Chords for Peter White - "On The Border" & Alan Parsons (4 of 16)
Tempo:
99.85 bpm
Chords used:
C
Bb
Gbm
Gb
F
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[F]
[C] [F]
[Bb]
[Gb] [Bb]
[A] [Bb] Yeah, I joined Al as a keyboard player in 1975, Al Stewart that is, and one day he saw
me playing the guitar.
He says, oh, you can play the guitar?
I said, yeah, I'll play the guitar.
And when it came time for him to record his album, The Year of the [C] Cat, [Gm] he asked me to
come in and play some [C] Spanish guitar.
He says, I have the song with a kind of a Spanish theme called On the Border.
On the Border refers to the Spanish border with France, I think, between Spain and France.
And so I said, I'd love to, but I don't have a Spanish guitar.
So he says, I'll lend you mine.
So I [Am] went to the studio, and by [Gb] the way, it was Abbey Road Studios in London, you know,
the [C] legendary home of the Beatles, and Pink Floyd also.
So there I am at 20 years old, sitting in the same place where the Beatles recorded
all their early albums and feeling, my God, you know, thinking back to those early days
when I, you know, idolized the Beatles and, you know, learned to play the guitar by listening
to, you know, listening to their records.
And I played Spanish guitar on this song, which became On the Border.
And subsequently, when we would tour, I was still playing keyboards in the show mainly.
But for that one song, I would come out, they'd plonk a stool down for me, you know, like
a bar stool, boom.
I'd pick up my Spanish guitar [Gbm] and I'd start.
[Gm] [A]
[Gbm] [G] I'd [Bb] start playing all these, you know, riffs.
And that's the only thing that anyone would remember.
People would meet me after the show, say, oh, you're the guy that played the Spanish guitar.
Wow, that was great.
You know, you should do an album of Spanish guitar music one day.
Nobody ever remembered what I did on the keyboard.
Isn't that funny?
But when I came out for that one song, [C] people would respond to that.
So it kind of happened, it was kind of thrust upon me that that was my instrument, the Spanish guitar.
And it all started from that song where [Bb] Al said to me, can you play something a bit,
just a little bit flamenco, you know, we've got castanets.
And he lent me his Spanish guitar because I didn't have one, you know, nylon string guitar.
I [C] had a steel string guitar, but not a nylon string.
So that's how it all started.
It wasn't like I decided one day this is my instrument.
It was kind of decided for me.
I went home.
I remember I had a little cassette player, cassette recorder, and I was already familiar
with the way the song [Gbm] ran.
It's kind of that rhythm, F sharp minor.
[Gm] So I recorded [Gbm] myself playing this cassette
[C] recorder.
And then I'd play that back and I would play over the top of [Bb] it and with a pick because
I couldn't play fingerstyle in those.
I could only play with a pick.
[A]
[Gb] [E] [Gbm] [Bb] So I played, I learned to play all these scales, minor scale.
[B]
[Bbm] [C] And I remember the run through, the first run through that we did in the studio.
And by the way, Alan Parsons was the producer on that album.
So they start the [Ab] tape and I start playing immediately, you know.
[Bb]
[Db] [E]
[Gb] [C] And all the way through from the beginning of the song to the end of the song.
And then they stop the tape and there was just silence for a moment.
And they're obviously talking in the control room and I'm sitting out there and you think,
what's going on?
And Alan comes on the intercom.
He says, let's try that again.
But this time, [N] don't play anything until he says, on the border.
I go, yeah, but what about all these great riffs that I've worked out?
You know, I'm a guitar player.
I want to play the guitar.
You know, it was the greatest lesson I ever learned that day.
That the difference between an instrumentalist and a musician.
An instrumentalist knows how to play.
A musician knows when to play.
And that was the lesson I learned that day at a very early age.
Well, early in my professional life.
I'd only been a professional musician for, you know, barely a year at that point.
I was 20.
And that the song was not all about me and my guitar.
The song was more important than me and the guitar.
And my guitar was there purely to support the song, not to feed my own ego.
So if you find the right place to play around, you know, the existing, the vocal is the most
important part of the song.
And the less guitar I play, the more impact each note has.
I learned that that day.
And I wasn't even sure that day whether what I'd done was right.
But I listen to that now, what we did back then.
And I go, yeah, he was right.
He was absolutely right.
That if I'd have played any more guitar than was absolutely necessary, it would have, it
would have ruined the song probably.
But the guitar comes in about a minute into the song.
Whereas if it was up to me, you know, 20 years old, knowing everything, I would have been
playing from the get go and all the way up to when the vocal starts, I would have probably
been playing behind the vocal.
So that was one of the biggest lessons of my life right there.
Knowing when to play, knowing when to leave space, letting other people play.
[F]
So thank you, Alan.
