Simple guitar chords version of 'Close to You'

Farout Foolio

Since valentine's day is coming up, and flowers and jewlery are so passe, I'm trying to actually do something cool this year. I've taken to practicing the Carpenters "Close to You" on my guitar, but I'm still sort of a beginner and there are too many chord changes and unique fingerings for me to get down.

Here is the tab I've been starting from, but it's too complex for me.
Can anyone suggest a different way of playing it that cuts down the chord changes to the more major tone changes in the song? (The one-note versions are definitely not cool. :P)

I realise that's a very vague question, but hopefully it makes enough sense.

Raneados

how about this one

i have no clue if it's even close to right

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/c/carpenters/close_to_you_ver2_crd.htm

Sir Carcass

Just stick to the base chords. For instance, for the first line, " C9 Am7 A7sus4 B7 Bm7 Bm7/E Em7 Em", play C, Am, Bm, Em. For the second line, "C C9 C C9 GM7 Bm7 G6", try C, G.

You might have to play around, but it should be close enough to get you by.

Khavall

The other thing to think about is shared notes. I'm guessing if you're not able to play that this might be a little advanced for you to think about, but I'll try to explain it as best I can. I'm not sure just how simple you need it, so I'll try to give a few different levels of simplification.

To start out, do what Carcass said. Ignore all modifications to chords other than "m" unless it makes the chord easier(m7s tend to be super-easy on guitar)

Ok, so a C chord consists of the notes C - E - G, right? Technically if you play it in open position on guitar you're playing it as E - C - E - G - C - E, but still, we're talking about the notes C - E - G. Now, an a minor chord consists of the notes A - C - E. Ok, let's put those in a different order here, and we get C - E - A

C - E - G
C - E - A

Hm..... Ok, so what if instead of going through all the trouble of playing an a- chord we just play C? It's not strictly speaking correct but will anyone actually care? Naaaaaaah. If you want to get fancy, since they're am7 chord, just take your 5th string finger off for the Am7s. So basically, play C as 032010 and Am7 as 002010. Simple enough. And pretty damn close to what's really there.

Now, the tricky one here is the B7-Bmin7 barre thing. Well, there are a few ways to get around this. If you can play barres, then this is actually a reeeeally easy one. Barre second-fret, and then just have 2nd fret above barre on the 2nd and 4th strings(so 224242). For the Bm7 thing, move the 2nd string finger down a fret(224232). Alternative easier ways to do this is to do a non-barre 3-string thing for this.... I would try xx4x42 to xx4x32(Mute the third string with the finger on the 4th string... basically just get a little lazy and have the finger brushing the third string there too)

As for the Em7-Em thing, Em7 is actually easier to play, and if you're lazy you might as well try that all the time. Are you ready for the Em7 fingering? 020000. I know. Tough. If you're really feeling fancy you can add the 2nd fret 4th string to make it a normal Em at the end of the phrase.

Now, to end the phrase, we have that GM7-Bm7-G6. Well fuck that noise... G. Play G. Why does that work? G-B-D(-F#) v. F#-B-D(-A)( v. G-B-D-E). Off by one note again! And fuck, if we were playing GM7 v. Bm there wouldn't even really be a difference, we'd just take out one note. So we don't need to do that, just play G.

Now repeat that.

On to the bridge!

C, Am, C, Am, blah blah blah, C will work. Or cheat again and pretend that the Am chords are Am7s and just play with the 5th string.

Now, the Bm7-F#m7 thing.... well again it's really easy if you can barre, if you can't then.... give me a minute. Anyways if you can barre, just stay with 2nd fret barring and play that Bm7(224232) then just release the 2nd string and move from the 4th to the 5th string for the F#m7(242222). It's like going from Am7 to Em7, but barred. If you're not barring.... probably the easiest is to try something like x020202 for Bm7, then go to an A chord, but wrap the thumb to 2nd fret 6th string to get something like 202220. Barring make it a lot easier if you can do that though.

After that.... well we've pretty much covered everything after that. So see if that helps. Simplifying it any more is tough, and if you can't play barres... well..... shit. Pick a different song?

garroad_ran

I think this covers the whole tune. Let me know if there's a part I missed.

Verse/Chorus:

        C                 B7
Why do birds suddenly appear
       B7            Em
Every time you are near?
C
Just like me, they long to be
G
Close to you.



Prechorus:

C
On the day that you were born, the angels got together
     D
And decided to create a dream come true
          Am
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold
                                 D
And starlight in your eyes of blue.

EDIT: If you want to get a little bit hipper, you can replace the G at the end of the verse section with a D/G every time except when it goes to the Prechorus. When you're going to the prechorus you can replace it with a G7.