Chords for How To Play James Taylor You've Got a Friend (intro only)

Tempo:
69.8 bpm
Chords used:

Eb

B

A

D

Db

Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Show Tuner
How To Play James Taylor You've Got a Friend (intro only) chords
Start Jamming...
You've got a friend, we're cappoed at fret 2 and we're going to play chord shapes in the key of G.
We'll break this one down section by section of the song.
So we'll do the introduction first, which is the top 4 bars of your tab.
It sounds like this.
[D] [A]
[Db] [Eb]
We're starting on a normal G chord.
We're going to play [A] 6 3 1 3 2, [Db] then 3 at the second [B] fret, [Eb] 2 open and 2 at [D] the first fret.
[Eb] The rhythm is quite [A] simple though.
1 and 2 and 3 and [Ab] 4 and.
Now that note that we've just put down on the second string is part of a C [Eb] chord.
So what will happen now is we'll move this finger into the C chord position.
I also put this finger here, although we're not going to play it.
So we've got C, but we're leaving the little finger on the first string, third fret.
Bar 2 of the tab where we [D] play 5 1 3 2.
Now move [B] these two fingers out of the way, leave just these two and play 4 [A] 1 3 4.
[D] 1 and 2 and 3 [A] and 4 and.
[E]
That second chord is [N] the C over D that you see on your tab.
Now we go back to a normal G chord.
We're going to play 6 2 and 1 and we're going to hammer the second string to the first fret.
[D]
Then take that finger off [B] again, play 2 and 1 out of a normal G chord [A] shape.
Back to the third [B] string, second fret, play that and then 2 and 1 together.
As before, at the normal G chord, this finger can come away at that point.
[Eb] You don't really want it to continue to ring [A] across this pair of notes.
Then 6 3 1 3.
[Eb] So this hammer-on is a very quick one.
It's within the beat of [D] 1.
1 and [A] 2 and 3 and 4 and.
[B]
Now we've got this tricky little thing involving bar chords that I'll show you an alternative for in a moment.
But [Eb] initially, F-sharp minor is just going to be a bar at the second [Abm] fret.
6 3 2 3.
And then with the little finger come out to the second [Eb] string, fifth fret.
5 and 2 [B] 3.
And then have this drop back to the fourth fret and play 2 again [Eb] and 3.
[Abm] 1 and 2 [Gb] and 3 [Db] and 4 and.
[Eb] Now that's difficult to do if you're not particularly comfortable with bar chords and it's quite a stretch as well.
One way around that is you could make the F-sharp minor chord as a three finger chord.
6th string, second fret and 2nd and 3rd [Abm] string, second fret.
[B] I'll deal with the B7 type chord, the second chord in a moment.
You could also get [Eb] that same effect by keeping these two fingers and having the thumb hook over on the 6th string, second fret.
That would work as well.
And when you come to this B7 sus chord, the [Eb] best way to play that is take a normal B7 shape and lift the little finger off the first string.
And play 5 and [Gb] 1 and then [B] 3 2 3.
[Eb] You can hear that the second string note is not the same as James Taylor's note which would be out at the fourth fret here.
If you can get that, then do that.
But it saves the stretch and it's a small difference.
One other thing before we leave the intro alone is that over that last bar that we looked at, the F-sharp minor to B7 sus,
there's a second guitarist, it must be Danny Kortschmar I guess, and he plays a little lick.
It's very prominent on the record so for the only time we'll look at a lick that Danny Kortschmar plays.
It's actually not too difficult.
It's shown, do you see that there's a second line of tab that's almost empty and just on the fourth bar it has this little lick in?
That's the one we're talking about.
It's the open [Gb] first string, index finger on [Eb] the second string third fret, middle finger [Ebm] now goes to the third string fourth fret,
pick it and slide it to [Db] the second fret, open [A] third string and [B] back goes the middle finger at the second fret and slide to four.
[Db] [Ebm] Now that works much better with the guitar underneath playing the James Taylor part but you've got it there if you want it.
[Db]
One and two [A] e and three [B] e and four and it rings [B] across the end of the
