Today we will have a look at “The Guitar Man” by Bread. It is one of those typical late 60s, early 70s songs, very similar in feel to “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young. We will concentrate mainly on the chords of the song, not the Slide part and the Wah Wah part as used for the Solos. The Solos are all done in E minor Pentatonic. If you understand the guitar and you can play, the solos should not give you any problem as there are fairly simple.
I have arranged the song for the purpose of this lesson, the strumpattern you will find here is not necessarily how the song is played, however, by following my guidelines you will get a good idea of how the song sounds. Once you can play my arrangement I would suggest trying to play along with the actual recording and try the strumming of the chords as it is done on the recording.
Let us first have a listen to the song:
Here is the Intro, play this twice. First play the bassnotes then one strum for
each chord. Listen to the song to hear the feel, then play as suggested.
G C D Dsus4 D Dsus2 D
/ / /
E ——————————– ———————————-3———2——–0——-2———-
B ——————————– ———————————–3———3——–3——-3———-
G ——————————– ———————————–2———2——–2——-2———–
D ——————————– —————-0–0————–0———0——–0——-0———–
A ———————3–3——- —————————————————————————
E —3–3————————- —————————————————————————
Verse (and main Chorus)
Play again the intro as it is also the first two bars of the verse.
The rest of the verse reads like:
Em Em C C Em Em A A
/ / / / / / / /
E ———————— ————————– ———————– ————————-
B ———————— ————————– ———————– ————————-
G ———————— ————————– ———————– ————————-
D ———————— ————————– ———————– ————————–
A ————————- –3–3———3–3—— ———————– –0–0———0–0——
E –0–0——-0–0—— ————————— –0–0——-0–0—- —————————
C C Bm Bm Am Am D
/ / / / / / /
E ———————– ——–2———–2—– ———————— ————————–
B ———————– ——–3———–3—– ———————– ————————–
G ———————– ——–4———–4—– ———————— ————————–
D ———————– ——–4———–4—– ————————- ————————–
A –3–3—–3-3—– –2–2–2—-2–2–2—– —0–0——-0–0—– ———————–
E ———————— ————————— ————————- ————————-
Breakidea ( you will hear this after the D chord, my version is a bit different!!)
Play the break idea in between end of verse and the beginning of the Bridge
E —7–5–3–5—–
B —8–7–5–7—–
Counting: 1 and 2 34
Here is the Bridge part, it uses Slashchords, which mean you keep the same chord but change the bass.
Slashchords are a method to change the pace of the harmony while the main harmony (Chord) remains the same.
C Cb Am D G Gb Em E
E ———0———0—- ——–0——-2—- ———3———-3—– ———-0————0———
B ———1———1—- ——–1——-3—- ——–0———-0—– ———0————0———-
G ———0———0—- ——–2——-2—- ——–0———-0—– ——–0————1———-
D ———2———2—- ——–2—-0–0—- ——–0———-0—– ———2————2———-
A –3——3—-2—2—– –0—-0————- ——–2———-2—— ———2————2———-
E ————————– ———————- —3—3——2———- –0—–0——-0—-0———-
Am Am Am D E Esus4 C
/ / / / / / / / /
E ————————– ———————– ————–0—0–
B ————————– ———————— ————–0—0– repeat bridgepart!
G ————————– ————————- ————–2–2–
D ————————– ————–0–0—— —————2–2–
A –0–0——0–0——— —0–0—————– —————2–2–
E ————————— ————————- ———————-
Here is the Endpart:
C C E E
/ / / /
E ————————- —————————-
B ————————- —————————-
G ————————- —————————-
D ————————- —————————-
A –3–3——–3–3—– —————————–
E ————————– —0–0———0–0——-
Structure
Intro 2x
Verse 1
Verse 2
Bridge
intro
Verse 3—-played from the Em onwards
Bridge
End
Playing Ideas:
~ Play along with the recording, first using suggested playing method, then change strums according to the song.
~ Play a sus4 chord on the A of the Verse
~ Play my suggested breakpart in between verse and bridge, try to become free with your playing.
~ Listen to “Space Oddity” by David Bowie, the end of this song sounds like Bowie’s song, again Bowie’s song is from the late 60s. Songs from same period tend to use similar ideas and sounds.
~ Try playing “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young. I may put it up here at some stage when I get time. See if you think this song has a similar feel to the one I introduced you to here.
Okay have a great time and hope to catch ya soon.
Eddie