Elliott Smith – Half Right (Guitar)

This is another great Elliott Smith song from Heatmiser's final album, Mic City Sons. There's also a pretty good version on the New Moon album from '07. ---- You want to start out the song picking the G and B strings, B first, playing an Em7. Listen to the recording and this should be pretty easy to figure out. On the 11th beat, start picking the D string, too. Again, listen to the song and this will be easy to figure out. Go for 5 more beats and then switch to A and add in the A string. Again, use either version (the acoustic Smith one or the Heatmiser one) for reference here. Then finally hit C and keep doing the same thing. When I'm about to go into the first verse, I always briefly hold down the third fret of the high E to get that sound you hear Elliott playing at the same point in the Heatmiser version. I have no idea what he actually does in the song, but any little lick you can think of should sound good. After this, you repeat it again. If you're playing with a full band, (drums, bass, etc.) this is where everything else except vocals should come in as evident in the recording. When I play the song alone I skip the repeat and play G, A, and C instead. Now, the chords:

G                                    Em7
   Well, you shouldn't talk to yourself

                             A
Well, I pictured somebody else

                        C
Someone that looks like

What I look like

G                                    Em7
  Would you say that one of your dreams

                                 A
Got in you and ripped out the seams?

                    C
That's what I'd say

G                                  Em7
  He was a sucker for your double-dose

                                 A
Motherfucker turned white as a ghost

                C
Don't you say hi

Don't you say hi

G                           Em7
  With a broken sink for a face

                                A
And a head that just takes up space

                 C
He's not half right

He's not half right

Dsus2         Em
It's already half past

A7sus4        Cadd9
And it won't last

*intro picking*

G                            Em7
  I was sticking up for my friend

                                A
When there's nothing much to defend

               C
It's a lost fight

It's a lost fight

G                                    Em7
  'Cause when I talk to you on the phone

                             A
Well, it's just like being alone

                 C
It's not half right

It's not half right (Repeat the intro to end.) ---- The version in the link was tabbed by this kid: