Billy Joel – My Life (Bass Tab)
Versions
(3)
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Speed:
1.0x
As recorded by Billy Joel
(From the 1978 Album 52ND STREET)
Words and Music by Billy Joel
Transcribed by Slowhand
Gtr I (E A D G) - 'Doug Stegmeyer - Bass'
Intro 1
Q=138
4/4
Gtr I
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7-|
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5---|
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7--||
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5----||
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
Intro 2 & Interlude
$
E E E E. S E E E Q E E E. S E E Q E E Q E E Q E E E E E E
||-------------------|-----------------|---------------|----------------|
||o------------------|-----------------|--------3----3-|----------7---6-|
||o-5---5-5--5-5-5-4-|-3----3-3--3-----|---------------|-1----1-0-------|
||-------------------|-------------3-2-|-1----1----1---|------------4---|
E E E E. S E E E Q E E E. S E E Q E E Q E E Q E E E E E E
|------------------|--------5--5-----|---------------|----------5---6--||
|------------------|------5------5-4-|-3-----------3-|-----------------||
|-5---5-5--5-5-5-4-|-3---------------|------3--------|-1----1-3---4----||
|------------------|-----------------|--------1------|-----------------||
1st - 3rd Verses
Q. E Q E E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E
|---------------|---------------|---------------|----------------|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|----------------|
|-5----5-5------|---------------|---------------|----------------|
|-------------0-|-2----2-2----2-|-3----3-3----3-|-3----3-3----3--|
Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
|---------------|---------------|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7--|
|---------------|---------------|-----------------|------------------|
|---------------|---------------|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5----|
|-5----5-5----5-|-5----5-5----5-|-----------------|------------------|
Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E E E E E E E E E
|---------------|---------------|---------------|------------------|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|-5---4---2--------|
|-5----5-5----0-|---------------|---------------|-----------5------|
|---------------|-2----2-2----2-|-3----3-3----3-|---------------5--|
1. 2.
To Coda
Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E
|----------------|----------------||---------------||
|----------------|---------------o||---------------||
|----------------|---------------o||---------------||
|-5----5-5----5--|-5----5-5----5--||-5----5-5----5-||
Chorus
$$
H. +E E W H. +E E W
|-------------4-|-4--------|-------------6-|-6----|
|---------------|----------|---------------|------|
|-2-------(2)---|----------|-4-------(4)---|------|
|---------------|----------|---------------|------|
H. +E E H. +E E H. E E E Q. E E E E
|-------------7-|-7-------(7)---|-----------7-|-9---------------|
|---------------|---------------|-------------|-----------------|
|-5-------(5)---|-------------5s|=7-------7---|-----------------|
|---------------|---------------|-------------|---0----0-2---3--|
+Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q E E Q. E Q. E
|----------------|---------------|---------------|----------------|
|----------------|---------------|-4---------4---|----------------|
|----------------|-------------4-|-------------4-|-2----2-2----2--|
|-(3)---3-3----3-|-2----2-2------|------2-2------|----------------|
To Dbl. Coda D.S. al Coda
Q. E Q. E Q. E E E E E W +W
|---------------|----------------|----------|---------||
|---------------|----------------|----------|---------||
|---------------|----------------|----------|---------||
|-0----0-0----0-|-0----0-0-2-4-0-|-5--------|-(5)-----||
Interlude
&
Q. E Q. E Q. E E. S E E Q E E E. S E E Q E E Q E E
|---------------||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
|---------------||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
|---------------||-5------5--0-5-4-|-3----3-3--3-----|-------------3--|
|-5----5-5----5-||-----------------|-------------3-2-|-1----1-1-------|
Q. E E E E E Q. E. S E E E Q. E E. S E E
|----------------|-----------------|-------------5---|
|----------7---4-|-----------------|-----------5---5-|
|-1----1-0-------|-5----5--5-0-5-4-|-3----3-3--------|
|------------6---|-----------------|-----------------|
Q. E Q. E Q E E E E E E
|---------------|----------5---6---||
|-3----3-3----3-|------------------||
|---------------|-1----1-3---4-----||
|---------------|------------------||
Bridge
W H. +E E H. +E E W
|-----------|---------------|---------------|------|
|-----------|---------------|---------------|------|
|-5\--------|---------------|---------------|------|
|-----------|-2-------(2)-2-|-3-------(3)-3-|-3----|
W +W W +H +E Q E
|----------|------------|----------|------------7-----|
|----------|------------|----------|------------------|
|-0--------|-(0)--------|-5--------|-(5)----(5)----5--|
|----------|------------|----------|------------------|
W W W E E E E E E E E
|----------|----------|----------|------------------|
|----------|-4--------|-5--------|-5---4---2--------|
|-5--------|----------|----------|-----------5------|
|----------|----------|----------|---------------5--|
Interlude
D.S.S. al Dbl. Coda &&
+Q. E Q. E Q. E Q Q H. +E E Q. E Q. E
|----------------|---------------||---------------||----------------|
|----------------|---------------||---------------||----------------|
|----------------|-----------7\--||---------------||-5----5-5----0--|
|-(5)---5-5----5-|-5----5-5------||-5-------(5)-5-||----------------|
Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E Q E E E E E E Q. E Q. E
|---------------|---------------|----------------|----------------|
|---------------|---------------|----------------|----------------|
|---------------|---------------|----------------|----------------|
|-2----2-2----2-|-3----3-3----3-|-3----3-3-3---3-|-5----5-5----5--|
4th Verse
Q. E Q. E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E Q. E Q E S S
|---------------|---7---7---7---7-|---7---7---7---7-||-----------------|
|---------------|-----------------|-----------------||-------------4-4-|
|---------------|-5---5---5---5---|-5---5---5---5---||-5----5-5--------|
|-5----5-5----5-|-----------------|-----------------||-----------------|
Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. E E E E E E E E E
|---------------|---------------|-----------------|
|-4----4-4----4-|-5----5-5------|-5---4---2-------|
|---------------|-------------5-|-----------5-----|
|---------------|---------------|---------------5-|
+Q. E Q. E Q. E Q. S S
|----------------|------------------||
|----------------|-7----------------||
|--------------7-|------------------||
|-(5)---5-5------|------5-5----5-0--||
Outro
E E E E. S E E E Q E E E. S E E Q E E E E E E Q E E E E E E
||-------------------|-----------------|----------------|----------------|
||o------------------|-----------------|--------------3-|----------7---6-|
||o-5---5-5--5-5-5-4-|-3----3-3--3-----|----------------|-1----1-0-------|
||-------------------|-------------3-2-|-1----1-1-1-----|------------4---|
E E E E. S E E E Q E E E. S S S E Q. E Q E E Q Q E E E E 3x
|------------------|--------5--5-------|---------------|---------5---6--||
|------------------|------5------------|---------------|---------------o||
|-5---5-5--5-0-5-4-|-3-----------------|-------------3-|-1--1--3---4---o||
|------------------|-------------3-3-2-|-1----1-1------|----------------||Duration Legend
---------------
W - whole; H - half; Q - quarter; E - 8th; S - 16th; T - 32nd; X - 64th; a - acciaccatura
+ - note tied to previous; . - note dotted; .. - note double dotted
Uncapitalized letters represent notes that are staccato (1/2 duration)
Irregular groupings are notated above the duration line
Duration letters will always appear directly above the note/fret number it represents the
duration for. Duration letters with no fret number below them represent rests. Multi-
bar rests are notated in the form Wxn, where n is the number of bars to rest for. Low
melody durations appear below the staff
Tablature Legend
----------------
h - hammer-on
p - pull-off
b - bend
pb - pre-bend
r - bend release (if no number after the r, then release immediately)
/\ - slide into or out of (from/to "nowhere")
s - legato slide
S - shift slide
- natural harmonic
[n] - artificial harmonic
n(n) - tapped harmonic
~ - vibrato
tr - trill
T - tap
TP - trem. picking
PM - palm muting
\n/ - tremolo bar dip; n = amount to dip
\n - tremolo bar down
n/ - tremolo bar up
/n\ - tremolo bar inverted dip
= - hold bend; also acts as connecting device for hammers/pulls
<> - volume swell (louder/softer)
x - on rhythm slash represents muted slash
o - on rhythm slash represents single note slash
Misc Legend
-----------
| - bar
|| - double bar
||o - repeat start
o|| - repeat end
*| - double bar (ending)
: - bar (freetime)
$ - Segno
& - Coda
Tempo markers - = BPM(8/16=s8/s16), where s8 = swing 8ths, s16 = swing 16ths