California by Joni Mitchell

California tab by Joni Mitchell

Guitar tabs

California - Joni Mitchell
           ------------------------------


                   From the album 'Blue'


                   Tabbed by Howard Wright
                   spxhaw@uk.ac.cf.thor


The original has a dulcimer part playing the intro, and playing chords in
the main part of the song. I've tabbed the dulcimer intro bit for guitar
using an alternative tuning. For the main part of the song, the acoustic
(using normal tuning) dominates; I've written out chord shapes (and a bit
of tab) for this, as well as shapes for the 'dulcimer' part.

The original acoustic part adds a few noodles on top of the basic chords
(mostly sus4 and sus2 type of things). I've tried to include a few of these,
but I havn't tried to TAB note for note what is played.

The acoustic part is played with a capo at the 3rd fret, so when I
write D I mean play a D shape above the 3rd fret. (The actual
chord would be F)

OK ?


To play the dulcimer part, tune to : F Bb D A C F   (no capo used)

Low E up to F
A up to Bb
D - same
G up to A
B up to C
E up to F


h - hammer on
p - pull off
/ - slide


INTRO :
--------

         G            A     D         G/A

F-------------------------------------------2---------------------------0--0--
C---4h5p4-0---0--2---2-2---2---2-----0----4---4-----0---0-0---0-0-------2--2--
A-----------0----1---1-1---1-------0------3-----3---0---0-0---0-0-------1--1--
D----------------3---3-3---3------------------------3---3-3---3-3-------------
Bb---------------0---0-0---0------------------------------------------2-2--2--
F---------------------------------------------------0---0-0---0-0-------------



VERSE 1:
--------

D
Sitting ..

G            D/F#    E7
Reading ...

E7
They ..

Em/A   A7           D
That ...

D        G
Still ..

   D/F#        E7
But ...

E7        Em/A   A7
It's..




CHORUS:
-------

G  Gsus4    G
   Ah ..

  D   B7    B7/F#  B7
California ..

G
I'm ...

D/F#          A  Asus2
I'll ...

 A       D
California...



 D      Gmaj7    D    Dsus4 D    A/G

E--0h2p0--------2---2--0----------2---3---2-----------------
B--3-----3---3--3---3--3-----3----3---3---3---------3--3----
G----------2----4---4--4-----2----2---2---2---------4--4----
D----------------------------0----0---0---0---------5--5----
A------------------------------------------------0--0--0----
E---------------3---3---------------------------------------





VERSE 2:
---------
 D
I ...

G             E7
We ..

E7
He ..

Em/A     A7
But ..

D
Oh ..

G
He ...

   E
And ...

    A7
But ..




CHORUS:
--------
G Gsus4   G
     California

 D     B7    B7/F# B7
Oh ...

  G
Oh ..

Dsus2/F#
I'm ...

A
California ..


.. D      Gmaj7    D    Dsus4 D

E--0h2p0--------2---2--0-----2----2---3---2-----------
B--3-----3---3--3---3--3-----3----3---3---3-----------
G----------2----4---4--4-----2----2---2---2-----------
D----------------------------0----0---0---0-----------
A----------------------------------------------------
E---------------3---3---------------------------------





MIDDLE 8:
---------

D      E
Oh it ..
G
 When ..

D               A
 And ..

A        E  D/F#  G         E7
All ..

C         A    Asus4 A Asus2 A
Just ..

.   G            A     D         G/A

F--------------------------------2---------------------------0--0--
C-----2---2-2---2---2-----0----4---4-----0---0-0---0-0-------2--2--
A-----1---1-1---1-------0------3-----3---0---0-0---0-0-------1--1--
D-----3---3-3---3------------------------3---3-3---3-3-------------
Bb----0---0-0---0------------------------------------------2-2--2--
F----------------------------------------0---0-0---0-0------------


VERSE 3:
---------
(For the standard tuning acoustic, use the G,E7 and A shapes which are
higher up the neck - I've marked them below with a '*')


   D                   G*
So I ...
                E7*
Went ..


There ..

A*      G*        D
Reading ..

D             G*
They ..

G*         E7*
I ..

             A*
Just ..

       G*
And ..



CHORUS:
--------

G Gsus4  G
  To ...

  D
California

      B7  B7/F#
I'm..

B7  G
Oh  ..

D/F#
Strung ..

A7           D
California ..



 D      Gmaj7    D    Dsus4 D

E--0h2p0--------2---2--0-----2----2---3---2-----------
B--3-----3---3--3---3--3-----3----3---3---3-----------
G----------2----4---4--4-----2----2---2---2-----------
D----------------------------0----0---0---0-----------
A----------------------------------------------------
E---------------3---3---------------------------------




D       E
Oh ..

G
 When ..

D              A
And ..

        E    G
All ..

        D         A
More ..

 E           G
Oh ..

           D
Will ..

    A           E
Will ..

G       D      A
  Mmm ...

       E
Take ........




Chord Shapes :
--------------

Standard tuning (acoustic guitar part)
REMEMBER - these are capoed at the 3rd fret


 EADGBE  EADGBE   EADGBE   EADGBE   EADGBE  EADGBE
 xx0232  3x0003   020100   x02020   3x0013  xx5433

  D     G     E7     A7    Gsus4   G*


 EADGBE  EADGBE   EADGBE   EADGBE   EADGBE  EADGBE
 x21202  x02220   2x023x   x02230   x02200  2x0230

  B7    A     D/F#    Asus4   Asus2  Dsus2/F#


 EADGBE  EADGBE   EADGBE   EADGBE   EADGBE   EADGBE
 x32010  x02030   x0543x   x0200x   2x120x   xx2434

  C    A7sus4   G/A    Em/A    B7/F#    E7*


 EADGBE
 xx7655

  A*



Alternative tuning (Dulcimer part)
-----------------------------------

Just to keep things simple I'll keep the same chord names as for
the standard tuning guitar part. In actual fact, the dulcimer chords
are all in F, but since the acoustic guitar is played in D with
a capo on the 3rd fret, it's also effectively playing in F, although
all the chord names are written in D. So to make it easy (I hope!)
I'll write all the chords as though it were in D.


If you can't understand what the fuck I'm on about, mail me and I'll try
to explain.

I havn't tabbed all the chords, but these are the basic ones.

(I'll write 'b' for the Bb string to save space)


 FbDACF  FbDACF   FbDACF   FbDACF  FbDACF   FbDACF
 023000  xx3354   x03120   x03555  243222   x22102

  D     D     G     G    E7     A7


 FbDACF  FbDACF  FbDACF  FbDACF
 xx0321  x03130  4x3000  x2x120

  B7    Gsus4   D/F#   G/A

Other versions of California

Alternative guitar chords and tabs for California by Joni Mitchell

Find guitar tabs and chords

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #