"GRACE"

"Grace" Chord Chart

This is a simplified standard-tuning chord chart for "Grace", which (as with "Mojo") is designed for the bash-along-I-don't-care-about-the-fiddly-difficult-bits and novice players out there. You can strum and sing along using this. Most of these chords have been posted already to the JBEL mailing list (by e.g. John Pollock) and have appeared on Gayle Kelemen's webpage, so there's no great novelty here so far..

Anyway, these chords are as I have mapped them, and can be embellished according to your inclination. But they suffice as a starting point. One or two are tricky and I'll include some diagrams for beginners.


*Introduction:

Fm  	Gm	  Em
D  	D   D	  D

*Verse:

Em
There's the moon asking to stay
F                    Em              Eb
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
F                  Em       Eb               Em
Is my time coming, I'm not afraid, afraid to die
    Em    B7    G    A   Bm  A  Em
My fading voice sings of love
         Em   B7     G       A    Bm   A   Em
But she cries to the clicking of time, oh time

*Chorus

F                 Em                Eb
Wait in the fire, wait in the fire,     x 2 (in the first instance)
Em
Fi-i-i-re

(Then repeat the intro, verse and chorus as before, which then takes us
into the instrumental bit)

Eb   F   G   F#   F   Em   Em
Em/G/A/Bm (quickly)              then
Em   B7   G  A  Bm   A   Em   (x3)

(Then back to the intro and first part of the verse,
ending on F, Em, Eb, F, Em, Eb.......)

Note:
This song has a lot of chords in it, and some of them (Eb!) are not especially user friendly, especially for the beginner. Once you are comfortable with meddling with your tuning, it turns out to be a breeze to play in this song (see the tab below). But for standard tuning, here's a way (using "pictorial" representation) of playing the verse and chorus chords which will be good enough to start with (by the way, Eb refers to "E flat").


E	|----|----|----|----|        |----|----|----|        |----|----|----|   
B	X----|----|----|----|        O----|----|----|        X----|----|----|  
G	O----|----|----|----|        O----|----|----|        O----|----|----|   
D	|----|----|--4-|----|        |----|--3-|----|        |--3-|----|----|   
A	|----|----|--3-|----|        |----|--2-|----|        |--2-|----|----| 
E	|--1-|----|----|----|        O----|----|----|        X----|----|----|    
frets 1    2    3    4              1    2    3             1   2    3 
           F                         	Em                      Eb
	(actually F9 I think)

In the chorus (and the final verse!), you will see that it actually works if you bash some of the open strings, especially the open B string, while you play these chords. In the earlier verses hold back a little. Guitarists can experiment with playing the D-chord section of the introduction in the following way -- lay your index finger across the top 3 strings on the 2nd fret, and then use your 2nd or 3rd finger to fret the D note on the B string. There's your D chord. Now, hammer that D note on and off again as the intro goes through (so the notes are alternating C#/D/C# C#/D/C# C#/D etc....). This corresponds to the bit in the tab up around the 14th fret.

"Grace" Tab

Some parts of "Grace" have been already tabbed out in some detail, specially the intro. The version of the intro below is my own, but it differs only in minor ways (if at all) from the versions tabbed by John Pollock and by Nate. However, I have not seen the other parts tabbed (at least not in any way I could make sense of), and so the rest is pretty much "all my own work".

As with "Mojo", the dropped-D tuning is CRUCIAL to the correct (i.e. Jeff-like) playing of the song.

OK folks, the ride starts here.

*Introduction (Part1):

E-------------1------------------|-------1-----3^1--------
B----------1----3^1--------------|-----1---3^1----3^1--------
G-------1-----------3^1--3^1--3^1|---1----------------3^1-----
D----3---------------------------|-3----------------------
A--------------------------------|------------------------
D--------------------------------|-------------------------------

E-----------3-------------------|--------3-----5^3--------------0-
B--------3----5^3---------------|------3---5^3----5^3-----------0-
G-----3------------5^3--5^3--5^3|---3-----------------5^3-------0--
D--5----------------------------|-5-----------------------------2
A-------------------------------|-------------------------------2--
D-------------------------------|-------------------------------2--


Remember, the ^ denotes a pull-off or hammer-on.

E-----X------X-----X-------X--|--X------17----15----X----X-----
B----14^15--14----14^15---14--|-14^15---15----14---17---14--------
G----14-----14----14------14--|-14------14----14---14---14--
D----14^16--14----14^16---14--|-14^16---16---------14---14------
A-----0------0-----0-------0--|--0-----------------------
D-----0------0-----0-------0--|--0-----------------------

Repeat as above 3 times, then on the final (4th) pass play:

E-----X------X-----X-------X--|---X-------------
B----14^15--14----14^15---14--|--15------------
G----14-----14----14------14--|--14---
D----14^16--14----14^16---14--|--16---
A---- 0------0-----0-------0--|---0-------------
D-----0------0-----0-------0--|---0------------

Use your own discretion about those bottom notes (i.e. how often you wanna hit
them...)

