Guitar and Piano Transcriptions

I Had A King

Guitar tablature transcribed by Howard Wright

Tuning: EBEEBE   (other transcriptions in this same tuning)
"Joni" Tuning: E75075
Tuning pattern: x75075   (others in this same pattern)
Capo on fret 5

Author Notes:

The unison tuning of the two middle strings is one of the interesting
features of this song, providing some of the close intervals in the
first few chords, and by doubling the 5th fret note in the first
chord of the chorus, giving this note a distinctive emphasis.

Because of this unison tuning, many of the chords could be fretted
slightly differently whilst still giving exactly the same notes
(e.g. 070700 or 077000, where the open/fretted notes on the 3rd and
4th strings are swapped). From the picking pattern for the later parts
of the verse it seems that the chord shapes here mostly use fretted
notes on the 3rd string and use the 4th open string, as this gives a
much more natural picking pattern.

The chord shape at the 8th fret (088000) is the exception (using
fretted notes on the 4th string), and although it's not always easy
to hear, in later verses the picking pattern makes more sense using
the 088000 shape, rather than 080800.

The studio recording has two guitar tracks throughout most of the song
(the intro has just one guitar). After the intro, the two guitars play
pretty much the same guitar part, although there are small differences
in tone and picking pattern that help to create the rich guitar sound.

I've transcribed the guitars mostly as a single guitar part. In a few
sections, where there are more notable differences between the left
and right guitars, I've added comments or additional tablature.
In some cases, where notes from the second guitar part can be
incorporated into the main part, I've notated these in the tablature
using square brackets [], so you can choose to include these or ignore
them as you prefer.

Tablature notes in round brackets () indicate notes that are not
clearly struck, so are optional.

The picking patterns used in the verse and chorus sections are almost
the same throughout the song, though the descending section in the
verse is slightly different the first time ("He's swept with a broom
of contempt") compared to later verses, so I've written this out in
full on the 2nd verse to show the differences.

This transcription is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the song.
You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.
Copyrighted material contained in transcriptions is used in accordance with 'Fair Use'.

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