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Alone Acoustic

Ben Harper

Text File

Title:  Alone (Acoustic) 

Artist: Ben Harper 

Okay, here is the correct way to play this song. Lots of tab versions, with parts close but,
no one got the chorus right. And what the heck, while at it, I threw in the chords too. On 
acoustic, if playing solo, you can play these chords instead of just hitting 1 note at
a time. It sounds great. When playing Alone alone, I use just notes for Intro, Pre-Chorus, 
and Post Chorus riffs. In the Verse and Chorus I use the chords. For those, follow the tabs
and hit the bassnote on the E string then strum down-up-down-up's as indicated on strings 
A, D, G, and optional B - following the A string lead below. It should be easy enough to 
figure out. Enjoy/comment/rate! 

Tuning: Recommend D Tuning (one whole step down) 
        * However, I'm displaying/listing in std tuning for simplification

Chords:  
A/E    = 0-12--x-14--x-x
G/E    = 0-10--x-12--x-x
F#/E   = 0--9--x-11--x-x
E/E    = 0--7--x--9--x-x
C      = 8-10-10-(9)-x-x
B      = 7--9--9-(8)-x-x
A      = 5--7--7-(6)-x-x
Gmmaj7 = 3--x--4-(3)-x-x (may list in places as Gmm7 for room)          

**************************

Section Breakdowns:
 
INTRO: 
    A/E         G/E         F#/E        G/E
e|---------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------| 
A|---12-12-12-12-10-10-10-10---9-9-9-9---10-10-10-10-|
E|--0-----------0-----------0-----------0------------|
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &

    C                       B
e|---------------------------------------------------||
B|---------------------------------------------------||
G|--------------------------------------------------:|| (repeat x4)
D|---------------------------------------------------||
A|---10-10-10-10----10--10-----9-9-9-9------9--9-----||
E|--8-----------8-----------7-----------7------------||
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &
4)                                            This...
                                              
VERSE:    
    A/E         G/E         F#/E        G/E
e|---------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------| 
A|---12-12-12-12-10-10-10-10---9-9-9-9---10-10-10-10-|
E|--0-----------0-----------0-----------0------------|
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &
1a) emp-       -ty          room        it
2a) Free-      -dom         it          leaves 
3a) Eve-       -ry          sin-       -gle
4a) But         in          this        life  you

    C                       B
e|--------------------------------------------------||
B|--------------------------------------------------||
G|-------------------------------------------------:|| (x4)
D|--------------------------------------------------||
A|---10-10-10-10----10--10-----9-9-9-9------9--9----||
E|--8-----------8-----------7-----------7-----------||
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &
1b) fills             my    mind.
2b)   me  con- -fi-  -i-   -ned.
3b) wall              is    cracked.
4b)  can't turn ba-  -a-   -ack.      

PRE-CHORUS:
    C                       B
e|--------------------------------------------------||
B|--------------------------------------------------||
G|-------------------------------------------------:|| (x2)
D|--------------------------------------------------|| 
A|---10-10-10-10----10--10-----9-9--9-9-----9--9----||
E|--8-----------8-----------7-----------7-----------||
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &
1)     I don't     want to  be,                 I
2)  don't       wanna       be          here   (A-)

CHORUS:
    E/E         C           A           Gmmaj7 
e|--------------------------------------------------||
B|--------------------------------------------------||
G|-------------------------------------------------:|| (x3)
D|-----------------------------------------4--4--4--||
A|-----7-7-7-7-----10-10-10----7-7-7-7--------------||
E|--0-----------8-----------5-----------3-----------||
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &
1)A-lone...    (Aah,        ahh,        ah)     A-
2)A-lone...    (Aah,        ahh,        ah)     A-
3)A-lone...    (Aah,        ahh,        ah)     A-

then...

   E/E          C           A
e|--------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------| (x1)
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|-----7-7-7-7-----10-10-10----7-7-7-7------7--7----|
E|--0-----------8-----------5-----------5-----------|
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &
4)A-lone...    (Aah,        ahh)

    A
e|--------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------| (x1)
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|-----7-7-7-7------7--7-------7-7-7-7------7--7----|
E|--5-----------5-----------5-----------5-----------|
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &     

OUTRO: (last Chorus line)
    E/E         C           A
e|--------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------7-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-|
A|-----7-7-7-7-----10-10-10-7-~~~~~~(ring)~~~~~~~~~-|
E|--0-----------8-----------5-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-|
    1     &     2     &     3     &     4     &
  A-lone       (Aah,        ahhhhhhhhhhhh!)

