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.
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.
G Gmaj7 G7 Am G F C
D-----------------------------------------------------------
| A 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 0 1 0 |
| F 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 1 2 0 2 0 |
| C 5 4 3 3 2 0 3 2 |
| G 3 |
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Chorus :
C Gm7
F---0------------------------------------3-------------------3--3--------
C---2------------------------------------3----------------3-------------
G---3------------------------------------5------------3h5----------------
D----------------------------------------3---------------------------
Let me take you down cos' I'm going to Strawberry fields
A7
D----------------0----------0--0--------------------------------
A------2--2----2------------------2--2---------------------
F---0--------0-----------0--------------------------------
C--------------------0h2---------------------------------------
G--------------------0---------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is real
F A7
D-------1---------------------0-------------------------------
A----1--1-----------------------2----2---------------------------
F----2--------------------0-------0---------------------------
C----3---------------0h2----------------------------------------
G----3---------------0----------------------------------------
D----1-------------------------------------------------------
And nothing to get hung about
F C
D------------------------------------------------------------
| A 1 1 1 |
| F 2 2 0 |
| C 3 3 2 |
| G 3 3 3 |
D---1-----------1---------------------------------------------
Strawberry fields forever
Verse 1:
G Gmaj7 G7
D-----------------------------------------------------------
| A 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 0 |
| F 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 1 |
C---5---------4--------3------------------------------------------
Living is easy with eyes closed
Am Am/G F
D-------0---------0---------------1------1---------------------------
A-------1---------1---------------1---1------1------------------------
F-------2---------2-------------2------------2----------------------
C-----2---------2---------------3---------------------------------
G---0------0--------------------3--------------------------------
D-------------3-------------0h1--------------------------------
Misunderstanding all you see
F G C G/B Am Am/G
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
F G F C
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 |
| F 3 |
| C 2 5 0 |
| 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)
Nothing is real
F G A7
| D 1 3 0 |
| A 1 3 2 |
| F 2 4 0 |
| C 3 5 2 |
| G 3 5 0 |
D-----1----------3--------------------------------------------
And nothing to get hung about
F C
D-----------------------------------------------------------
| A 1 1 1 |
| F 2 2 0 |
| C 3 3 2 |
| 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----------------------------------------------------
G--------------------3-----------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Verse 2:
G Gmaj7 G7
D-----------------------------------------------------------
| A 3 3 3 1 0 |
| F 4 4 4 2 1 |
| C 5 4 3 3 3 |
Noone I think is in my tree
Am Am7 F
D------------------------------------------------------------
I mean it must be high or low
F G C Am Am/G
D-------------------------------------------------------------------
| A 1 3 1 1 |
| F 2 4 0 2 |
| C 3 5 2 2 |
G---3--------------5------------------3----------------0-----------
D---1--------------3---------------------------------------3------
That is you can't you know tune in but it's alright
F G F C
| D 0 0 |
| A 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 |
F---2---2---2---2---4---4---4---4------2-------2-------0------0------------------
C---3---3---3---3---5---5---5---5------3-------3-------2---2-----2--------------
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 :
C Gm
C--2------------------------------------5----------------------
G--3------------------------------------5---------------------
D---------------------------------------3--------------------
Let me take you down cos I'm going to
Gm/E
D-------------------------------6-6-----------3--3--3--3--3---
A-------------------------------8-8--------------------------
F--------------3------------------------------0--0--0--0--0---
C--------------5-----------------------------------------------
G--------------5-------1-----------------------------------------
D--------------3-------1-----0-------------0------------------
Strawberry fields Nothing is real
F G A
D--------1---------3--------5---------------------------------
| A 1 3 5 |
| F 2 4 6 |
| C 3 5 7 |
| G 3 5 7 |
| D 1 3 5 |
And nothing to get hung about
F C
D-----------------------------------------------------------
| A 1 1 1 |
| F 2 2 0 |
| C 3 3 2 |
| G 3 3 3 |
D--1-----------1----------------------------------------------
Strawberry fields forever
Linking phrase :
D----1p0---------------------------------------------------------
A---------1----------------------------------------------------
G--------------------3-----------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Verse 3:
G Gmaj7 G7
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A---3--3----3---3-----3---3--------1--0---------------------------
| F 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 1 |
| C 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 |
Always, no, sometimes think it's me
Am Am7 F
D-----------------------------------------------------------
| A 1 1 1 1 1 |
| F 2 2 0 0 2 |
| C 2 2 2 2 3 |
| G 0 |
| D 3 |
But you know I know when it's a dream
F G C Am Am/G
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
F G7 F C
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A--1--1--1--1---3--3--3--3------------------------------------------
F--2--2--2--2---4--4--4--4-------------------0-----------------------
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 :
C Gm Gm7
| D 3 |
| A 1 3 3 3 |
| F 0 3 3 3 3 |
| C 2 5 5 3 3 |
| G 3 5 |
| D 3 |
Let me take you down cos' I'm going to Strawberry fields
A7/E
| D 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
| A 2 2 2 2 2 2 |
| F 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
C---2--------------------------------------------------------
G---0------------------------------------------------------
D---0--------------------------------------------------------
Nothing is real
F G A7
| D 1 3 0 |
| A 1 3 2 |
| F 2 4 0 |
| C 3 5 2 |
| G 3 5 0 |
D-----1----------3--------------------------------------------
And nothing to get hung about
F C Am7 F C
D---------------------------------------------------------------
| A 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 |
| F 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 |
| C 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 |
G---3---------3-------3--------0-------3---------3-------3-------
D---1---------1------------------------1---------1--------------
Strawberry fields forever Strawberry fields forever
F G F
| D 1 3 1 5r3 1 0h1p0h1p0 |
| A 1 3 1 3 3 |
| F 2 4 2 |
| C 3 5 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-------------------------------------------------------------
F-----------5------2----------------------------------------------
| C 3 5 3 2 3 5 |
| G 3/1 3 5 3 3 |
D----------------------------------------------------------------
(harp-thing)
D-------------------------------12--------------13--12--12---------15--13--
A-----------13--11-----11-----------13--11------------------11------------
F---10--12-----------------12---------------12------------------12---
C---------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------------