Elvis Costello - Human Touch guitar tab
From: schnitzi@east.isx.com (Mark J. Schnitzius)
Human Touch
from Get Happy!
tabbed by kevinmoore@cruz.com (Kevin Moore)
Ken writes:
Does anybody happen to know the chords to "Human Touch?" I know it's a
simple song, but I'm a novice at figuring out songs. Any help would be
greatly appreciated!
Oh, simple, is it? Well, I had just returned from Tower with my $11.98 Ryko
pressing of Get Happy, so I was only too eager to give this a shot-but this
song has some funky stuff in it! I'm eager to hear what everybody else got.
The Ryko disc, by the way is night and day better than the original-good
grief-the highs and lows and general clarity are just SO much better-what
on earth did they do the Columbia ones to make them sound so bad?
Anyway, the thing that make this simple sounding song complex is the
ska-like rhythm-the bass falls right on the down beat but the chords are
all played on the upbeat.
This is fine til you switch chords-then it can get sticky- you have to make
a basic decision-do you change to the new chord on the upbeat of 4 or the
upbeat of 1? Let's say the bass plays E E E E B B B B. You, the guitar
player, play inbetween the bass player's notes. So the big question is,
what do you play after the 4th E, an E, or a B? You can do it either way.
If you play a B, it sounds like you're anticipating the next chord. Any ska
freaks out there? Which is more common?
Human Touch USUALLY anticipates the next chord, but not always. Anyway,
here's what the guitar plays, where "-" represents the silent downstrum
while the bass is playing.
VERSE:
-E-E-E-E|-E-E-E-B|-B-B-B-B|-B-B-B-B
-B-B-B-B|-B-B-B-E|-E-E-E-E|-E-E-E-E
-E-E-E-E|-E-E-E-A|-A-F#-F#-B|-B-B-B-E
-E-B-BBB
CHORUS:
EE-E-E-A|-A-A-A-B|-B-B-B-E|-E-E-BBB
-E-E-E-A|-A-A-A-B|-BBB-C#mC#mC#m|-D=B0D=B0D=B0-B/D# B/D# B/D# ***see note #1
-E-E-E-B|-B-B6-B7-(E)
Notes:
1) The best way I could find to play the rise starting at bar 6 of the
chorus would be to play a chord with the first finger on the 4th fret of
the 5th string, deaden the 4th string, 3rd finger on the 6th fret of the
3rd string, and 2nd finger on the 5th fret of the 2nd string-use this for
the C#mi, then slide it up a fret for the D=B0, and slide it up another fret
for the B- ANY OTHER IDEAS?? The bass riff here is definitely B C# D D# E
2) The following figure "-BBB" means that the guitar does a variation on
the ska rhythm and hits a down beat.
3) The B-B6-B7 thing at the end of the chorus can be done with a 7th fret
bar and adding the pinkie on the 9th and then the 10th frets.
4) Although the guitar plays regular bar chords for the most part, the
*actual* harmony of this song is much more complex, owing the the intricate
arpeggiated bassline.ESPECIALLY at bar 10 of the verse! The bass goes A C#
C# F#|D# B G# F#|E. the A and C# are for the A chord and the C# and F# are
for the F# chord and the D# and B are for the B chord, but about that G#
=46#?? ANY IDEAS?
I'd love to see what others have to say about this-there are a couple
places I'm not certain of and any insight on ska playing would also be
great. Who plays guitar on this tune anyway? And what other tidbits does
anyone know about its origin, lyrics, etc.?
[Note: the "official" guitar chords to this song are available in
songbook form; see the info on the bottom of the guitar page. --mjs]