[Bb] [N]
[C] [F]
[Bb]
[Gb] [Bb]
[A] [Bb] Yeah, I joined Al as a keyboard player in 1975, Al Stewart that is, and one day he saw
me playing the guitar.
He says, oh, you can play the guitar?
I said, yeah, I'll play the guitar.
And when it came time for him to record his album, The Year of the [C] Cat, [Gm] he asked me to
come in and play some [C] Spanish guitar.
He says, I have the song with a kind of a Spanish theme called On the Border.
On the Border refers to the Spanish border with France, I think, between Spain and France.
And so I said, I'd love to, but I don't have a Spanish guitar.
So he says, I'll lend you mine.
So I [Am] went to the studio, and by [Gb] the way, it was Abbey Road Studios in London, you know,
the [C] legendary home of the Beatles, and Pink Floyd also.
So there I am at 20 years old, sitting in the same place where the Beatles recorded
all their early albums and feeling, my God, you know, thinking back to those early days
when I, you know, idolized the Beatles and, you know, learned to play the guitar by listening
to, you know, listening to their records.
And I played Spanish guitar on this song, which became On the Border.
And subsequently, when we would tour, I was still playing keyboards in the show mainly.
But for that one song, I would come out, they'd plonk a stool down for me, you know, like
a bar stool, boom.
I'd pick up my Spanish guitar [Gbm] and I'd start.
[Gm] [A]
[Gbm] [G] I'd [Bb] start playing all these, you know, riffs.
And that's the only thing that anyone would remember.
People would meet me after the show, say, oh, you're the guy that played the Spanish guitar.
Wow, that was great.
You know, you should do an album of Spanish guitar music one day.
Nobody ever remembered what I did on the keyboard.
Isn't that funny?
But when I came out for that one song, [C] people would respond to that.
So it kind of happened, it was kind of thrust upon me that that was my instrument, the Spanish guitar.
And it all started from that song where [Bb] Al said to me, can you play something a bit,
just a little bit flamenco, you know, we've got castanets.
And he lent me his Spanish guitar because I didn't have one, you know, nylon string guitar.
I [C] had a steel string guitar, but not a nylon string.
So that's how it all started.
It wasn't like I decided one day this is my instrument.
It was kind of decided for me.
I went home.
I remember I had a little cassette player, cassette recorder, and I was already familiar
with the way the song [Gbm] ran.
It's kind of that rhythm, F sharp minor.
[Gm] So I recorded [Gbm] myself playing this cassette
[C] recorder.
And then I'd play that back and I would play over the top of [Bb] it and with a pick because
I couldn't play fingerstyle in those.
I could only play with a pick.
[A]
[Gb] [E] [Gbm] [Bb] So I played, I learned to play all these scales, minor scale.
[B]
[Bbm] [C] And I remember the run through, the first run through that we did in the studio.
And by the way, Alan Parsons was the producer on that album.
So they start the [Ab] tape and I start playing immediately, you know.
[Bb]
[Db] [E]
[Gb] [C] And all the way through from the beginning of the song to the end of the song.
And then they stop the tape and there was just silence for a moment.
And they're obviously talking in the control room and I'm sitting out there and you think,
what's going on?
And Alan comes on the intercom.
He says, let's try that again.
But this time, [N] don't play anything until he says, on the border.
I go, yeah, but what about all these great riffs that I've worked out?
You know, I'm a guitar player.
I want to play the guitar.
You know, it was the greatest lesson I ever learned that day.
That the difference between an instrumentalist and a musician.
An instrumentalist knows how to play.
A musician knows when to play.
And that was the lesson I learned that day at a very early age.
Well, early in my professional life.
I'd only been a professional musician for, you know, barely a year at that point.
I was 20.
And that the song was not all about me and my guitar.
The song was more important than me and the guitar.
And my guitar was there purely to support the song, not to feed my own ego.
So if you find the right place to play around, you know, the existing, the vocal is the most
important part of the song.
And the less guitar I play, the more impact each note has.
I learned that that day.
And I wasn't even sure that day whether what I'd done was right.
But I listen to that now, what we did back then.
And I go, yeah, he was right.
He was absolutely right.
That if I'd have played any more guitar than was absolutely necessary, it would have, it
would have ruined the song probably.
But the guitar comes in about a minute into the song.
Whereas if it was up to me, you know, 20 years old, knowing everything, I would have been
playing from the get go and all the way up to when the vocal starts, I would have probably
been playing behind the vocal.
So that was one of the biggest lessons of my life right there.
Knowing when to play, knowing when to leave space, letting other people play.
[F]
So thank you, Alan.
[Bb] [N]
Key:
C
Bb
Gbm
Gb
F
C
Bb
Gbm
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ [Bb] Yeah, I joined Al as a keyboard player in 1975, _ _ Al Stewart that is, and one day he saw
me playing the guitar.
