Written by George Harrison of The Beatles for their double album The Beatles (also known as The White Album)
Published: Oct 1, 2011 Updated: Oct 1, 2011 • Visitors: 8 • Page Views: 1
ukulele leadsheet Subjects: rock • repertoire
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While My Guitar Gently Weeps is a song written by George Harrison of The Beatles for their double album The Beatles (also known as The White Album).
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
The song was ranked #135 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time and #7 on their list of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.
Inspiration for the song came to Harrison when reading the I Ching, which, as he put it, "seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else...opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental." Taking this idea of relativism to his parents’ home in northern England, Harrison committed to write a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a random book. Those words were “gently weeps”, and he immediately began the song. As he said:
"I wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at my mother's house in Warrington. I was thinking about the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Changes... The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there's no such thing as coincidence - every little item that's going down has a purpose.
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book - as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw 'gently weeps', then laid the book down again and started the song."
- George Harrison – double-tracked vocal, backing vocal, acoustic guitar, Hammond organ
- Paul McCartney – backing vocal, piano, organ, bass
- John Lennon – electric guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
- Eric Clapton – lead guitar
Common Keys: =Am, First Melodic Interval: P5 ↑ M2
Performance Notes
For the slash chords, the Am/G, Am/F# and Am/F. You can just stick with the basic Am chords. The note after the slash is a descending bass line that we can not get in a ukulele with a high fourth string.
Web Resources
- (While My Guitar(uke) Gently Weeps)- Curt Sheller (me)
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Jake Shimabukuro() - Jake's well deserved world success was accelerated after this video was shot by Jason Tagg for his show Midnight Ukulele Disco in Strawberry Fields in Central Park. This video on>YouTube has received over 15 million views.
- Eric Clapton - Concert for George()
- WidipediA: While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- WidipediA: Jake Shimabukuro, playing a ukulele in place of the guitar portions of the song, on the album Gently Weeps.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Melody and Chord Ukulele Arrangement, Key of Am
This is my take on the George Harrison classic. Suitable for low or high G, C tuning. Standard music notation and Ukulele TAB.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Chord Lead Sheet, Key of Am
The George Harrison, Beatles classic. This is the songs that propelled Jake Shimabukoro to international fame.
A Road Map Through Song
Remembering songs is all about the form and harmonic content and movement with taking in the similarities between songs. And, just like a road map they're landmarks that will trigger memories of how to get through various sections, changes or parts of a song.
This section of a song's page presents some tips on how I try and remember a particular song.
No Road Map for While My Guitar Gently Weeps check back soon.
QuickStart Progressions Blues Track 3 - Light Rock, Play-long Track
Light Rock play-along track for exploring the Blues scale from the QuickStart Scale and Arpeggio Series of books.
Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album (usually referred to as Led Zeppelin IV). The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which increase in tempo and volume as the song progresses. The song begins as a slow acoustic-based folk song accompanied by pan flutes (recorder per Jimmy Page), before electric instrumentation is introduced. The final section is a high-tempo hard rock section highlighted by an intricate guitar solo by Page.
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