- setzerino wrote:
- Could anyone help with the song 'lonely summer nights'
I have the tab from the link on these pages but i cant figure out the chord changes in response to the lyrics. I managed to find another tab on the net but the chords are different and dont quite sound as good as the tab provided here.
Sorry for being a pain but im struggling.
Hi,
I can feel your frustration coming though my computer screen
OK - first I am assuming you are talking about the tab from
here ?
If so have you tried this chord chart
here ?
Both of these seem to be pretty good and will get you playing along to the record.
Assuming we are talking about the same tab then ignore all the fancy fills, arpeggio's etc that are tabbed out and just concentrate on the basics - there is a chord progression laid out there for all parts of the song - I am also assuming that you can play the chords described and change between them pretty smoothly and quickly? I am asking because it is not a simple 3 chord trick tune and the chords come pretty thick and fast if you are struggling to hit them accurately each time
It may help to break the song down so you can understand its format - this tune has only 2 basic sections - verse and chorus - there is a chord progression for the verse and one for the chorus - each time a verse is played its the same chords, each time a chorus is played its the same chords each time - so you really only need to learn the timing of the chords for one verse and one chorus
the song breaks down like this:
- Intro (one verse without any singing)
- verse 1 (same chords as above)
- verse 2 (and again)
- chorus 1
- verse 3 (same progression as the other verses)
- Sax solo/chorus (its just a full chorus with sax instead of vocals for the first half)
- Verse 4/Ending (same as the other verse with a little ending tacked on)
So, with that in mind you can pick the intro and learn the timing of the chord changes for that - once you have that down you just repeat it for all the other verses. Its the same with the chorus - learn the timing of the chords in the 1st chorus and then play the same thing over the sax solo/chorus section.
OK - assuming you can play the progression just fine then its a matter of timing the changes from one chord to the next - TAB is not too accurate for this as it is impossible to show exactly when a chord should be played in a bar (whereas music notation can do this - but you need to be able to read it
)
One way to get the timing is to print out the tab and then write the lyrics in over the top of each bar yourself
Another option is the time honoured way of listening / playing / listening / playing over and over again until to can feel the rhythm and the changes - if you use a computer when you practice then windows media player has a slowing down function so you can play the song at half speed but it will still be in the same key - this is good if you are struggling with the speed of the song. If you dont use a computer then something like a Tascam
CD-GT2 will do the same thing to a cd.
Counting the beats in the bar can also help 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 etc. You can tap you foot as you count the beats whilst listening to the song - this can also help you sense the rhythm of the changes - one chord on the 1st beat of one bar, one on the 1st beat of the next bar etc
The main thing is that someone else has worked out the chord sequence for you - only you can actually play it so you need to really listen to the song to hear when the next chord is being played - it may be your ear isn't musically developed (mine still isn't but through training it has got a lot better than it was) - you may want to work on this also - it will certainly be a help to your playing in the long term
There is no short cut or easy answer - no-one can play the instrument for you and you will only improve at your own pace but if you keep practising it will come (I promise)
I hope this has been of some help