He says, oh, you can play the guitar?
I said, yeah, I'll play the guitar.
And when it came time for him to record his album, The Year of the [C] Cat, _ [Gm] he asked me to
come in and play some [C] Spanish guitar.
He says, I have the song with a kind of a Spanish _ theme called On the Border.
_ On the Border _ refers to the Spanish border with France, I think, between Spain and France.
And so I said, I'd love to, but I don't have a Spanish guitar.
_ _ So he says, I'll lend you mine.
So I [Am] went to the studio, and by [Gb] the way, it was Abbey Road Studios in London, you know,
the [C] legendary home of the Beatles, and Pink Floyd also.
So there I am at 20 years old, sitting in the same place where the Beatles recorded
all their early albums and feeling, my God, _ you know, thinking back to those early days
when I, you know, idolized the Beatles and, you know, learned to play the guitar by listening
to, _ you know, listening to their records. _
_ _ _ And I played Spanish guitar on this song, which became On the Border.
And subsequently, when we would tour, I was still playing keyboards in the show mainly.
But for that one song, I would come out, they'd plonk a stool down for me, you know, like
a bar stool, boom.
I'd pick up my Spanish guitar [Gbm] and I'd start.
_ [Gm] _ [A] _ _ _
[Gbm] _ _ [G] I'd [Bb] start playing all these, you know, riffs.
And that's the only thing that anyone would remember.
People would meet me after the show, say, oh, you're the guy that played the Spanish guitar.
Wow, that was great.
You know, you should do an album of Spanish guitar music one day.
Nobody ever remembered what I did on the keyboard.
Isn't that funny?
But when I came out for that one song, [C] _ people would respond to that.
So it kind of happened, _ it was kind of thrust upon me that that was my instrument, the Spanish guitar.
And it all started from that song where [Bb] Al said to me, can you play something a bit,
just a little bit flamenco, you know, we've got castanets.
_ And he lent me his Spanish guitar because I didn't have one, you know, nylon string guitar.
I [C] had a steel string guitar, but not a nylon string.
So that's how it all started.
It wasn't like I decided one day this is my instrument.
It was kind of decided for me.
I went home.
I remember I had a little cassette player, cassette recorder, and I _ was already familiar
with the way the song _ [Gbm] ran. _
_ _ _ It's kind of that rhythm, F sharp minor.
[Gm] So I recorded [Gbm] myself playing this cassette _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ recorder.
And then I'd play that back and I would play over the top of [Bb] it and with a pick because
I couldn't play fingerstyle in those.
I could only play with a pick. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
[Gb] _ [E] _ [Gbm] _ [Bb] So I played, I learned to play all these scales, minor scale.
_ _ _ _ [B] _
[Bbm] _ _ _ [C] And I remember the run through, the first run through that we did in the studio.
And by the way, Alan Parsons was the producer on that album.
So they start the [Ab] tape and I start playing immediately, you know.
[Bb] _
_ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ [E] _ _
[Gb] _ _ [C] And all the way through from the beginning of the song to the end of the song.
And then they stop the tape and there was just silence for a moment.
_ And they're obviously talking in the control room and I'm sitting out there and you think,
what's going on?
And Alan comes on the intercom.
He says, let's try that again.
But this time, [N] _ don't play anything until he says, on the border.
_ I go, yeah, but what about all these great riffs that I've worked out?
You know, I'm a guitar player.
I want to play the guitar.
You know, it was _ _ _ the greatest lesson I ever learned that day.
That the difference between an instrumentalist and a musician.
An instrumentalist knows how to play.
A musician knows when to play.
And that was the lesson I learned that day at a very early age.
Well, early in my professional life.
I'd only been a professional musician for, you know, barely a year at that point.
I was 20.
_ _ _ And that the song was not all about me and my guitar.
The song was more important than me and the guitar.
And my guitar was there purely to support the song, not to feed my own ego.
So if you find the right place to play around, you know, the existing, the vocal is the most
important part of the song.
_ _ _ _ And the less guitar I play, the more impact each note has.
I learned that that day.
And I wasn't even sure that day whether what I'd done was right.
But I listen to that now, what we did back then.
And I go, yeah, he was right.
He was absolutely right.
That if I'd have played any more guitar than was absolutely necessary, it would have, it
would have ruined the song probably.
But the guitar comes in about a minute into the song.
_ Whereas if it was up to me, you know, 20 years old, knowing everything, I would have been
playing from the get go and all the way up to when the vocal starts, I would have probably
been playing behind the vocal.
_ So that was one of the biggest lessons of my life right there.
Knowing when to play, knowing when to leave space, letting other people play.
