Harper Roy – Short & Sweet tab

[Song: Roy Harper "Short And Sweet"]
[Transcription by Gordon Walker ]

Right, as promised (at last!) here's my transcription of Short and Sweet.
This only has the few words I can remember with it. If you want the full
words maybe someone else knows them, or you can work them out yourself
(kind of me I know!). If desparate I could go and get them myself I
suppose, but I think I've done enough here!
You really need the music to play along with to get an idea of what's
going on. If you're unfamiliar with these types of chords then best to
have a mess around with them before hand to get the feel. It's all
really quite easy once you get the hang of it. My version of Tom
Tidder's Ground uses the same principle and types of chords - quite a
common thing for Roy to do.
I haven't fully road-tested this so if anyone has any comments
or corrections, please post them.

Gordon

------

Short and Sweet (Harper/Gilmour)


Tuning: Standard with dropped bottom E to D

With the chords below, play either all six strings with one big
downward strum, or just the highest three with the bottom strings
ringing (as drones) (v. important that!). Or else give the bottom strings
little strums inbetween playing the main tune on the high strings.
Listen (or watch if you have chance - sorry non-uk readers!) to what Roy
does and you'll see what I mean (except in the trashy bit - see note
below).


(If you're clever or called Richard Thompson you can play the bass line from
the 2nd verse onwards on them whilst playing the top chords. On the
other hand you may have a talented friend or a son called Nick who could
play the bass line and then solo in the middle thrashy part).

Here's the naming scheme I've used (all chords should strictly be G/D etc but
that seems unnecessary and longwinded)(note: my numbering doesn't signify
anything else - just for for my convenience to show its not a normal
chord - except for Dmj7 of course):

6th fret                                       |_|_|_|_|_|  6th
:                                              |_|_|_|_|_1  :
:....|_|_|_|_|_|...|_|_|_|_|_|...|_|_|_|_|_|...|_|_|_2_|_|..:
     |_|_|_1_|_2   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_3_|  
     |_|_|_|_3_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|  
     |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_1_|_2   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|  
     |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_3_|   |_|_|_|_|_1   |_|_|_|_|_| 
     |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_2_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|  
     |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_3_|   |_|_|_|_|_|  
                                                                                
        G1            A1           Bm1           Dmj7
(playing hint: use the 3rd finger as a sort of "anchor" to slide up and
down on, swapping your 1st and 2nd fingers behind it)

===========  ===========  ===========                                           
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|                                           
|_|_|_1_|_2  |_|_|_1_|_2  |_|_|_|_|_|                                           
|_|_|_|_3_|  |_|_|_|_3_4  |_|_|_|_|_1                            
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_3_|_|                            
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_2_|                            
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|                            
                                                                
    D            Ds          Em2


     (x x x)      (x x x)      (x x x)         (x x x) 
===========  ===========  ===========     ===========                           
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_|                           
|_|_|_|_|_|  1_2_3_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_|                           
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_|            
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_|            
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_|            
|_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|  |_|_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_|            
                          |_|_|_|_|_|     1_2_3_|_|_|           
                          |_|_|_|_|_|     |_|_|_|_|_|  
                          1_2_3_|_|_|
    D          Em1          B1              A2

(these 4 are the "thrashy" bit's chords. The 3 high strings aren't
really played directly, just occasionally inbetween sliding up and down
the bottom 3 strings for the main "tune" (in true Harper style!). This
is where you also bring in a bit of overlaid distortion with chorus and
echo if you have a couple of Quadraverbs handy!)                                        

Intro :  D       D   Ds  Ds Ds   D D-----
      (D)D       D   Ds  Ds Ds   Ds DS1  D D------
        G1 G1    G1   A1   Bm1 Bm1   A1 A1
        G1 G1    G1   A1   Bm1 Bm1   A1 A1  G1 G1  Dmj7 Dmj7-------
        G1 G1    G1   A1   Bm1 Bm1   A1 A1
        G1 G1    G1   A1   Bm1 Bm1   A1 A1  G1 G1  Dmj7 Dmj7 Em2 D------
    

Verse1:  
You ask, what is the qua-li-ty 
G1  G1    G1  A1 Bm1 Bm1 A1 A1

Of life, seeking  to jus-ti-fy the part  you  play
G1 G1    G1  A1  Bm1 Bm1 A1 A1  G1   G1  Dmj Dmj7..........

etc
G1 G1    G1   A1  Bm1 Bm1   A1 A1

                    ....an-y  more or less  than  short and sweet
G1 G1    G1   A1  Bm1 Bm1  A1  A1  G1  G1   Dmj7 Dmj7  Em2  D

                            
Verse 2 as above ending:
(picked accentuating the bass line)

               ..in      your garden
C   C/B C/A    C/G  C/F#  C/E  D
(this involves a bit of stretching for the G on the low D so you have to
cheat a bit with the notes above - in fact Roy abandons the C altogether
and just steps down on  the low D strumming whatever he happens to hit  at
the top end)

then intro and back to 2 more verses

then into the trashy bit:
(picked:) C   C/B C/A    C/G  C/F# D1

(strummed madly:) Em   D1-Em   D1-Em  D1-Em  A2  B1    
(repeated a number of times)

and then into the intro again to finish.

Or something like that anyway!