My wife is in Florida for work this weekend, so, being the supportive husband that I am, I’ve been up early to FaceTime with her before she starts the day. (I’m in the Chicago area, so she’s an hour ahead.) Which means, aside from tending to two very needy cats, I have a fair amount of time on my hands.
This is good and bad. It’s good because she loves her job and I’m very proud of her. They’re lucky to have her.
It’s bad, because having more hours to fiddle away can lead to wasting time on social media or, worse, tuning into Sunday morning news-talk shows. And nothing good can come from that.
So, as yesterday’s video demonstrates, I try to spend at least a few hours playing guitar when she’s away. It’s a form of therapy, I guess. For me, anyway; I’m not sure the cats enjoy it.
This morning I’ve been playing around with “Spanish Bombs” from the Clash’s London Calling album. As I typically do, I searched for chord charts online and I found one on Ultimate Guitar that seems pretty accurate.
I don’t know if this is how the band played it, but it sounds good to me. With the capo on the second fret, the introductory part goes like this (all chords relative to the capo):
| G | Emadd9 G/B | Am | Cm |
| G | Emadd9 G/B | Am | Cm |
Then the first and third verses repeat this pattern four times:
| G | Em Bm |
| Am | Cm |
Then the chorus:
| G | Em Bm |
| Em Bm | F |
| G | Em Bm |
| Em Bm | F |
The song doesn’t have a true bridge, but the second verse follows the same pattern as the intro, repeating this four times:
| G | Emadd9 G/B | Am | Cm |
And the outro is the same as the intro, repeating | G | Emadd9 G/B | Am | Cm | over the phrase “o mi corazón …” as the song fades out.
Such beautiful chords for a song about the horrific bombing of Guernica during the Spanish civil war. Oddly, I think works, and it might be my favorite Clash song.
In any event, that’s how I’m spending my Sunday morning — with black coffee and guitar therapy. Whatever gives you peace, I hope you are able to find it this weekend.
Elvis Ate Dynamite 
Leave a comment