When You Got A Good Friend tab by Eric Clapton

Tabs

The intro is a standard RJ intro: playing double stops with the bass line walking down
from the minor seventh (D MajorD) to the fifth (BB) while keeping the high root note (E MajorE in this
case) constant. This intro can be played in many different versions, easy to find out
for all keys. Watching the DVD version you can see that EC's playing it on a strat with
no pick using the notes:

I------0----12----12----12------------0-----0---0---0--------2-2-----I
I------------------------------0-----------------------0---0-0-0-----I
I--------------------------------------------------------2---2-2-----I
I-/12----12-11-11-10-10----10--9-------------------------------------I
I------------------------------------/5-5-5-4-4-3-3-2--2-----2-2-----I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------I
0:00                 0:05             When you...

The next thing is the rhythm part we need as backgroud for the vocals. Note the quick
change form, chord A augmentedA (IV) in the second bar. The good thing is that we can use the riff
we've learned at the rhythm page:

E/E6            A/A6         B/B6
I--------------------------------------------------------------------I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------I
I------------------------------------------0-------------------------I
I-------------------0-----2-2--4-4--2-2--4---4---4-4--6-6--4-4--6-6--I
I--2-2--4-4--2-2--4---4---0-0--0-0--0-0--0---0---2-2--2-2--2-2--2-2--I
I--0-0--0-0--0-0--0---0----------------------------------------------I

We have some nice fills between, for example the first one at 0:16 (MAMJ):

I--------------------------------I
I-/5-5--------------------------I
I--------2-0---------------------I
I------------2-2~~---------------I
I-------------------2-4-4--------I
I-------------------0-0-0-...----I
0:16

At the end of the first verse at 0:36 (MAMJ) we have a typical turnaround. We can play
the notes from the intro as well as the other ones from the rhythm page. The next verses
are played the same way. At 2:10 a short solo (RJ didn't play a solo on his version!)
starts, almost the same style as the "Unplugged" solo of "Before You Accuse Me":

I-/10-10-10-10-10-10-10---9--9--7-0-------------/10-10-10-/10-10-10-/10-10-10-/10-10-10-----10-12-------I
I-/12-12-12-12-12-12-12--10-10--9-0-------------/12-12-12-/12-12-12-/12-12-12-/12-12-12-/12-------1210-I
I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I
I-----------------------------------2-4-4-2-2-----------------------------------------------------------I
I-----------------------------------0-0-0-0-0-----------------------------------------------------------I
I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I
 2:10

I--------------------7-6-5------------------7-6-5----5--------------------------------------------------I
I----10---8~~------5-------8b-5-----------5-------8b---8b-5~~----------------0-0-3-0--------------------I
I--9----9-------/6--------------/9~~---/6----------------------7-4------------------0h2-0--------------I
I-------------------------------------------------------------------5h6p5h6----------------2------------I
I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0----------I
 2:20

I-0-0--------0-----------------------------------7-6-5----7---------------------------------------------I
I-----3--0-3----7h10-7h10p7--------------------5-------8b---8b-5---5-5---5-------------------0-0---0-0--I
I---------------------------9b-7b-----------/6-------------------7-----7------0-2-0-2-0------2-2---2-2--I
I---------------------------------9~~~--------------------------------------2-0-2-0-2-0-2-2-------------I
I---------------------------------------------------------------------------2---0-------2-2------2---2--I
I---------------------------------------------------------------------------0-------------0-------------I
2:28

The rest is played all this way, including the ending.

Other versions of When You Got A Good Friend

Alternative guitar chords and tabs for When you got a good friend by Eric Clapton