Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles
From the album 'Magical Mystery Tour'
There are two other versions of this in the archives, but none are in the
right key. I thought a great song such as this deserved a proper tab in the
archives.
Because the recording of this song involved a lot of playing around with
tape speeds, you need to tune down your guitar by a whole step.
So instead of tuning your bottom string to E, tune to D, then tune the other
strings to this by playing at the 5th/4th fret (you know the routine ...)
You should end up tuned to DGCFAD.
This means that the song is based on the C chord for the guitar, but it
ends up being in the key of Bb.
I've tried to give a guitar part that does justice to all the things that are
going on in the song. For the first bit it's fairly straight forward since the
song has a guitar playing here - but later on I've tried to tab out a guitar
version of what the cellos and trumpets are doing.
Of course you can't play all of the song on just one guitar - but you can do
a pretty good job. I've written the chords above each line of tab if you just
want to strum along, and the words are underneath the line of tab.
Intro :
---------
This is played on the mellotron, but you can do it fairly easily on guitar.
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A---3--3--3--3--3--3--1--0--------1--------0------------------
G--------------------------------------------------3----------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Chorus :
----------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------3------------------------3--3--
G---3------------------------------------5------------3h5----------------
D----------------------------------------3---------------------------
Let me take you down cos' I'm going to Strawberry fields
D----------------0----------0--0--------------------------------
A------2--2----2------------------2--2---------------------
C--------------------0h2---------------------------------------
G--------------------0---------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is real
D-------1---------------------0-------------------------------
A----1--1-----------------------2----2---------------------------
C----3---------------0h2----------------------------------------
G----3---------------0----------------------------------------
D----1-------------------------------------------------------
And nothing to get hung about
D------------------------------------------------------------
A---1-----------1------1---------------------------------------
G---3-----------3------3---------------------------------------
D---1-----------1---------------------------------------------
Strawberry fields forever
Verse 1:
---------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A---3--3------3--3-----3--3---1---0---------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Living is easy with eyes closed
D-------0---------0---------------1------1---------------------------
A-------1---------1---------------1---1------1------------------------
G---0------0--------------------3--------------------------------
D-------------3-------------0h1--------------------------------
Misunderstanding all you see
D---------1----------3----------------------------------0--------
A---------1----------3----------------------------------1-----------
G------3-------------------------3---------2---------0-----------
D--0h1--------1/3-------------------------------------------3------
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out
D--------1-----------3---------------1--------------------------
A------1-------------3---3-----------1--1--0h1-----------------------
G--------------------------------------------------------------
D--0h1----------1/3-------------0h1----------------------------------
It doesn't matter much to me
Chorus :
---------
C Gm (no chord )
D--------------------------------------3-------------------------
A--------------------------------------3-------------------------
G--3-----------------------------------5---1-----1-----1------1--
D--------------------------------------3------------3------1-----
Let me take you down cos' I'm going to Strawberry fields
(no chord)
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A-----------------------------------------------------------
G---7--------------7------------------------------------------
D---0--------------0------------------------------------------
Nothing is real
D-----1----------3-----0---------------------------------------
A-----1----------3-----2---------------------------------------
G-----3----------5-----0---------------------------------------
D-----1----------3--------------------------------------------
And nothing to get hung about
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A---1---------1-------1----------------------------------------
G---3---------3-------3----------------------------------------
D---1---------1-----------------------------------------------
Strawberry fields forever
Linking phrase :
-----------------
This is the little downwards scale played on a harp-like instrument.
Leave all strings to sustain as much as possible.
