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Phone Ringtone:
Beatles - Free as a Bird

Free as a Bird

e: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 16:38:20 -0500




Here is the first of the two new Beatles songs from the Anthology series.
The other tab already in the archive is a little hard to follow, so I
figured out the intro for myself and wrote them down. This song features
some ingenious slide work from George which isn¹t really very hard to
learn.  The hard part (for me) is getting the tone and sustain that
he gets, especially on the wide vibrato on the first note of the solo.
Anyway, just have fun with this great song!  - Zach


                                Free As A Bird
                        Words and Music by John Lennon


               A: x02220   F#m: 244222   Dm: xx0231   E: 022100
            G: 320003   C: x32010    Esus4: 022200   Fmaj7: x32210
            F#m7b5: 202210   A/G: 3x2220   Am: x02210   Fm: 133111


Intro w/slide

   A     F#m       Dm      E        A      F#m        Dm      E
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|----------------|----------------|----------------|-------------------|
|-/5-------------|----------5\1/2-|----------------|-------------------|
|----------------|----------------|-/2-------------|--------(4\)2/7-\5-|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|-------------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|-------------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|-------------------|

   A     F#m       Dm     G         C      Am        Esus4     E
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|----------------|------5-8\5/6/8(\)5--------------|----------------|
|-/2-------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|


Verse 1

A F#m Dm E     A   F#m
Free     as a bird
Dm       E          A        F#m
It's the next best thing to be
Dm   G    C    Am   Esus4  E
Free as a bird


A    F#m  Dm  E        A   F#m
Home,         home and dry
Dm     E      A         F#m
Like a homing bird I¹ll fly
Dm   G       C    Am   Esus4  E
As a bird on wings


Bridge 1

Fmaj7                 F#m7b5
What ever happened to the life that we once knew
G                     A         A/G
Can we really live without each other
Fmaj7                         F#m7b5
Where did we loose the touch, that seemed to mean so much
G                 E
It always made me feel so


Verse 1

A F#m Dm E     A   F#m
Free     as a bird
Dm       E          A        F#m
It's the next best thing to be
Dm   G    C    Am   Esus4  E
Free as a bird


A    F#m  Dm  E        A   F#m
Home,         home and dry
Dm     E      A         F#m
Like a homing bird I¹ll fly
Dm   G       C    Am   Esus4  E
As a bird on wings


Bridge 2

Fmaj7                 F#m7b5
What ever happened to the life that we once knew
G               E
Always made me feel so free


Guitar Solo w/slide

   C      Am       Fm        G        C      Am       Fm       G
     ~~~~~~~~~~~                         ~~~~~~~~~~~
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|-/17------------|--------18/20---|-20\17----------|-13/16\15--8/---|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

  C         Am       Fm        G      A     F#m ...
                                        ~~~~~
|-12--12/17\12-----|-8/11\10---3--|---9-------------
|------------------|--------------|-----------------
|------------------|--------------|-/9--------------
|------------------|--------------|-----------------
|------------------|--------------|-----------------
|------------------|--------------|-----------------
                                       Free...

A F#m Dm E     A   F#m
Free     as a bird
Dm       E           A      F#m
It's the next best thing to be


Coda w/slide

  Dm      G        A      F#m     Dm      E       A      F#m
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
|---------------|-/5-----(1)/2--|---------------|-----5------/7-|
|---------------|---------------|-/2------------|---------------|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
   Free   as a    bird                Free as a    bird

                                                   w/o slide
  Dm      E       A      F#m      Dm     G         A
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------||
|--/1-----------|--/5----(1)/2--|---------------|--2------------||
|---------------|---------------|-/2------------|--2------------||
|---------------|---------------|---------------|--2------------||
|---------------|---------------|---------------|--0------------||
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------||
     Free as a    bird               Oh______________.