Key:  
Eb
12341116
B
12341112
A
1231
D
1321
Db
12341114
Eb
12341116
B
12341112
A
1231
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _
You've got a friend, we're cappoed at fret 2 and we're going to play chord shapes in the key of G.
We'll break this one down section by section of the song.
So we'll do the introduction first, which is the top 4 bars of your tab.
It sounds like this.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ [Eb]
We're starting on a normal G chord.
We're going to play [A] 6 3 1 3 2, [Db] then 3 at the second [B] fret, _ [Eb] 2 open and 2 at [D] the first fret.
_ [Eb] The rhythm is quite [A] simple though.
1 and 2 and 3 and [Ab] 4 and.
Now that note that we've just put down on the second string is part of a C [Eb] chord.
So what will happen now is we'll move this finger into the C chord position.
I also put this finger here, although we're not going to play it.
So we've got C, but we're leaving the little finger on the first string, third fret.
Bar 2 of the tab where we [D] play 5 1 3 2.
Now move [B] these two fingers out of the way, leave just these two and play 4 [A] 1 3 4.
_ [D] 1 and 2 and 3 [A] and 4 and.
[E]
That second chord is [N] the C over D that you see on your tab.
Now we go back to a normal G chord.
We're going to play 6 2 and 1 and we're going to hammer the second string to the first fret.
[D]
Then take that finger off [B] again, play 2 and 1 out of a normal G chord [A] shape.
Back to the third [B] string, second fret, play that and then 2 and 1 together.
As before, at the normal G chord, this finger can come away at that point.
[Eb] You don't really want it to continue to ring [A] across this pair of notes.
Then 6 3 1 3.
[Eb] So this hammer-on is a very quick one.
It's within the beat of [D] 1.
1 and [A] 2 and 3 and 4 and.
_ _ [B]
Now we've got this tricky little thing involving bar chords that I'll show you an alternative for in a moment.
But [Eb] initially, F-sharp minor is just going to be a bar at the second [Abm] fret.
6 3 2 3.
And then with the little finger come out to the second [Eb] string, fifth fret.
5 and 2 [B] 3.
And then have this drop back to the fourth fret and play 2 again [Eb] and 3.
_ [Abm] 1 and 2 [Gb] and 3 [Db] and 4 and.
[Eb] Now that's difficult to do if you're not particularly comfortable with bar chords and it's quite a stretch as well.
One way around that is you could make the F-sharp minor chord as a three finger chord.
6th string, second fret and 2nd and 3rd [Abm] string, second fret.
[B] I'll deal with the B7 type chord, the second chord in a moment.
You could also get [Eb] that same effect by keeping these two fingers and having the thumb hook over on the 6th string, second fret.
That would work as well.
And when you come to this B7 sus chord, the [Eb] best way to play that is take a normal B7 shape and lift the little finger off the first string.
And play 5 and [Gb] 1 and then [B] 3 2 3.
[Eb] You can hear that the second string note is not the same as James Taylor's note which would be out at the fourth fret here.
If you can get that, then do that.
But it saves the stretch and it's a small difference.
_ _ One other thing before we leave the intro alone is that over that last bar that we looked at, the F-sharp minor to B7 sus,
there's a second guitarist, it must be Danny Kortschmar I guess, and he plays a little lick.
It's very prominent on the record so for the only time we'll look at a lick that Danny Kortschmar plays.
It's actually not too difficult.
It's shown, do you see that there's a second line of tab that's almost empty and just on the fourth bar it has this little lick in?
That's the one we're talking about.
It's the open [Gb] first string, index finger on [Eb] the second string third fret, middle finger [Ebm] now goes to the third string fourth fret,
pick it and slide it to [Db] the second fret, _ open [A] third string and [B] back goes the middle finger at the second fret and slide to four.
_ [Db] [Ebm] Now that works much better with the guitar underneath playing the James Taylor part but you've got it there if you want it.
[Db] _ _ _
One and two [A] e and three [B] e and four and it rings [B] across the end of the

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