"Yellow" by Coldplay

Riff Rundown

Difficulty:Easy - Intermediate

Here's how each guitar is tuned:

Guitar 1 - Acoustic (E, A, B, G, B, Eb/D#)
Guitar 2 - Clean Electric (E, A, B, G, B, Eb/D#)
Guitar 3 - Distortion Electric (E, A, D, G, B, E)
Guitar 4 - Bright Acoustic (E, A, D, G, B, E)

The chords played in this song may not be the style you are used to, so I included the correct chord diagram for each part.

Intro

Here are the chords:

B Chord

Badd11 Chord

This is also noted on the tablature below. Notice that Gtr II comes in on the last two measures.
Pay close attention to the dotted notes, as Gtr II comes in at a different interval than Gtr I.

Breakdown

The chords played in the breakdown are the EXACT same chords played for the Intro. All that has been added is Gtr III.
This guitar is played with distortion on the electric. The full bends should be played at the beginning of each measure with the bend dropped back to normal in the following measure.

Note: Remember that you are ONLY bending the notes on the G string on the tablature below
(Bend at the 9th, 13th, and 4th fret.).

Here's the full breakdown:

Here's the lead breakdown:

Verse

A few of you have expressed confusion over the repeat bars. Here's an easy breakdown since this song is rather easy to play using the
repeat bars.

1. Play everything you see all the way until the END of where you see the "1."
2. After you played THROUGH the "1," start back over on the second B that is played, also noted with a B chord on the tablature, which holds this chord for a whole count.
3. Play through all of that UNTIL you see the "1" again. Don't play that. Play the next measure that starts with a "2."
4. Play through the Emaj7 all the way THROUGH the B and Badd11 to end the verse.

Note: You'll see a few duplicate chords that are tabbed out. This is Gtr II, which is a clean electric.
All that you play there are whole notes.

Here are the chords on the acoustic for the Verse:

B Chord

F#6

Emaj7

Badd11

Here's the full Verse:

Here's just the rhythm:

Chorus

Don't get confused. The Chorus is REALLY easy. The top line, playing only quarter notes, is the acoustic guitar. You'll play that until the B chord. Don't play the B listed at the top. Just begin the Intro theme again, as you'll see in the tablature.

Guitar IV is another acoustic, but with a brighter setting. You can also use a clean electric. Just end this guitar part ON the B chord so that the whole note rings through into the acoustic part you learned in the Intro.

Here are the chords on the acoustic for the Chorus:

Emaj7(XII)

B/Ab

F#

Here's the full Chorus:

Here's the rhythm for you to practice with:

Outro

There aren't really any major changes in the Outro, except for the addition of a new chord. It's noted on the tablature below.

Complete Transcription in Power Tab

Complete Transcription in PDF

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