KING OF PAIN (THE POLICE)


About

Absolutely brillant song by The Police, one of the greatest bands ever. Written by Sting. However, a good share of the magic of this song comes from Andy Summers’ outstanding guitar performance, like it is the case in so many of their songs.

 

Original Key

Bm (Capo on II.)

 

Tuning

Regular

 

Tab Notes

Did not find anything adequate on the web, so I tried to tab it on my own with the help of a songbook I owe.

Four parts: [ A ] first verse, [ A’ ] other verses (with the „thats my soul up there“ passage), [ B ] chorus and [ C ] bridge. 

- Starting with part [ A’ ], you can add some string slaps on beats 2 and 4 (marked with an „x“). 

- At the end of the bridge, the melody goes directly into the [ A’ ] part again.

- The single note phrase at the end is slowing down gradually. 

 

Some theory aside: 

Regarding bar 7 of part [ A ]: I KNOW that the „official“ chord here (in the chosen key of A minor) would be a Bm7/4. But firstly, that sounds a bit strange to me. Second, it is basically almost the same thing: The E4 chord  here includes root (B), 4th (E) and 7th (A) of the Bm7/4. 


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