Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'

Subject: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: GUEST,PoppaGator
Date: 30 Jun 05 - 01:36 PM

Well, it's barely a three-chord song, mostly just I-V with a very brief VII thrown in, so I don't really need "chords" so much as "tab," or at least one or two specific up-the-neck guitar chord inversions.

I've been playing the song for many years (in G ~ G/C/D7), but never found a way to play the little up-the-neck riff that Dylan throws in between each verse.

I've always played a lot of Dylan songs, but never really tried to sing them just like Bob. (Never learned to play the harmonica, either.)

After The Band had appeared on the scene, I began making a half-conscious effort to sing my Dylan cover songs (not just those already done by the Band) like Rick or Levon or Robbie would. (I'm not capable of singing like the late Richard Manuel.) But I was never a Dylan "imitator" ~ I couldn't do it, and wouldn't especially want to anyway.

However, this is one instance where I'd like to do the guitar part more like Bob's original than I do now. I don't mind transposing to another key, with or without capo. My own old approach to playing it is so ingrained that I have little confidence that I could come up with an improved version on my own at this late date, and I'm hoping that somebody out there who is (or was) a true Dylan fanatic can clue me in. Little Hawk? Bobert in an earlier incarnation?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: PoppaGator
Date: 01 Jul 05 - 11:51 AM

refresh, about 22 hours later.

Nobody? I guess I'm not the only one who never figured that song out.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 01 Jul 05 - 11:53 AM

I've never played it, but if I can keep kids out of my hair (what's left of it) this weekend I'll have a go.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 01 Jul 05 - 12:06 PM

Have you tried this:

http://hem.passagen.se/obrecht/backpages/chords/04_anotherside/spanish_harlem.htm

Subject: RE: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: PoppaGator
Date: 01 Jul 05 - 02:06 PM

Jim ~ yesssss! And thank you.

Looks like that's exactly what I want (assuming it's reasonably accurate ~ lots of tab/chord stuff found on the internet is not).

I'm at work, with no guitar, so I can't try it out right away. I'll give it a shot as soon as I get home. Looks very simple, as I figured it would.

I'd like to think I would have been better able to figure this out on my own if I had not been playing a more simplified version for so many years. Once you get into a habit, it can be hard to break into a new mental approach.

I suppose I certainly should have been able to do the same internet search you did, though, regardless of my inability to rethink my guitar playing...

Subject: RE: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: PoppaGator
Date: 01 Jul 05 - 02:18 PM

Here's a copy-and-paste from the page Jim refers to:

Words and music Bob Dylan
Released on Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
Tabbed by Eyolf Østrem

The little figure that sets off the intro is used here and there where there is a transition from G to C. In the third verse the xxx330 chord formation (called G' in the chord table) is used for the Gs that start each line in the first part of the verse.
The strumming through the rest of the intro is of course only an approximation, as to which strings sound at which particular moment.

Chords:
C/d   xx0553
G/d   xx0433
G'    xxx330
the C/d chord marked with a * is basically the same, only that the A string is sounding:

      x00553

Complete tablature for a full verse follows, but the above chord symbols seem to provide the essential information ~ assuming that Eyolf Østrem knows his stuff; I haven't tried this out yet, and won't be able to do so for several more hours.

Blue clicky to the complete page referenced by Jim, above:

http://hem.passagen.se/obrecht/backpages/chords/04_anotherside/spanish_harlem.htm

Subject: RE: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 05:03 AM

Good luck with it Poppa-G!! Thanks very much to you too - I needed to be reminded of that song. It evoked some wonderful memories.

I was 18 years old and on a hot sunny day in June watching some gorgeous girls playing tennis at school (including my first sweetheart). My friend Ron was an excellent lead guitarist and played in a classic 4 piece band (Rhythm guitar, Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums) and he joined me with his acoustic guitar. He showed me my 1st chord (Em) followed by Am and B7 (the easy one). He then taught me my first song - "St James Infirmary Blues". I was hooked, and couldn't wait to play Dylan songs, starting with "Times They are a-Changing". So began a lifetime's passion - thanks to Ron bless him (now sadly no longer with us).

I remember now I DID sing Spanish Harlem (I had a go at most of Dylan's songs that year - once I'd learned the chords in keys of G, C, D) but it would have been a pretty crude effort back then, accompanied by some 'Dylanesque' wailing on the harmonica (which I'd learned to play whilst recovering from a broken leg in 1964). Come to think of it, that broken leg changed my life completely.

So - I'll learn to play the song again (properly this time) and dedicate it to you and Ron at my next gig.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: 'Spanish Harlem Incident'
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Jul 05 - 10:51 AM

I will try to get on this sometime today, but my plate is VERY full. We'll see.