FM - Steely Dan
----------------
Transcribed by Howard Wright
hakwright (at) gmail (dot) com
This is another transcription that I did several years back.
I've gone through it again recently, tidying it up and changing
a few chord shapes here and there.
h = hammer on
b = bend
/ = slide
INTRO:
------
E--------------------
B--2-3-2-3-2-3-2-3--- keep repeating
G--2-4-2-4-2-4-2-4---
D--------------------
A--------------------
E--------------------
The two note idea above keeps repeating as the other guitar
parts come in. One guitar plays some funky lead in the left
channel, another plays chords in the right, and underneath
everything there is a rhythm figure using 5ths. I've written
these 5ths in the same tablature stave as the right channel
chords.
Left:
E-------------------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------------------
G------------7------------------------------------
D----------7---10-----7---------------------------
A------7h9--------10------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------
Right:
E---------------------------------9-9-----9--9--9--9--
B---------------------------------8-8-----8--8--8--8--
G---------------------------------9-9-----9--9--9--9--
D----2---------4-4---------2--------------------------
A--4-0---------2-2----4--2-0--------------------------
E--2------------------2--0----------------------------
Left:
E----------------------------------------9----------
B----------------------------------------10---------
G------------7---------------------------9----------
D----------7---10-10--9b10-7-9-----------9----------
A------7h9------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------------
Right: (let ring...)
E----------------------------------------9----------
B----------------------------------------10---------
G----------------------------------------9----------
D----2---------4-4----------2------------9----------
A--4-0---------2-2----4---2-0-----------------------
E--2------------------2---0-------------------------
(Two-note idea stops on last chord)
VERSE 1:
--------
It's impossible to get both the piano and guitar parts into one
guitar part - and both are important to get the feel of the song,
so I've transcribed them separately.
It's only for the first few lines of each verse that it causes a
problem, so for these lines I'll do the piano bit on one line
of tab (above the words), and the guitar riff that goes with it
below the words.
Use a palm mute for a dry, damped sound on the guitar part.
For the piano part, slide the triad shape fairly quickly up to
get a crisp change.
NB the actual piano right hand part sounds more like:
E--9-----9-----7-----
B--8h10--8h10--8-----
G--9-----9-----7-----
but sliding the whole triad (as below) somehow seems to work better
on the guitar.
Em7
E-7/9---7/9---7-----------------------7/9---7/9---7------------7/9---7/9--
B-8/10--8/10--8-----------------------8/10--8/10--8------------8/10--8/10-
G-7/9---7/9---7-----------------------7/9---7/9---7------------7/9---7/9--
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------7-----------------------------------7-----------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bury the bottle mama it's grape-fruit wine
E-------------------------------------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------2------4--5----2-----4---5----------2---4-5---2--4-5--
E-------------0------2--3----0-----2---3----------0---2-3---0--2-3--
E--7--------------------------------------7/9---7/9---7-----
B--8--------------------------------------8/10--8/10--8-----
G--7--------------------------------------7/9---7/9---7-----
D-----------------------------------------------------------
A--7--------------------------------------------------7-----
E-----------------------------------------------------------
Kick off your high heeled sneakers it's par - ty time
E----------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
A--2-------------4--5--------2--------4---5-----------2----4--5--
E--0-------------2--3--------0--------2---3-----------0----2--3--
Cmaj7 Bm7 Am7 G F#7 B7
The girls don't seem to care what's on
E6/9 A13 Bmaj7
As long as we play till dawn
Am7 Em7 Em9 C#m7-5 C7 A/B
Nothin' but blues and Elvis and somebody else's favourite songs
Em7 (Piano/guitar riffs as before ...)
Give us some funked up music she treats you nice
Em7 (As before...)
Feed us some hungry Reggae she loves you twice
Cmaj7 Bm7 Am7 G F#7 B7
The girls don't seem to care tonight
E6/9 G#7#5 C#m11 F#13
As long as the music's right
CHORUS:
-------
F#m7 F#m11 A9
No static at all (no static at all)
D/E C7(Viii) B7#5
F M (no static at all)
lead guitar riff during B7#5 chord:
E---------------------------------------
B--15b17--15b17r15--12--15b17-----------
G---------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------
Em7 (Back to the two riffs ):
E--7------------------------------7/9----7/9---7-------
B--8------------------------------8/10---8/10--8-------
G--7------------------------------7/9----7/9---7-------
D------------------------------------------------------
A--7-------------------------------------------7-------
E------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------
A--2--------4--5------2------4----5------------2-----4--5--
E--0--------2--3------0------2----3------------0-----2--3--
Cmaj7 Bm7 Am7 G F#7 Fmaj7
INSTRUMENTAL (Sax Solo):
------------------------
In the first line of chords, use either Em7 or Em9, and A13
or A7 - whatever you prefer.
Em7 A13 Em7 C7
Dmaj7 C#7#5 Cmaj7 B7#5 Em7 A7 C7 B7#5
VERSE 2:
--------
(Chords etc as for Verse 1)
Give us some funked up music she treats you nice
Feed us some hungry Reggae she loves you twice
The girls don't seem to care tonight
As long as the mood is right
CHORUS:
-------
After the chorus it carries on to the piano/guitar riffs
again (Em7), but keeps repeating them.
Chord Shapes:
--------------
a=10, b=11
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
8x998x 7x777x 5x555x 35543x 24232x x24242
Cmaj7 Bm7 Am7 G F#7 B7
For the minor 7 shapes above, you can add the note on the
A string if you like (e.g Bm7 = 79777x)
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
07667x 5x567x 7x887x x79787 x7577x
E6/9 A13 Bmaj7 Em7 Em9
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
x4545x x35353 7x765x 4x455x
C#m7-5 C7 A/B G#7#5
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
x4x452 2x2222 5x5600 x7777x
C#m11 F#m7 A9 D/E
(You could also use a simpler C#m7 shape (x46454) instead
of C#m11)
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
8a8988 7x788x 1x123x 2x234x
C7 B7#5 Fmaj7 F#13
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
2x2200 5x565x axbbax 9x9aax
F#m11 A7 Dmaj7 C#7#5
Back to Steely Dan and Donald Fagen guitar tabs
Last updated: July 2020
All information in these pages copyright © 2000-2020 Howard Wright unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.