_ _ [F] _
So thank you, Alan. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ [Bb] Yeah, I joined Al as a keyboard player in 1975, _ _ Al Stewart that is, and one day he saw
me playing the guitar.
He says, oh, you can play the guitar?
I said, yeah, I'll play the guitar.
And when it came time for him to record his album, The Year of the [C] Cat, _ [Gm] he asked me to
come in and play some [C] Spanish guitar.
He says, I have the song with a kind of a Spanish _ theme called On the Border.
_ On the Border _ refers to the Spanish border with France, I think, between Spain and France.
And so I said, I'd love to, but I don't have a Spanish guitar.
_ _ So he says, I'll lend you mine.
So I [Am] went to the studio, and by [Gb] the way, it was Abbey Road Studios in London, you know,
the [C] legendary home of the Beatles, and Pink Floyd also.
So there I am at 20 years old, sitting in the same place where the Beatles recorded
all their early albums and feeling, my God, _ you know, thinking back to those early days
when I, you know, idolized the Beatles and, you know, learned to play the guitar by listening
to, _ you know, listening to their records. _
_ _ _ And I played Spanish guitar on this song, which became On the Border.
And subsequently, when we would tour, I was still playing keyboards in the show mainly.
But for that one song, I would come out, they'd plonk a stool down for me, you know, like
a bar stool, boom.
I'd pick up my Spanish guitar [Gbm] and I'd start.
_ [Gm] _ [A] _ _ _
[Gbm] _ _ [G] I'd [Bb] start playing all these, you know, riffs.
And that's the only thing that anyone would remember.
People would meet me after the show, say, oh, you're the guy that played the Spanish guitar.
Wow, that was great.
You know, you should do an album of Spanish guitar music one day.
Nobody ever remembered what I did on the keyboard.
Isn't that funny?
But when I came out for that one song, [C] _ people would respond to that.
So it kind of happened, _ it was kind of thrust upon me that that was my instrument, the Spanish guitar.
And it all started from that song where [Bb] Al said to me, can you play something a bit,
just a little bit flamenco, you know, we've got castanets.
_ And he lent me his Spanish guitar because I didn't have one, you know, nylon string guitar.
I [C] had a steel string guitar, but not a nylon string.
So that's how it all started.
It wasn't like I decided one day this is my instrument.
It was kind of decided for me.
I went home.
I remember I had a little cassette player, cassette recorder, and I _ was already familiar
with the way the song _ [Gbm] ran. _
_ _ _ It's kind of that rhythm, F sharp minor.
[Gm] So I recorded [Gbm] myself playing this cassette _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ recorder.
And then I'd play that back and I would play over the top of [Bb] it and with a pick because
I couldn't play fingerstyle in those.
I could only play with a pick. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
[Gb] _ [E] _ [Gbm] _ [Bb] So I played, I learned to play all these scales, minor scale.
_ _ _ _ [B] _
[Bbm] _ _ _ [C] And I remember the run through, the first run through that we did in the studio.
And by the way, Alan Parsons was the producer on that album.
So they start the [Ab] tape and I start playing immediately, you know.
[Bb] _
_ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ [E] _ _
[Gb] _ _ [C] And all the way through from the beginning of the song to the end of the song.
And then they stop the tape and there was just silence for a moment.
_ And they're obviously talking in the control room and I'm sitting out there and you think,
what's going on?
And Alan comes on the intercom.
He says, let's try that again.
But this time, [N] _ don't play anything until he says, on the border.
_ I go, yeah, but what about all these great riffs that I've worked out?
You know, I'm a guitar player.
I want to play the guitar.
You know, it was _ _ _ the greatest lesson I ever learned that day.
That the difference between an instrumentalist and a musician.
An instrumentalist knows how to play.
A musician knows when to play.
And that was the lesson I learned that day at a very early age.
Well, early in my professional life.
I'd only been a professional musician for, you know, barely a year at that point.
I was 20.
_ _ _ And that the song was not all about me and my guitar.
The song was more important than me and the guitar.
And my guitar was there purely to support the song, not to feed my own ego.
So if you find the right place to play around, you know, the existing, the vocal is the most
important part of the song.
_ _ _ _ And the less guitar I play, the more impact each note has.
I learned that that day.
And I wasn't even sure that day whether what I'd done was right.
But I listen to that now, what we did back then.
And I go, yeah, he was right.
He was absolutely right.
That if I'd have played any more guitar than was absolutely necessary, it would have, it
would have ruined the song probably.
But the guitar comes in about a minute into the song.
_ Whereas if it was up to me, you know, 20 years old, knowing everything, I would have been
playing from the get go and all the way up to when the vocal starts, I would have probably
been playing behind the vocal.
_ So that was one of the biggest lessons of my life right there.
Knowing when to play, knowing when to leave space, letting other people play.
_ _ [F] _
So thank you, Alan. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [N] _