The bass riff (arranged for guitar) is fairly easy.
The lead part is mostly based around the 2nd shape of A minor pentatonic. It’s mostly sparse, so it’s easy to play if you can do it by ear. If you have trouble with the faster parts — slow it down!
Note that the lead score is on the bass tab. (Yes, I should have done it the other way round!).
Here’s the powertab file for Greenish Onions.
There are three chords which are very important in music. And they’re easy to find on the guitar.
Suppose we are to play in the key of G.
Locate G on the 3rd fret 6th string.
The note on the 3rd fret 5th string is C
And two frets up from that is D
And so G, C, D will be the root notes of the three chord trick.
We can arrange the chords very simply:
| G – - – | G – - – | C – - – | D – - – |
A common trick is to substitute an Eminor for the second G. The result is called a turnaround .
| G – - – | Em – - – | C – - – | D – - – |
The chords don’t have to be played one per bar. And it’s common to add G to the end of the sequence. This can be tricky for beginners if they don’t keep track of whether they are at the beginning or end of the sequence!
| G – - – | G – - – | Em – - – | Em – - – | C – - – | D – - – | G – - – | G – - – |
Ben E King’s Stand By Me is entirely a repeat of that sequence. The recording I have is in the key of A. But the F#minor that is then required can be a little tricky for beginners. To play along to the record, you could use a capo at the second fret and then just play the open chord shapes for the chords given here.
Alternatively, here’s a MIDI file — Stand By for a Turnaround. The bass line is close to the Ben E King classic. But the guitar part is totally different.
|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.| |-----------------|-----------------| |-------3---------|-------3---------| |-----0-------0---|-----0-------0---| |-----------------|-----------------| |-----------------|-----------------| |-3---------------|-3---------------| G5 G5
|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.| |-----------------|-----------------| |-------3---------|-------3---------| |-----0-------0---|-----0-------0---| |-2---------------|-2---------------| |-----------------|-----------------| |-----------------|-----------------| Em7 Em7
|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.| |-----------------|-----------------| |-------3---------|-------3---------| |-----0-------0---|-----2-------2---| |-----------------|-0---------------| |-3---------------|-----------------| |-----------------|-----------------| Cadd2 D5
|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.| |-----------------|-----------------| |-------3---------|-------3---------| |-----0-------0---|-----0-------0---| |-----------------|-----------------| |-----------------|-----------------| |-3---------------|-3---------------| G5
I find that a percussive strum on the 2nd beat helps to get the feel of the Ben E King version. I generally use:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & * x / / /
Where,
* is a bass note
x is a percussive strum (mute the strings with the right hand as you strum. Difficult to put into words, but it can be done. The aim is to find a substitute for the scrapping sound in the original).
/ is a regular strum
