John Martyn - Solid air

Artist: John Martyn Song: Solid air Album: Solid air Tabbed by: DJ 6th Oct 2014 John Martyn's atmospheric song about his labelmate Nick Drake. John constantly played around with songs, never playing or singing them exactly as his records. So here I supply the tuning and the basic chord shapes, with this there is plenty of room for experimenting and adding your own subtleties and improvisation, which is what his songs are all about. The lyrics are based on the original album version. The chords are very simple barre shapes, getting to the open tuning is the trickiest part, a chromatic tuner is very useful for this, unless you have the keen ear that John had. Bottom E string - Down to C A string - Down to G D string - Up to D# G string - Down to F B string - Down to A# E string - Down to D TUNING: C G D# F A# D Cm11 = 000000 or 050000 Fm11 = 555555 (and occasionally adding a high note - 555558) F11sus2 = 557555 Gm11 = 777777 Fm7 = 555756 Cm11(type) = 0 0 0 0 12 12 Use this little run at the beginning of the 1st and 2nd lines of the verses. (Cm11 riff) You've been (tak -ing your...) D |-------------------------------| A#|-------------------------------| F |-------------------------------| D#|-------------------------------| G |-------0----0-----h3---h5---0--| C |--0----------------------------| Use plenty of slides, hammer-ons and percussive slaps on the off-beat to add more life. * For the song's final chord play a full barre of harmonics at the 12th fret. John Martyn live duet with Danny Thompson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmSPv-rtSQ Live solo performance in Germany video(1978) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Blccc0PM0 Here John tunes even lower to: A# F C# D# G# C with generally the same chord shapes, but sounding a full tone lower. He busts a D string in the first part of the clip, the song begins at [3:24] *********************** Fm11 (Cm11) Fm11 F11sus2 D |---------------|-----5-----5--5--|-----------------|-----5----5-5--5--| A#|---------------|-----5-----5--5--|-----------------|-----5----5-5--5--| F |---------------|-----5-----5--5--|-----------------|-----5----5-5--5--| D#|---------------|-----5-----5--5--|-----------------|-----5----5-h7-5--| G |---------------|--------5--------|-----0-h3-h5--0--|--------5---------| C |--0--0--12\-0--|--5--------------|--0--------------|--5---------------| [Verse 1] (Cm11) Fm11 You've been taking your time, F11sus2 Cm11 And you've been living on ...solid air, (Cm11) Fm11 You've been walking the line, F11sus2 Cm11 You've been living on ...solid air, [Verse 2] (Cm11) Fm11 You've been painting it blue, F11sus2 Cm11 And you've been looking through ...solid air, (Cm11) Fm11 You've been seeing it through, F11sus2 Cm11 But you've been looking through ...solid air, [Verse 3] [Verse 4] (Cm11) Fm11 You've been stoning 'em cold, F11sus2 Cm11 You've been living on ...solid air, (Cm11) Fm11 You've been finding them cold, F11sus2 Fm11 Cm11 You've been liv - ing on ...solid air, [Verse 4] (Cm11) Fm11 You've been getting too deep, [Verse 5] [Verse 6] (Cm11) Fm11 You've been walking your line, F11sus2 Cm11 You've been walking on ...solid air, (Cm11) Fm11 You've been taking your time, [Verse 7] (Cm11) Fm11 Been painting it blue, F11sus2 Fm11 Cm11 You've been living on ...solid air, (Cm11) Fm11 And you've been seeing it through, F11sus2 Cm11 And you've been moving through ...solid air, [Verse 8] [Coda] Cm11 Fm7 Fm11 Cm11 Fm7 Fm11 Ice cool------ ...solid air----! Cm11 Fm11 Cm11 Fm11 Cm11 Fm11 Cm11 Fm7 Fm11 Nice--------- cool----- ...so---------lid air---! Cm11 Fm11 Cm11 *Cm11 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / ||