Everlong off of The Colour and The Shape and the Howard Stern Show Written by Dave Grohl Performed by Foo Fighters tabbed by Foorooster@aol.com (with a correction by info@x-sited.com Thanks.) The whole song is in Drop D tuning. The hardest part about this song is the strumming. In the intro riff (the same riff is used in the verse throughout the whole song) there are two basic type strums (both kinda half-strum and half-finger pick)kinda crammed into one riff. You really just have to memorize the pattern of the strums for the intro riff, until you get them memorized. There just ain't no other way. Eventually you'll get quick enough at it so that it sounds nice and smoothe (you gotta play it kinda fast to keep up with Dave). There are only two real parts to the song, the intro riff is played during the verse, and then there is the chorus. This is the part for the first guitar, stuff about what the second guitar plays is below.
the intro-type riff: (all down strums) e|---------------------------------------------- B|---------------------------------------------- G|---------11---11-11---11-11---11---11-11-11--- D|---------11---11-11---11-11---11---11-11-11--- A|---------9----9--9----9--9----9----9--9--9---- E|-----0-0----0-------0-------0----0----------0- hello... e|---------------------------------------------- B|---------------------------------------------- G|---------11---11-11---11-11---11---11-11-11--- D|---------11---11-11---11-11---11---11-11-11--- A|---------9----9--9----9--9----9----9--9--9---- E|-----9-9----9-------9-------9----9----------9- e|------------------------------------------------------- B|------------------------------------------------------- G|-------------7-------------7---------11------------11-- D|-------------7-------------7---------11------------11-- A|-------------5-------------5---------9-------------9--- E|----5--5--5----5--5--5--5----5/9--9-----9--9--9--9----9 everlong... e|--------------------------------- B|--------------------------------- repeat G|-----------11--------------11---- a D|-----------11--------------11---- whole A|-----------9---------------9----- crapload E|-----9--9------9--9--9--9-----9-- chorus-type riff of fun: e|-------------------------------------------------------------- B|-------------------------------------------------------------- G|-----6-6-6--7-7-7--9-9-9--11-11-11--11-12-13------------------ D|-----x-x-x--x-x-x--x-x-x--x--x--x---x--x--x----7---7-7--7-7-7- A|-----4-4-4--5-5-5--7-7-7--9--9--9---9--10-11---7---7-7--7-7-7- E|-----0-0-0--0-0-0--0-0-0--0--0--0---0--0--0----7---7-7--7-7-7- repeat once (this is the "and I wonder part") e|------------------------------------------------------------ B|------------------------------------------------------------ G|-----4---4-4--4-4-4------------------7---7-7--7-7-7--7--7-7- D|-----4---4-4--4-4-4--5---5-5--5-5-5--7---7-7--7-7-7--7--7-7- A|-----2---2-2--2-2-2--5---5-5--5-5-5--5---5-5--5-5-5--5--5-5- E|---------------------5---5-5--5-5-5--0---0-0--0-0-0--0--0-0- repeat once if anything can... if anything can... e|------------------------------------------------------------ B|------------------------------------------------------------- G|-----4---4-4--4-4-4------------------7-7-7-7----------------- D|-----4---4-4--4-4-4--5---5-5--5-5-5--7-7-7-7-7-7--7-7-7--7-7- A|-----2---2-2--2-2-2--5---5-5--5-5-5--5-5-5-5-7-7--7-7-7--7-7- E|---------------------5---5-5--5-5-5--0-0-0-0-7-7--7-7-7--7-7- the ony thing I'll ever... (the words aren't matched up exactly with the tab on this part) e|--------------------------------------------------- B|--------------------------------------------------- G|--------------------------------------------------- D|-----5--5-5--5-5-5---5--5-5--5-5-5---5--5-5--5-5-5- A|-----5--5-5--5-5-5---5--5-5--5-5-5---5--5-5--5-5-5- E|-----5--5-5--5-5-5---5--5-5--5-5-5---5--5-5--5-5-5- not to stop when I... (if end of song just let ring) Notes: You just do the intro-riff of fun while doing the verse (listen to it to get how the words fit in, then the chorus. After "she sang" you go immediatly to the chorus (if playing like CD then it you start the break, were it goes from soft to loud and Dave starts whispering his evil little things.) Then you go to the chorus again. This main part of the song (the part for the first guitar) sounds best with a clean electric or acoustic. For the CD and live type performances, the second guitar basically plays power chords D5, B5, G5, B5 on a distorted electric. During the intro you first wait for Guitar 1 to play the intro riff once, then basically play D5 (let ring), wait about four counts (until guitar 1 is on the second line), then do a quick D5 then B5 (let ring), repeat with B5 and G5, then start playing A5 again, then go to D5 (the first guitar should be just completing it's riff) and do a pretty basic strum with D5 B5 G5 and B5. Also I think after the second guitar plays the first riff once, it plays basically a powerchord C# with the finger covering the sixth string as well (like in the second part of the intro, dunno what type of chord this is.) then goes to the same thing on 5th fret.) Remember to adjust the power chords for Drop-D tuning (in other words bar three strings instead of two, I didn't want to tab out each chord) I think the last thing the second guitar plays is the chorus (along with the first guitar?) During the whisper-iffic break the intro-riff is played twice, then the second guitar plays the power chord intro, and when that is done the first guitar plays the first line of the chorus twice, then goes into the chorus On the video, right after a nice friendly little pause at the end of the song, the go into the chorus starting at the second line, with the usual ending (no "she sang") That was obvious, but I thought I'd point that out. For the acoustic version Dave played on The Howard Stern Show, you play just like normal (but without second guitar doing power cords...duh) but during the break you play the intro-riff of fun once or twice, then when Dave says "I'm gunna shorten the break" you start playing the first line of the chorus (C#5 D5 E5 F#5 etc) but you only play the end chord (the 7th fret barred on top 3 stings) once, then repeat that first line about four times, then start singing ("and I wonder"), and then finally go into the second line of the chorus normally. "Your songs hold up man" -Howard Stern
Everlong by Foo Fighters guitar chords playing instructions.
Alternative guitar chords and tabs for Everlong by Foo Fighters