Tenderness (Paul Simon) Guitar Lesson with TAB

In this guitar lesson, you get TAB for how to play the verse in two ways and also the bridge. Practise these and you'll be able to play Tenderness in an improvised way!

Tenderness | TAB

After carefully considering my options, I decided to write two ways you could play the verse, then hope that you after learning these, blend them in an improvised way.

After all, that is how I played Tenderness, not through memorising it but by following the singer.

Here’s the first and easiest way to play the verse.

I’m playing this in 12/8, the original is in 4/4 and in a different key(!).

Notice how the general concept here is to pick the first half and strum the second.

Here’s another, more complex way to play the verse (the last two chords change just like verse 2)

This time, we play with a little rest on beat 2+, this wakes the listener up, mute with the fretting hand.

Practice both ideas, then blend them by just reading the chords, moving between strumming more or less as well as muting.

Here’s the bridge. It’s in 15/8 at times which is just 12/8 with another “beat”.

The key is now not G/Em but E/C#m. The C#m uses chords you’d find in a C#m blues.

Again, practise as the TAB says, then just read the chords. I’ve mainly used ideas from what I played in the video and sometimes modified them slightly.

Tenderness TAB | Related Pages

Tenderness | Chords + Lyrics

Learn to play Tenderness by Paul Simon using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, the original recording, a chord chart, and a Spytunes video guitar lesson.

| C | B7 | Em G | C C#dim7 |
What can I do, what can I do? Much of what you say is true…

Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics

When you can play the TAB for Tenderness, try these five tunes from the songbook.

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

Dan Lundholm wrote this guitar lesson and TAB for Tenderness.

This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm featuring TAB covers Tenderness. 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.