Ebow The Letter

R.E.M.

#

E-Bow the Letter

From: Dave Silverstone (*)

E-bow is a pretty easy song, so this should be quite accurate. When I get a
chance, I'll post a version with measures and all that.  I've given the
notes relative spacing, to give an idea of how quickly they are played.
Just listen closely and put the notes in the right place.  This song is
played with a hammer stroke.  A pick gives it a bit too harsh and obtrusive
a sound.

note: the bracketed notes marked with a "3" are played as triplets.

INTRO:
    G        __3__      Em
G-|---------|     |------------- __3__ ----
D-|-5----5---5-5-5---7----------|     |----
A-|---------5-----------7----7---7-7-7-7-5-
E-|-----------------------------7----------

    G        __3__      Em
G-|---------|     |------------- __3__ ----
D-|-5----5---5-5-5-7-9----------|     |----
A-|---------5-----------7----7---7-7-7-7-5-
E-|-----------------------------7----------

    G        __3__      Em
G-|---------|     |----------------------
D-|-5----5---5-5-5-7-9-------------------
A-|---------5-----------7----7---7-7-7-5-
E-|-----------------------------7--------

VERSE: ("look up, what do you see?")

    C      G     Em      Bm   C      G   Em
G-|------------------------------------------------4/-
D-|--------------------------------------------555----
A-|-3--3-5-------7-5----------3--3-5---2--------------
E-|--------3--3------7-5-7-7---------3---0------------


repeat as often as necessary, or until symptoms disappear.

CHORUS: actually, this starts when the guitar does that arpeggio thing
before Patti starts.  In the second chorus, this starts at "My loss, here I
go again" (e-mail me for the MTV closed-captioned version of the lyrics)

    D             Em
G-|-------------------------------
D-|-------------------------------
A-|-5--5----------7--7-----7-9----
E-|-----4-5----7----------7-------

notice that the "D" bit and the "Em" bit aren't exactly alike.  there's
a bit more of a rolling sound to the "D", while the "Em" is more
steady.

Repeat this alot, too.  Play around with it as you see fit.  Otherwise,
it can get a little boring when played during the outro.

VERSE: same as before, but after two repeats, at the same time the high
organ notes enter, you go into this metronomic version of the verse riff.

G-|-----------------------------------------------------------------
D-|-----------------------------------------------------------------
A-|-3-3-3-3-5-5-5-5-7-5-------------3-3-3-3-5-5---2-----------------
E-|---------------------7-5-7-7-7-7-------------3---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

CHORUS: same as before

BREAK: Same as intro.

Guitar/Michael Solo: Don't play.

VERSE: Same as first verse

Chorus/Outro: Same as Chorus.  End on D.