D----1p0---------------------------------------------------------
A---------1----------------------------------------------------
F-----------3p0--------------------------------------------------
C---------------3p2----------------------------------------------
G--------------------3-----------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Verse 2:
---------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A---3--------3---------3-----1---0---------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Noone I think is in my tree
D------------------------------------------------------------
A---1-----------1--------------1---------------------------------
G-------------------------------------0----------------------
D-----------------------------------------3------------------
I mean it must be high or low
D-------------------------------------------------------------------
A---1--------------3------------------1----------------1----------
G---3--------------5------------------3----------------0-----------
D---1--------------3---------------------------------------3------
That is you can't you know tune in but it's alright
D------------------------------------------------------0------0----------------
A---1---1---1---1---3---3---3---3------1-------1-------1------1----------------
G---3---3---3---3---5---5---5---5------3---0---3---0---3----------------------
D---1---1---1---1---3---3---3---3------1--------------------------------
That is I think it's not too bad
Chorus :
---------
D---------------------------------------------6-6-------------
A---------------------------------------------3-3-------------
G--3------------------------------------5---------------------
D---------------------------------------3--------------------
Let me take you down cos I'm going to
D-------------------------------6-6-----------3--3--3--3--3---
A-------------------------------8-8--------------------------
G--------------5-------1-----------------------------------------
D--------------3-------1-----0-------------0------------------
Strawberry fields Nothing is real
D--------1---------3--------5---------------------------------
A--------1---------3--------5----------------------------------
G--------3---------5--------7----------------------------------
D--------1---------3--------5----------------------------------
And nothing to get hung about
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A--1-----------1-------1---------------------------------------
G--3-----------3-------3---------------------------------------
D--1-----------1----------------------------------------------
Strawberry fields forever
Linking phrase :
-----------------
D----1p0---------------------------------------------------------
A---------1----------------------------------------------------
F-----------3p0--------------------------------------------------
C---------------3p2----------------------------------------------
G--------------------3-----------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Verse 3:
---------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A---3--3----3---3-----3---3--------1--0---------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Always, no, sometimes think it's me
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A---1--------1--------1-------1-------1----------------------
G-----------------------------------------------0------------
D----------------------------------------------------3-------
But you know I know when it's a dream
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A-----------------------------------------------------------
G----------0-------0---2---3---------------0-----------------
D--1---3-------3----------------3----0----------3----------
I think a no I mean a yes but it's all wrong
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A--1--1--1--1---3--3--3--3------------------------------------------
C--3--3--3--3---3--3--3--3---3-------------2----3p2p0---------------------
G--3--3--3--3---5--5--5--5---3--0--3--0--3--------------3--------------
D--1--1--1--1---3--3--3--3---1------------------------------------------
That is I think I disagree
Chorus :
---------
D--------------------------------------3-------------------------------
A--1-----------------------------------3------------------3------3-----
G--3-----------------------------------5-------------------------------
D--------------------------------------3-------------------------------
Let me take you down cos' I'm going to Strawberry fields
D---0--------------0--0--0--0--0----------------------------------
A---2--------------2--2--2--2--2----------------------------------
G---0------------------------------------------------------
D---0--------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is real
D-----1----------3-----0---------------------------------------
A-----1----------3-----2---------------------------------------
G-----3----------5-----0---------------------------------------
D-----1----------3--------------------------------------------
And nothing to get hung about
D---------------------------------------------------------------
A---1---------1-------1--------1-------1---------1-------1--------
G---3---------3-------3--------0-------3---------3-------3-------
D---1---------1------------------------1---------1--------------
Strawberry fields forever Strawberry fields forever
D---1-----------3------1-----------5r3---1--0h1p0h1p0--------
A---1-----------3------1--------------------------------3-3--
G---3-----------5------3-------------------------------------
D---1-----------3------1-------------------------------------
Strawberry fields forever
Fade out over a chord of C
----------------------------
(cellos) (elec. gtr)
D-----------------------------------------1--0h1p0h1p0h1p0h1p0---
A-------------------------------------------------------------
G--3/1---3--------------5-------3-------3--------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
(harp-thing)
D-------------------------------12--------------13--12--12---------15--13--
A-----------13--11-----11-----------13--11------------------11------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------------