*Verse (Part 1):

This is the tab of the picked guitar line you can hear on the album 
version ("There's the moon asking to stay...").  How to play the 
appropriate chords should become clear as you work through this.

E--------------------------------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------------------------
G---------0---------0---------0---------0---------0----------0----
D-------2--2------2--2------3--3------2--2------1--1------1---1----
A-----2------2--2-----2---3------3--2------2--1------1--1------1--
D---2----------2--------3----------2---------1---------1---------

E------------------------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------------------
G---------0---------0---------0---------0---------0---------0---
D-------3--3------2--2------1--1------1--1------2--2------2--2---
A-----3------3--2------2--1------1--1------1--2------2--2------2--
D---3----------2---------1---------1---------2---------2--------

You can figure out where the bars go....

*Verse (Part 2)

This is the ascending part ("My fading voice sings....")...

E----0-----X--|--X-----X---|---X--|--X--|--0---|---0----------
B----0-----4--|--5-----7---|---7--|--7--|--0---|---0-------
G----0-----2--|--4-----6---|---7--|--6--|--0---|---0-------
D----2-----4--|--5-----7---|---9--|--7--|--2---|---2----------
A----2-----X--|--X-----X---|---X--|--X--|--2---|---2---------
D----2-----4--|--5-----7---|---9--|--7--|--2---|---2--------

E----0-----X--|--X-----X---|---X--|--X--|--0---|---0----------
B----0-----4--|--5-----7---|--10--|--7--|--0---|---0-------
G----0-----2--|--4-----6---|---7--|--6--|--0---|---0-------
D----2-----4--|--5-----7---|---9--|--7--|--2---|---2----------
A----2-----X--|--X-----X---|---X--|--X--|--2---|---2---------
D----2-----4--|--5-----7---|---9--|--7--|--2---|---2--------


or....
An alternative version is (without the bars):

E----0------X----X-----X------X-------X-----0---------
B----0------4----0-----0------0-------0-----0--------------
G----0------2----4-----6------7-------6-----0-------------
D----2------4----5-----7------9-------7-----2------------
A----2------X----5-----7------9-------7-----2---------
D----2------4----5-----7------9-------7-----2-------------


*Chorus

...this bit should seem pretty obvious by now......

E----X----X----X----X----X-----X-----X------X-----X------X---
B----0----0----0----0----0-----0-----0------0-----0------0----
G----0----0----0----0----0-----0-----0------0-----0------0---
D----3----2----1----1----3-----2-----1------1-----2------2----
A----3----2----1----1----3-----2-----1------1-----2------2---
D----3----2----1----1----3-----2-----1------1-----2------2----

..the thing is to bash those open strings now (but avoiding the top E 
if you can).....
...and note that each chord here is one bar length.

Then from here, repeat the intro, verse and chorus before proceeding 
to.....

*Middle 8 (Instrumental Section):

E---------|-----|-----|-----|-----|------|-----|-----|----------|---
B---------|-----|-----|-----|-----|------|-----|-----|----------|---
G------0--|--2--|--4--|--4--|--3--|---2--|--0--|--0--|----------|---
D------1--|--3--|--5--|--5--|--4--|---3--|--1--|--2--|--2>5>7>9-|---
A------1--|--3--|--5--|--5--|--4--|---3--|--2--|--2--|--2>5>7>9-|---
D------1--|--3--|--5--|--5--|--4--|---3--|--2--|--2--|--2>5>7>9-|---

where ">" is a slide (but pick each part).

(You could also play this section like

E----------------------------------------------------------------
B------4----6----8-----7-----6------------------------------------
G------3----5----7-----6-----5----0----0---------------------
D------1----3----5-----4-----3----1----2----2>5>7>9-----
A------1----3----5-----4-----3----2----2----2>5>7>9--------
D------1----3----5-----4-----3----2----2----2>5>7>9-------

because it's really pretty hard to tell exactly what the hell the 
guitars are doing right at this point.)

Then repeat part 2 of the verse pattern (play 3 times), back into the 
full intro, then part 1 of the verse, only now bash the chords like 
you do in the chorus, and then go straight to the chorus (still playing 
the same chords) and scream your tiny head off.

A suggested embellishment as you careen for the last time between the 
first and second parts of the introduction, before ploughing into the 
final climactic verse -- try sticking two fingers on the two bottom 
strings at the 5th fret and bashing a few strings (on the way up to 
that 14th fret stuff).  Listen to the CD and you'll see what I'm 
getting at.

Last thing -- on the "Grace" e.p. live version (and the Selinas etc.
versions), you'll here a guitar doing an ascending sequence during the song's
climax.  I've done the notes purely by ear (i.e. look ma, no guitar) while at
the terminal, so if I'm wrong, tough bananas, but they are (I'm pretty sure) F
- A - B - D - Eb.

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