo picked. Which means you use up and down strokes and play it as
as you can.
Once again, this is not the exact number of notes but just a reference to look at when
hear the song.
Alright now for the chorus (all i want to do is...)
This might be a little tricky for people who have never heard of Rage Against the
or Tom Morello.
Tom uses his signature Fender Telecaster from Rage and likes to do this weird thing by
the G string behind the nut or at the head of the guitar.
This makes the same note as playing the 22nd fret of the high e string if you dont have
Fender guitar.
Tom plays this...
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/s/street_sweeper_social_club/paper_planes_tab_ver_2.html ]
e)------------------------------------------------------------|
B)------------------------------------------------------------|
G)--------7--7--7--7-------------------X----------------------|
D)--5-----7--7--7--7------------------------12/----7----------|
A)--5-----5--5--5--5------------------------12/----7----------|
D)--5-----------------(slide up and )-------12/----7----------|
down the neck
three times
Not too hard. Not too hard at all.
Now the solo... Its kinda soft but still pretty cool. The vibratos are just a cool
add on that will make it sound nicer.
To do a vibrato, it means you jiggle your hand a little bit while still holding the chord.
e)------------------------------------------------|
B)------------------------------------------------|
G)---7/9--9/11--11---11-12--11-9--11-7------------|
D)------------------------------------------------|
A)---5/7--7/9---9----9--10--9--7--9--5------------|
D)------------------------------------------------|
e)------------------------------------------------|
B)------------------------------------------------|
G)---7/9--9/11--11---11-12--11-12--14--11---------|
D)------------------------------------------------|
A)---5/7--7/9---9----9--10--9--10--12--9----------|
D)------------------------------------------------|
e)------------------------------------------------|
B)------------------------------------------------|
G)---7/9--9/11--11---11-12--11-9--11-7------------|
D)------------------------------------------------|
A)---5/7--7/9---9----9--10--9--7--9--5------------|
D)------------------------------------------------|
e)------------------------------------------------|
B)------------------------------------------------|
G)---7/9--9/11--11/12--12/14--14/17--17v--17v-----|
D)------------------------------------------------|
A)---5/7--7/9---9/10---10/12--12/15--15v--15v-----|
D)------------------------------------------------|
Thats it! I had fun tabbing this out. Any questions or comments add my myspace at
because my email is broken.
Happy guitar playing,
Vince