Chords for How To Play Joni Mitchell Amelia (intro only)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Amelia is in Open C tuning.
So let's get into the tuning first of all.
[Bb] _
There are various ways of [Abm] playing, of tuning your guitar to Open C.
This is the one she uses [Eb] on this song.
The first [B] string comes down [Cm] to C.
_ _ _ Second string is tuned down to G.
[G] _ _ _ _ [B] Third string is tuned down [E] to E. _ _ _ _
Fourth string tuned down to [C] C.
_ _ [Cm] _
Fifth string tuned down to [G] G.
_ _ And [F] sixth string [C] all the way down to C.
_ Where it's going to be very loose and floppy. _ _ _ _
Alright, as [B] always with Joanie, she finds some exquisite [N] chord shapes out of this tuning.
So, you'll notice on the preview that it only runs, on the playthrough, [B] that it runs for a couple of verses.
That's [Eb] because every verse is exactly the same.
So once you've learned to play one [E] verse of this song, you've learned the whole song.
[F] _ Well, along with the intro.
You need the intro and then a verse.
Now the intro is going to begin like this. _
[G] _ [C] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [F] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[Em] Let's take that as the [Eb] beginning.
That's the first three bar phrase on your tap.
It starts with this shape.
[F] Third string first fret, second string fourth fret.
No, I'm sorry.
Third string first fret, fourth string second [Dm] fret.
_ We're going to pinch those two and then play the [G] second string.
_ _ Then bring the shape up two [C] frets and do the same thing.
So, three and four and then the first string.
_ _ [Dm] _ [G] _
[C] _ _ _ _ Now [Eb] the song is in four beats to the [G] bar, but this bar at [Eb] the beginning is only three [Dm] beats.
[G] One and, [C] _ and, and.
Notice [F] all those ands.
There's nothing on two, nothing [Cm] on three.
[Dm]
One [G] and two [C] and three and. _
[Cm] And then we begin on the first beat of the next bar [E] with an F chord [Bb] shape,
[Eb] which is simply Joanie's favourite idea.
Whenever you're in an open tuning, if you bar at the fifth [G] fret or the seventh fret,
you're going to get a chord.
So, in this case, she gets an F chord by barring one finger [N] across the fifth fret.
And she's going to _ pinch six, [B] four and three.
[F] _
_ _ And then five, four. _
And then one of Joanie's typical up brushes. _
This is crucial [G] to her sound.
I won't go into it in detail because you see this on so many of [F] her songs.
I've covered it before.
But she flicks either the index or middle finger up from the first string.
She doesn't mind what strings she gets.
[B] But [F] whenever she does that, she accents it. _
Make sure that those up strums are the [B] accented part of your accompaniment pattern.
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] [F] Followed by sixth string, fifth [Cm] string.
And then add the [Eb] third string at the sixth fret and the fifth string at the seventh fret.
If you know your bar chord shapes, you'll [N] recognise that as being a seventh chord shape.
In standard tuning, that would be A7.
Here, it's not acting as A7, but it's that shape.
[F] And she plays five, four and three and [Eb] pulls off back [Bb] to the bar.
[F] _ _ _ And [E] does it again.
That's [D] into bar [F] three.
_ _ _ [Cm] _
Then out of the bar [F] shape, fourth string, third string, top two.
_ Flicks up and then [B] fingers away.
_ That flick [F] up will be stopped because then the bar comes [G] away.
She plays the open fifth and open second.
[Cm] You can hear [F] that flick [Cm] up stopped [G] on the original record.
[Eb] So the rhythm of those two [G] bars, one bar two, is
[F] one and two and three and [Bb] [F] four and
[Bb] one [F] and two and three and [G]
four and
Nothing on three of bar three of your tab.
Let me play [C] that intro again with the count.
_ _ [Dm] _
[G] One and [Em] two and three [C] [F] and
one and two and three [Bb] and [F] four [D] and
one [F] and two and three [G] and four and
_ _ Notice as I'm playing those open strings, I'm moving the hand back down the neck
because I want the original chord shape again, except this time she adds a bass note to it.
[N] So it's third string, first fret, sixth string, second fret and fourth string, second fret.
If you find that's a tricky chord shape to make, first of all, let me give you a tip for making it in almost an E chord shape.
In standard tuning, except [Gbm] this finger is [G] on the sixth string.
So if you feel like you're moving into E, you get pretty close to it.
_ [Ebm] If you really [F] still don't like it, then just [Eb] play the original chord shape and avoid the note that's on the sixth string.
[Dm] It'll sound [G] fine if you _ [C] just do that again.
But [Fm] she adds this bass note.
So out of [Eb] this shape now we get [Dm] six, four and three, second [G] string.
_ Come up two frets with the same shape, six, four [Em] and three and the first [C] string in the same rhythm that you played in bar one.
_ [G]
And then she goes back to the bar F chord shape and plays almost [C] the same as bar two.
_ _ [F] Six, four and three, five, four, flick up or brush up.
Let's say brush rather than flick.
And then six, five, four, [Cm] five or actually [C] anything out of the bass [F] chords that adds up to four notes. _
Notice that I use my thumb.
That's my habit from [A] fingerstyle playing [B] that the thumb takes care of the bass notes.
[Cm] She only doesn't do that.
[F] She has her thumb play the sixth string and the other fingers play everything else.
_ So when [Cm] you see her playing, it looks like this if you watch my [F] right hand. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ I'm just playing [Eb] random things there, but that's the way she looks when [F] she's playing it.
I tend to use the thumb for these and the fingers [Eb] for the brush up.
So you find the system that works best [F] for you.
It's a very, very unconventional right hand style as we said before with Joni.
_ OK, that was bar five.
At bar six, she recreates this A7 shape.
[Eb] Play six, [Bb] five, four and three and then five, four, brush up, _ six, five, four.
[Db] Those last two bars, five and six, are counting [F] one and two and three and four [Bb] and one and two and three and four.
Nothing on the end of four.
[F] Let's play that intro again.
Let's see how it [Dm] is.
_ [G] _
_ [C] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Bb] _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
[C] _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _
I [Eb] was_
and we're into the song.
Now, [Abm] that's your intro.
The intro reappears after every verse exactly like