Chords for Elliott Smith Gives A Songwriting Lesson

_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [F] _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ [F] _ _ [E] _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[Abm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _
I [F] kind of imagine [B] things just during the day _ [F] and I [B] _ play pretty much every day.
[Bm] I _ don't [N] have a very methodical approach.
_ I think it's our imagination is the divine force [B] and if
you just don't block it up [Ab] it'll come out and surprise you.
[Db] The way I think about it isn't,
I don't really think about it in terms [G] of language, I think about it more like shapes.
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ That's [Gb] an interesting thing to talk about, that it's [B] difficult.
_ _ _ I'm really into chord changes,
you know, that was the thing that I liked when I was a kid.
_ _ _ I _ _ don't [E] make up a [B] riff,
it's usually sort [Ab] of [D] _ _ _ [A] _ _
[Eb] _ [B] like a sequence, like that or something. _
It has some _ _ implied melody in it
or something like that.
_ _ _ [G] It'd be a drag to have to do [Db] battle with conventions all the time.
You can kind of be [F] [D] imaginative.
_ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [A] _ _ I spend a lot of time just [Am] sitting around kind of playing [D] and not
really paying a whole lot of [F] attention because if you're [E] always looking at your fingers then you
[D] see what you're playing and you [Db] think, okay I could go to [Ab] this or go to that or you know,
instead of _ [A] just_
_ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ [F] _
Although most of those are normal [B] chords but this is some [D] kind of,
_ [A] sort of like a, _ some sort of D7 or something, but it has [D] an E in it.
I don't know what it's
really called.
_ [Am] _ I like it, _ [Db] _ [D] _ that's a D7. _
_ [E] One thing I notice myself doing a lot is _ [B] playing
_ [N] _ versions of chords where the bass note is a [Em] fifth, like [F] _ _
[C] an [G] F with a C bass or
G with a C with a G in the bass.
_ Not terribly [C] exciting but something I kind of like about that.
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [Am] _ I [Eb] don't mind most of the [Cm] time [Dm] I don't [Eb] feel [Bb] afraid
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ [C] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ [E] _ _ _ Like _ _ [Gbm] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [G] _
_ [Gb] _ _ [E] _ _ [Gbm] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [G] _ _
[A] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ [B] _ _ [Em] _ _
[E] it [B] goes on like that.
It's like kind of half chords.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [D]
I do, I spend [Gb] a lot of time playing things that aren't,
where you don't really want all the strings to sound, [C] you know,
um, [Eb] _ where it's really sort of, this string's not [Ab] moving because my finger's on it, this one's not
moving because my finger's on that too, so it's really just the notes [G] that I'm playing [Db] with this
hand.
Everything else is blocked [Eb] off.
_ It's really just three [Em] strings, _ like yeah, sort of half chord
things.
[B] _
_ That song was called The Question Mark.
_ [Eb] _
_ It's an electric guitar song.
_ I think _ _ it's pretty easy [Ebm] if you just relax [Db] and quit [B] thinking about what you think other people
want to hear, you know?
If you [Fm] just kind of, [Bb] _ [Eb] if you can keep [N] finding new things and just things
that you personally like about music and put it into the blender and see what comes out, you know,
and if you [Gb] like it, it's bound to, there must be something good about it because you liked it,
[N] right?
_ Whereas that's not necessarily true of like _ _ a million selling record.
There's some records
that sell millions of copies that it's really [D] unclear if anybody liked it who's making it,
you know?
_ _ I think it's just [B] hard for people because they get, _ _ _ you know, _ you just gotta have,
give yourself a little confidence to _ do what you personally like and not,
_ not get all bogged down with what you think people want to hear, you know?
_ _ [D] If you see someone
playing music that they really like, it's really compelling, even [G] if, like regardless of what style
it is, I [F] think. _
[C] _ _ [B] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Am] _
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_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
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