50 Ways To Leave Your Lover | TAB
If you disregard all the fancy extensions and think in Roman Numerals, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’s verse chords are just this:
VI – V – IV – IIIx, followed by the more complex VI – #Vdim7 – IIdim – VI/5.
The next line is the same as the first, we finish with VI – II – VI.
With extensions, it’s a different story, let’s pick it apart, and let’s use TAB, here are the first two bars, these also repeat on line 3:
- The first chord, an Em/G, could also have been described as a G6
- D6 is achieved by swapping the root on string 2 for the 6th
- Cmaj7 maintains that open B string
- B7b9 is a natural extension as this is Phrygian Dominant
- B7 is still chord IIIx, we’ve resolved the b9 to the root
Here’s line 2, this has the crazy II chord in it:
- We probably need that common Em chord in order to cope with what’s coming up, also, this now makes the last Em/G feel like the right name, rather than G6
- B7/D# is chord IIIx, with its 3rd in the bass. Most people mistake this for a D#dim7, but there’s an open B string
- F#dimadd4 has appeared because you could have just moved the D#dim7 up a m3rd and gotten a different inversion, F#dim7. The open B string is what gives it the crazy name. Paul has experimented here
- Em/B, is often claimed to be a Baug in tutorials, but there is nothing on string 4, so it’s an Em/B.
Line 3 is the same as line 1, here’s the last part of the verse, this one is super simple, just VI – II – VI.
Play along with the original recording using this TAB as well as the chords and lyrics.
The chorus chords are essentially just I – bIIIx – IV, but since there are several guitars playing licks, and you’re most likely going to be the only guitar in the band, I’ve made a part for you. Again, let’s use TAB to explain it!
As you can see, it’s the same thing four times, just change the initial root note.
Once you can play what I’ve written here, you could start varying the licks, aiming to include the intervals of G7 – G6, which is the G Mixolydian scale. You could also blend this with the G minor blues scale.
If you have a bass player, let them worry about the Bb – C movement, the guitars are essentially playing G chords throughout, with blues/country-esque licks.
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover TAB | Related Pages
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Em/G D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
The problem is all inside your head, she said to me…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- (They Long To Be) Close To You chords by the Carpenters
- Ain’t No Sunshine chords by Bill Withers
- Belief chords by John Mayer
- Just The Two Of Us chords by Bill Withers
- Tenderness chords by Paul Simon
Paul Simon tunes
Paul Simon is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both as half of the folk-singing duo Simon and Garfunkel and also as a solo artist.
His many hits include Homeward Bound, Scarborough Fair, You Can Call Me Al, The Boxer, Cecilia, Mrs. Robinson, and Graceland.
Paul Simon on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.