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Tabbed by John McManus www.geocities.com/johnspad_uk
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Artist: Coldplay
Song: Yellow
Album: Parachutes
Transcribed by: John McManus (johnmcman@hotmail.com)
[NOTE: There are two guitars playing throughout the song, I've tabbed both parts (makes it hard to tab) *G1 indicates guitar one and *G2 is guitar two, duh.
[ANOTHER NOTE (there are quite a few): I'm not entirely sure whether the acoustic has the high e string (1st) tuned down to a D#. It may it may not, try it yourself, it won't make a huge amount of difference.]
Standard Tuning (perhaps high e tuned down to a d# on acoustic.)
Chords Used
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EADGBe
B (799877)
Badd11 (799800)
F# (244322)
F#m7 (244200) move your thumb over to play the F# on the E string
F#7/11 (244300)
F#add9 (2x4324) can be played just (xx4324)
E (022100)
Emaj7 (076444)
Abm (466444)
Here's the essay...
[NOTE: Guitar 1 (yer acoustic) plays the Badd11 and F#7/11. Fancy names but they are essentially B and F# chords, but play the last two strings open to give that light, airy sound. (This involves just playing a normal barre chord but lifting your 1st finger so it is only pressing on the E string) Complicated I know it sounds but it is a lot harder to explain then to actually do.]
[NOTE: Guitar 2 (electric) Has a delay effect on the verses of the song (he uses his good old boss delay pedal on nearly every song). What Jonny Buckland does is he strums on the first note of the bar and then lets the delay take over for the rest of the bar]
b = bend the string to the number indicated. eg. 9b11 means you bend the string at the 9th fret to make it sound like it would played normally at the 11th fret. (yeah it sounds more complicated than it is
rb = release bend. Self-explanitary really people.
s = slide up to the note indicated. eg. 9s11 play at the 9th then slide up to the 11th
p = pull off. You pick the first note then pull off the neck. eg. 11p9 pick the note at the 11th fret, then pull off to the 9th.
[NOTE: This was a real pain to tab as it isn't entirely clear what he's playing. The bend is held until the rb sign and the 7's add a bit of backing to the bend. You have to really listen to the record to get the timing all right.]
Intro and Lead lick (little distortion)
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G1 plays the chords over the top of the lead played by G2
*G1 B
e----7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7-------
B----7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7---7-------
G----9b11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11rb9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-------
D--------------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------
*G1 F#
e----9--9--9--9--9--9--9--9--9--9------------------------
B-----11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-p9-9--9--9--9--9--9-----
G-----11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11----
D--------------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------
*G1 E
e--------------------------------------------------------
B--------------------------------------------------------
G----9s11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11---
D----9s11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11p9--9--9--9--9--9--9----
A--------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------
Verse
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*G2 Plays these chords, (B F#add9 Emaj7) once at the beginning of each bar, e.g at the same time as the acoustic plays and Jonny is using a delay effect to make it carry on ringing.
*G1
Badd11 F#7/11
Look at the stars, look how they shine for you,
E
And everything you do,
Yeah they were all yellow.
Badd11 F#7/11
I came along, I wrote a song for you
E
And all the things you do
And it was called Yellow
Badd11 F#7/11
So then I took my turn
E
Oh what a thing to have done
And it was all yellow.
After the "yellow" the electric does this little change:
[NOTE: You should just use your 4th finger (little pinky) to play the extra bit, believe me it's the easiest way.]
*G1 Plays a Badd11 over this
e|---------------------
B|---------------------
G|--8-8-8-8-9-9-8-8----
D|--9-9-9-9-----9-9----
A|--9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9----
E|--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7----
The end of the 2nd verse uses this pattern but it's slightly different. (no i'm not gonna type it out because it's already ridiculously long as it is.)
Chorus
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*G1
Emaj7 Ab F#
You're skiiiiiin, oh yeah you're skin and bones.
Emaj7 Ab F#
Turn innnnnnnto, something beautiful.
Emaj7 Ab F# E
D'You knooooooow, you know I love you so...
You know I love you so
*G2 Gets the easy job and just plays this little counter melody over the chords.
E|----16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16--14-14-14--
B|------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------------------------------------------
D|------------------------------------------------------
A|------------------------------------------------------
E|------------------------------------------------------
Lead bit
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Verse (same chords as 1st verse)
--------------------------------
I swam accross, I jumped accross for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
Cause you were all yellow.
I drew a line, I drew a line for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
And it was all yellow.
Chorus again (same chords, but with these lyrics)
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You're skiiiiiin, oh yeah you're skin and bones
turn innnnnnnto something beautiful
D'you knooooooow, for you i'd bleed myself dry
For you i'd bleed myself dry
Lead lick
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Outro
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Both guitar's play as they did in the lead bit but sing this over the top:
It's true, look how they shine for you,
look how they shine for you, look how they shine for you.
etc. until...look how they shine...
Badd11
Look at the stars
F#m7
Look how the shine for you
Emaj7
And all the things that you do...
Enjoy.
And that's yer lot...I think it's pretty comprehensive, but there's so much going on in there I can't be 100% certain. Find any errors, just drop me a line and i'll change it accordingly (although I feel it's pretty spot on)
Also give me an email if you have any more tabs (Anything from The Beatles to Nirvana, I love all sorts) or if you want me to try another Coldplay song (I know how to play all the others, but can't really be arsed to tab it all out.) Or if you just want to chat (I love compliments, my head needs to inflate to immense proportions.)
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Tabbed by John McManus (johnmcman@hotmail.com)
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This tab is just my representation of the song and so the chords, lyrics may not be right so don't shout if it's wrong cause I'm not Chris Martin. You can use this tab for anything you like, I don't mind.
P.s. I kinda have to put this in for legal purposes so I don't get sued or something like that.
