Chords for When You Say Nothing At All - Guitar Lesson and Tutorial - Keith Whitley or Alison Krauss

When You Say Nothing at All was a big hit for country artist Keith Whitley, and it was also a hit for country and bluegrass singer
Alison Krauss.
Both singers sing the song in the key of E flat, so male and female vocalists
will be able to sing along with the version that we learn.
The song was written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz.
Acoustic guitar players will capo up to the first fret so we can play key of D chords.
We'll pick through the intros and verses, and we'll do some strumming through the choruses.
The lead guitar part is pretty subtle,
but there are a couple of fun riffs that we'll learn that will really help to fill out the sound.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ [Eb] _ [Ab] _ [Fm] _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ [Eb] _ [Ab] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ [Ab] It's amazing
Gives [Bb] me clarity
[Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb]
Without [Ab] saying a feather I [Bb] fall _
[Ab] _ _ _ [Bb] _ [Ab] Without saying a thing
[Bb] When you say nothing
[Eb] _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ [Bb] _ [Eb] When [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _
[Ab] _ _ _ [Bb] _ [F] _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ you say [Eb] nothing at all
That [Bb] _ [Ab] _ _ [Fm] _
[Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Cm] _
[Ab] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _
_ [Fm] _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ [C] _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [Eb]
was the introduction to When You Say Nothing at All on the acoustic guitar.
So the first part of the introduction is going to be based around this D shape.
So we've got a capo on the first fret.
We're going to start with an open D [Bb] string,
second fret of the G string, and then this next thing we do [F] is the open E string,
[G] hammer on the second [F] fret with our middle finger, [Eb] and then open again. _ _
[Bb] _ Then we're going to move for the entire verse until we get to the very last chord.
There's only three finger positions we need to know.
The first one [Eb] is this.
So _ we got open D string, second fret of G, third fret of B.
The next one [Bb] is open A string,
second fret of G, third fret of B. _
_ _ [Ab] The last one is middle finger, third fret above the capo on the low E string, _
open G string, open B string.
_ _ [Eb] And so the whole verse uses the same picking pattern.
We're going to play the root of the chord,
then we're going to play the G string and B string with whatever fret positions we have for those strings.
So this D would be, _
then we [Bb] go to the A root, G string, B string, G string.
Go to the [Ab] G root, G string, B string, G string.
[Bb] Back to the A root, G string, [Eb] B string.
One, two, three, four.
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ [N] This tutorial is going to cover the lead guitar intros and solo. _
So the intros and the solo are pretty similar.
So we're going to start by learning the intros.
This happens at the beginning of the song, before the second verse, and then also during the outro.
Here's how they look.
[F] _ _
[Cm] _ _ [Fm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _
[Cm] _ _ _ _ _ And that's all there is to it.
So we're kind of going between, [Bb] _ [F] but then the second half looks like this. _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Then we're back into that third chorus.
[F] So the second half, [Eb] that's exactly the same.
We already learned that.
This is the cool riff that we end the solo with. _ _ _ _
_ So we're sliding all the way up to position six diatonic.
One, two, three, go.
[Bb] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _
_ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ [Eb] _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _