Eric Clapton - When You Got A Good Friend guitar tab

The intro is a standard RJ intro: playing double stops with the bass line walking down

from the minor seventh (D) to the fifth (B) while keeping the high root note (E in this

case) constant. This intro can be played in many different versions, easy to find out

for all keys. Watching the DVD version you can see that EC's playing it on a strat with

no pick using the notes:

I------0----12----12----12------------0-----0---0---0--------2-2-----I

I------------------------------0-----------------------0---0-0-0-----I

I--------------------------------------------------------2---2-2-----I

I-/12----12-11-11-10-10----10--9-------------------------------------I

I------------------------------------/5-5-5-4-4-3-3-2--2-----2-2-----I

I--------------------------------------------------------------------I

0:00 0:05 When you...

The next thing is the rhythm part we need as backgroud for the vocals. Note the quick

change form, chord A (IV) in the second bar. The good thing is that we can use the riff

we've learned at the rhythm page:

E/E6 A/A6 B/B6

I--------------------------------------------------------------------I

I--------------------------------------------------------------------I

I------------------------------------------0-------------------------I

I-------------------0-----2-2--4-4--2-2--4---4---4-4--6-6--4-4--6-6--I

I--2-2--4-4--2-2--4---4---0-0--0-0--0-0--0---0---2-2--2-2--2-2--2-2--I

I--0-0--0-0--0-0--0---0----------------------------------------------I

We have some nice fills between, for example the first one at 0:16 (MAMJ):

I--------------------------------I

I-/5-5--------------------------I

I--------2-0---------------------I

I------------2-2~~---------------I

I-------------------2-4-4--------I

I-------------------0-0-0-...----I

0:16

At the end of the first verse at 0:36 (MAMJ) we have a typical turnaround. We can play

the notes from the intro as well as the other ones from the rhythm page. The next verses

are played the same way. At 2:10 a short solo (RJ didn't play a solo on his version!)

starts, almost the same style as the "Unplugged" solo of "Before You Accuse Me":

I-/10-10-10-10-10-10-10---9--9--7-0-------------/10-10-10-/10-10-10-/10-10-10-/10-10-10-----10-12-------I

I-/12-12-12-12-12-12-12--10-10--9-0-------------/12-12-12-/12-12-12-/12-12-12-/12-12-12-/12-------1210-I

I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I

I-----------------------------------2-4-4-2-2-----------------------------------------------------------I

I-----------------------------------0-0-0-0-0-----------------------------------------------------------I

I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I

2:10

I--------------------7-6-5------------------7-6-5----5--------------------------------------------------I

I----10---8~~------5-------8b-5-----------5-------8b---8b-5~~----------------0-0-3-0--------------------I

I--9----9-------/6--------------/9~~---/6----------------------7-4------------------0h2-0--------------I

I-------------------------------------------------------------------5h6p5h6----------------2------------I

I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I

I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0----------I

2:20

I-0-0--------0-----------------------------------7-6-5----7---------------------------------------------I

I-----3--0-3----7h10-7h10p7--------------------5-------8b---8b-5---5-5---5-------------------0-0---0-0--I

I---------------------------9b-7b-----------/6-------------------7-----7------0-2-0-2-0------2-2---2-2--I

I---------------------------------9~~~--------------------------------------2-0-2-0-2-0-2-2-------------I

I---------------------------------------------------------------------------2---0-------2-2------2---2--I

I---------------------------------------------------------------------------0-------------0-------------I

2:28

The rest is played all this way, including the ending.