Guster is an alternative rock band, which formed at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, United States in 1992.
The band consists of Adam Gardner and Ryan Miller on guitar and vocals and Brian Rosenworcel on percussion. Multi-instrumentalist and backup vocalist Joe Pisapia played with the band from 2003-2010. Luke Reynolds took Pisapia's place to tour with the band for their 2010 album, Easy Wonderful, and has remained with the band since.
Four years of hard work!This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!
Feel free to hit me up with questions/comments/corrections. There's a lot going on in the studio version of this and I've yet to hear a stripped-down version, so have some fun with the chord voicings and the song will certainly carry its' own.
I opted for the voicings I did based on this live video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxvqjkFbJdY and filling it out a bit for solo playing.
Take a listen to the song and the strumming will be pretty self-evident.
Tuning: Standard (EADGBe)
Chords Used e|--------------------------0----7----5----4----2------------------------| B|--9-----4-----4-----------0----7----5----4----2------------------------| G|--9-----4-----4------4----1----8----6----4----3------------------------| D|--9-----4-----4------2----2----9----7----6----4------------------------| A|--7-----2-----x------2----2----9----7----6----4------------------------| E|--------------2------0----0----7----5----4----2------------------------| EBF#/BE5E* B* A G#min F#
(stars denote to use the specified voicing…to play it the way he does live don't bother worrying about anything starred in the tab beyond the B*)
Intro: E B F#/B E5 (strum each six times, repeat twice)
EB I live on the second floor F#/BE5 Of an old row house down in Baltimore EB Watching all the colors and the shapes F#/BE5 Standing tall up here
(E5) My face against the window E* BF#/BE* OooooooOooOoooOoo (E*) My face against the window E* BF#/BE* OooooooOooOoooOoo
B*
EB These moments, they can never last F#/BE5 Like a sad old man with his photographs EB Keeps wishing for the things he cannot change F#/BE5 Standing tall up here
(E5) My face against the window E* BF#/BE* OooooooOooOoooOoo (E*) My face against the window E* BF#/BE* OooooooOooOoooOoo
B*
BA So the architects and the engineers G#min F# Build their monuments, make their souvenirs B* We are occupants A It's a trap, this town G#min We are burning up F# We are fading out B* ** We are shooting stars
[that's my arrangement of how it would go chord-wise, what's really being played during the bridge is tabbed below (strumming not shown…just follow the progression above for guidance)]
e-------------2-| B-4---4---4---2-| G-4---4---4---3-| D-4---4---4---4-| A-2---x---x---4-| E-----5---4---2-| ^ ^ use your thumb on the E string for these two
**This is played throughout the background of the bridge, and is most noticeable during the 'shooting stars line. To get the riff going throughout the bridge with one guitar just keep adding alternations between the 4th and 5th fret on B (as shown below) to the chords used in the transcribed version of the bridge above.