No Woman, No Cry | TAB
Before you start, use my online tuner, and set it to 455 Hz so you can play along with that amazing live recording.
If you want to play this on the electric guitar, use as many CAGED shapes as you can think of, doing this will guide you to a part that works for you. Aim to play no more than three strings at a time.
The chorus has these chords:
||: C G/B | Am7 Fadd9 | C Fsus2 C/E Gsus4/D C | C (G A B G) :||
Here’s some notation that I would find useful to keep me on track and remember the basic idea:
As you can see, I’m using rhythm slashes as I want to move around the fretboard. The notation at the end is the bass line but I want to slide in or hammer-on. Depending on where on the fretboard we are, they could be hammer-on and slide instead.
The little dots under the 8th notes mean to “play short”. The notes used at the end are G – A – B – G. This is from the G Major Pentatonic.
I’ve avoided writing G/B as when playing small shapes or inversions as it doesn’t matter what the lowest note is.
The verse is just the first half of that progression, so:
||: C G/B | Am7 Fadd9 :||
Start with this rhythm throughout:
You may have already noticed in the chorus that the F chord is early, this is very important.
To play this on the acoustic guitar, you need to come up with a part that can only be described in TAB, here’s three ideas of what I would play for the chorus.
First of all, there’s no reggae rhythm, just picked notes. The F chord is early and written as a Fadd9 even though it’s actually Fsus2 – F – Fsus2. Put them together and it’s an Fadd9.
The last two bars go from chord I – IV, then down the scale. Maintain the notes from the C chord and they spell Fsus2 – C/E – Gsus4/D. The last two beats are the bass line.
Here’s a variation on this concept, the last two bars are different.
And here’s one more variation, again, it’s the last two bars that have changed.
Finally, here’s an idea for what you could play for the verse, notice how I’m constantly changing in order to maintain that “jammed” feeling. There is now also a reggae rhythm again. Most 8th-note rhythms should probably be played short.
I’ve written all the actual chord names now, think about why this is a good idea compared to how the electric notation was done simply (precise, highlighting all intervals).
Then consider why it’s a bad idea (too messy).
No Woman, No Cry TAB | Related Pages
No Woman, No Cry | Chord + Lyrics
You can learn to play No Woman, No Cry by Bob Marley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| C G/B | Am7 Fadd9 | C Fsus2 C/E Gsus4/D C | C (G A B G) |
No, woman, no cry. No, woman, no cry…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
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- I Shot The Sheriff chords by Bob Marley
- I’m Yours chords by Jason Mraz
- Is This Love chords by Bob Marley
- Master Blaster chords by Stevie Wonder
Fugees tunes
Hip Hop trio Fugees formed in the ’90s. After releasing a credible debut album, they dropped The Score in 1996 and became world-famous.
Their best tunes include Killing Me Softly, Ready Or Not, Fu-Gee-La, Nappy Heads, and No Woman, No Cry.
Fugees on the web
Bob Marley tunes
Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist. Few artists have had such widespread recognition.
As the most widely known performer of reggae music, Bob Marley is also regarded by many as a prophet of the Rastafarian religion.
Bob Marley on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm features TAB and covers No Woman No Cry. 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.