Bad Bad Tab for Song...

I'm trying to learn a little Jim Croce song...

I've always wanted to learn to play this song, but all the tab I've found on the web has sounded wrong to me. But now someone has posted this awesome video of Jim Croce playing live on TV and it affords some great long shots of him playing the song. I think I've mostly got the chord progression down. Here's what I have so far:

Song Title: Bad Bad Leroy Brown 
Artist: Jim Croce

E-|-3--0--3--0--|-3--0--3--4--|-5--0--5--0--|-5--0--5--6--|
A-|-5--5--5--5--|-5--5--5--6--|-7--7--7--7--|-7--7--7--8--|
D-|-5--5--5--5--|-5--5--5--6--|-7--7--7--7--|-7--7--7--8--|
G-|-4--4--4--4--|-4--4--4--5--|-6--6--6--6--|-6--6--6--7--|
B-|-3--0--3--0--|-3--0--3--4--|-5--0--5--0--|-5--0--5--6--|
E-|-3--0--3--0--|-3--0--3--4--|-5--0--5--0--|-5--0--5--6--|

E-|-7--0--7--7--|-8--0--8--8--|-10-10-8--8--|-3
A-|-9--9--9--9--|-10-10-10-10-|-12-12-10-10-|-5
D-|-9--9--9--9--|-10-10-10-10-|-12-12-10-10-|-5 ...etc...
G-|-8--8--8--8--|-9--9--9--9--|-11-11-9--9--|-4
B-|-7--0--7--7--|-8--0--8--8--|-10-10-8--8--|-3
E-|-7--0--7--7--|-8--0--8--8--|-10-10-8--8--|-3

Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjPCg5HtH1E

My concerns:

1) He plays what looks like a C chord, but up two frets. What's going on there?

2) I think I might have it wrong when he gets up high on the neck (they always cut away around there). Any suggestions on improvements?

3) I think I captured what he's doing with his index finger correctly (3-0-3-0-4-5-0-5-0, etc), but maybe not? It sounds okay when I play it.

Thanks. I've never tried to write tab before, so I apologize for it's incompleteness. All criticism is welcome.

posted by jeffamaphone (7 comments total)

1.) It's a D major chord if you don't hit the G string, suspended 4th if you do (I think).
posted by dobie at 5:27 PM on July 18, 2010

FYI Tab is normally written with the low E on the bottom not the top, so reversed from the way you have it.

Depending on how you play the C shape two frets up, you get one of:

1. A straight D major (mute E, G, E, or play A on the top string with your pinky)

2. D sus 4 (mute low & high E and let the G ring)

3. D add 9 (mute low E and G, let the high E ring)

4. D sus 4 add 9 (mute low E)

You can also use your pinky to fret an A on the low E if you want.

If you move it up another fret you get a very cool Eb shape, letting the G ring and fretting Ab with you pinky on the high E string. Alex Chilton uses this on the Ballad of El Goodo, capo'd six frets up. Took me a decade to figure that one out.
posted by unSane at 6:53 PM on July 18, 2010

unSane: good info, thanks. Any idea which one he's doing in the video? :)
posted by jeffamaphone at 6:54 PM on July 18, 2010

He's doing yet another version of this shape... it's a D7. Low E is muted with the thumb and high E is either muted with whatever's available, not played, or allowed to ring.

E - x
B - 3
G - 5
D - 4
A - 5
E - x
posted by unSane at 7:06 PM on July 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

This works. The only thing I'd add is that he takes his pinky off the fretboard on every barre chord except for the G at the beginning of the progression. So every other chord is a dominant 7th chord. This is what they look like (with the top-pitched string on top):

A7 Bb7 B7 C7 D7

E- 5 6 7 8 10
B- 5 6 7 8 10
G- 6 7 8 9 11
D- 5 6 7 8 10
A- 7 8 9 10 12
E- 5 6 7 8 10
posted by umbú at 7:28 PM on July 18, 2010

OK, the other thing that he's doing is that when he lifts off his index finger which is barring the chord, he's not playing the E shape but an A shape with the other fingers, a pretty standard boogie riff which you can hear more clearly on the piano. So it goes

E - 5 x 5 x
B - 5 8 5 8
G - 6 8 6 8
D - 7 8 7 8
A - 7 x 7 x
E - 5 x 5 x

etc, in a shuffle rhythm
posted by unSane at 8:25 PM on July 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Awesome. Can't wait to try it out with the full band.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:37 PM on July 18, 2010