Son And Sylvia tab by Eric Clapton

Eric Clepton:  Son & Sylvia
=============================

from the album "Reptile", 2001

Transcribed by Doron Dekel (doron@home.com)
Toronto, Canada, Sep 2001

This is, perhaps, the most emotionally moving track on
EC's most recent album, although it is purely instrumental.
To do it justice, at least two guitars are needed -
one for the chord arpegios and the other for the melody.
Interestingly, the melody can be played on a bass guitar (better if
fretless) to a great effect. If you're by yourself, try whistling or
if, unlike me, you have a good voice - vocalizing it.
After figuring it out, I actually played the song with
my son on bass (although my name is not Sylvia ;-) and we
had a great time.

The track consists of two patterns, lets call them A and B. They
are played in the following sequence:
AAA (first time with no melody, only accompanyment)
BBB
A
BBBBBB

I found pattern A to induce sadness and longing, while
pattern B is more hopeful and uplifting, despite the downward
progression of the chords.

Pattern A (14 bars)
--------------------

Arpegio:

Took me a while to learn how to play the arpegio without
losing the steady rythm of the picking during chord transitions,
as well as remembering the somewhat different string picking
orders for each chord, but practice makes perfect...

I added the chords above the tabs for those who want
to add keyboard or other instruments.


 F#m7      E6           G  Gmaj7   A9
I----0-----I----0-----I----3--2--I----------I
I---2---2--I---2---2--I---3------I----0---0-I
I--2---2-2-I--1---1-1-I--0---0-0-I---2---2--I
I-4---4----I----------I----------I--2---2---I
I----------I----------I----------I-0---0----I
I----------I-0---0----I-3---3----I----------I

 F#m7       E6          G    G/A   D6
I----0-----I----0-----I----3---3-I----2-----I
I---2---2--I---2---2--I---3---3--I---0---0--I
I--2---2-2-I--1---1-1-I--0---0---I--2---2-2-I
I-4---4----I----------I----------I-0---0----I
I----------I----------I-----0----I----------I
I----------I-0---0----I-3--------I----------I

 D6b5         C#m7b5     E7sus4      F#m7
I----2-----I----0-----I----------I----------I
I---0---0--I---0---0--I----3---0-I----2---2-I
I--1---1-1-I--2---2-2-I---2---2--I---2---2--I
I-0---0----I----------I--0---0---I--2---2---I
I----------I-4---4----I-2--------I-4---4----I
I----------I----------I-----0----I----------I

  Esus4
I----------I----------I
I----0---0-I----0--0--I
I---2---2--I---2------I
I--2---2---I--2---2---I
I-2---2----I----------I
I----------I-0---0----I

Melody:

A large part of the "feeling" of the melody
comes from the sliding (/) and pulling (p),
which are quite easy to do when the fingers
are placed correctly, but are hard otherwise.
The first slide start with the first (index) finger,
all the others with the second or third.

I-----------------I-----I----------I--------I
I-----------------I-----I----------I--------I
I-------6-4-------I-----I----7-7/9-I-8------I
I----2/4----7-6p4-I-----I----------I--------I
I-----------------I-7---I---7------I--------I
I-----------------I-----I----------I--------I

I------------------I----I---------------I---I
I------------------I----I---------------I---I
I-------6-6-4------I----I----7-6-7-6/11-I---I
I----2/4-----7-6p4-I----I---------------I---I
I------------------I-7--I---------------I---I
I------------------I----I---------------I---I

I---------------------I-----I------------I----I
I---------------------I-----I--------7-5-I----I
I--------11-11--11/13-I-9---I--7/6-7-----I-6--I
I-------9-------------I-----I------------I----I
I---------------------I-----I------------I----I
I---------------------I-----I------------I----I

I-------------I-----I
I-------------I-----I
I-------2-4/6-I-4---I
I----2/4------I-----I
I-------------I-----I
I-------------I-----I

The melody repeats twice. On the second time, two more bars of Esus4
are added to the last tab line as an intro to pattern B, and
the melody goes:

I-------------I-------------I---------I-----------I
I-------------I-------------I---------I-----------I
I-------2-4/6-I-4-----2-4/6-I-4h6h4---I-6/7-6-4---I
I----2/4------I----2/4------I---------I---------7-I-5
I-------------I-------------I---------I-----------I
I-------------I-------------I---------I-----------I


Pattern B (4 bars)
-------------------

Arpegio:

  G          F#m7       Em7               A
I----------I--0-----0-I----------I----------I
I----0---0-I---32--2--I-3--3---3-I----0-3-2-I
I---0---0--I-----2----I---0---0--I---0------I
I--0---0---I----------I--0---0---I--0-------I
I----------I----------I----------I-2--------I
I-3---3----I-2----2---I-----0----I----------I

The last repeat before transition back to pattern A or
the end of the track is different (F is used in the last bar to build
tension before the F#m7 that opens pattern A), thus:

  G          F#m7       Em7             F
I----------I--0-----0-I----------I----------I
I----0---0-I---32--2--I-3--3---3-I----0-1---I
I---0---0--I-----2----I---0---0--I---0--2---I
I--0---0---I----------I--0---0---I--0---3---I
I----------I----------I----------I------3---I
I-3---3----I-2----2---I-----0----I-0--------I

Melody:

It is actually played on harmonica, but can be
done rather nicely on a guitar as well, especially an electric
one (or even bass).
The basic sequence goes roughly:

I----------------I--------I-------------I----------------I
I---10b(12)-10-8-I-10-7---I-7-7h8-7-7h8-I-7-7b(8)rb7p5---I
I----------------I--------I-------------I-------------7--I
I----------------I--------I-------------I----------------I
I----------------I--------I-------------I----------------I
I----------------I--------I-------------I----------------I

but a number of variations are played during the repeats: feel free
to improvise.

Enjoy!

Doron