***********************

Okay, now for the lyrics and chords....

ALONE - Ben Harper

Intro: (x4)
A/E  G/E  F#/E  G/E  |
C         B          |
                This...
Verse 1:

A/E  G/E  F#/E  G/E  |C        B        |
Emp--ty   room  it    fills my mind
A/E  G/E  F#/E  G/E  |C        B        |
Free-dom  it    leaves  me con-fined
A/E  G/E  F#/E  G/E  |C        B        |
Eve--ry   sin---gle   wall has cracked
A/E  G/E  F#/E  G/E     |C          B       | 
But  in   this  life you can't turn back 

Pre-chorus:

C                B              |
 I don't want to live, 
C                B              |
 I don't wan-na  li-i-ive...  

Chorus:

 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 |
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 |
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 |
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A        |A             |
Alone (ah, ah)

Verse 2:

A/E  G/E   F#/E  G/E   C        B        
As   these words are   with  my tongue 
  A/E  G/E   F#/E  G/E     C         B        
I ques-tion  why   they're   even su-ng 
A/E  G/E   F#/E  G/E   C        B        
I    have  pro---mised but    I lied 
A/E  G/E   F#/E  G/E    C        B        
I    don't even  know myself inside 

Pre-chorus:

C                B
 I don't want to be,
  C           B             
I don't wanna be here 

Chorus:

 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A         A             
Alone (ah, ah)

Verse 3: (*first two passes don't get played on CD)

  A/E  G/E   F#/E G/E      C       B     *
Today  and tomor--row have be-come one.
A/E  G/E  F#/E   G/E       C         B   *
Eve--ry   single thing has become no-ne 
A/E  G/E  F#/E  G/E   C    B        
Hu---man  na----ture  is a beast 
A/E  G/E  F#/E     G/E     C               B        
What I've done the most to show I have the least 

Pre-chorus: (w/ extra pass)

C                     B
Please don't leave me here 
C                     B
Please don't leave me here 
C         B
Don't you leave me 

Chorus: (w/ Outro ending)

 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A   Gmm7 
Alone (ah, ah, ah)
 E/E   C   A~~~~~~~             
Alone (ah, ahhhh!)

*END*

Great song. Beginners, you should be able to play this if you know the song pretty well. I 
would recommend just playing the notes, no chords, as in the tabs. Where 4 notes are shown on
the 5th (A) string it, you can use 2 to get the rhythm down. Then, move to 3 notes and
graduate to 4. Very fun song and it is great for both fretting and picking accuracy while
trying to keep a clean rhythm going. 

Example of the Intro/Verse riff using chords:

(Yes, I know this isn't how the song is played, but give it a try. I think you'll like it.)

V = hard down
v = quick down
u = quick up

    A/E           G/E           F#/E          G/E
    V v--u--v--u  V v--u--v--u  V v--u--v--u  V v--u--v--u
e|-----------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------------------------------|
G|----14-14-14-14---12-12-12-12---11-11-11-11---12-12-12-12--|
D|----x--x--x--x----x--x--x--x----x--x--x--x----x--x--x--x---| 
A|----12-12-12-12---10-10-10-10---9--9--9--9----10-10-10-10--|
E|--0-------------0-------------0-------------0--------------|
    1      &      2      &      3      &      4      &

    C                           B
    V v--u--v--u  V   V   V     V v--u--v--u  V   V     V
e|-----------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------------------------------|
G|------(9)---(9)----(9)-(9)--------(8)---(8)----(8)---(8)---|
D|----10-10-10-10-----10--10------9--9--9--9------9-----9----|
A|----10-10-10-10-----10--10------9--9--9--9------9-----9----|
E|--8-------------8-------------7-------------7--------------|
    1      &      2      &      3      &      4      & 

Then the same idea for the chorus chords.

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Alone Acoustic

Ben Harper