'Mystery' by Indigo Girls - Guitar Tutorial

            #----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
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#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#


MYSTERY (Emily Saliers)
-----------------------
[The chords written down here are Amy's, more or less.  She plays either
 a 12-string or high-strung guitar (which is basically a 12-string with the
 bigger strings removed).  Some fingerings are at the end.]
[Emily's guitar is tuned DADGAD, so most of her chords actually have A and
 D notes in them: G becomes G(9), A becomes A7sus4, Em becomes Em7(4), etc.
 Buy the _Swamp_Ophelia_ songbook if you want Emily's chord fingerings.]
[Each chord, or pair of chords joined by hyphens, is one 6/8 measure.]

Dmaj9    G    D  -   Dsus4   D   -   Dsus9    Dmaj9    G    D - Gm   D
[intro]      (Handed down or made by hand)

Dmaj9                         G
Each time you'd pull down the driveway
              D     -      Dsus4     D
I wasn't sure when I would see you again
            Em7                      G  -  A7sus4
Yours was a twisted, blind-sided highway
                D      -      Gm     D
No matter which road you took then

       Dmaj9                      G
Oh you set up your place in my thoughts
                     D     -      Dsus4     D
Moved in and made my thinking crowded
                      Em7                      D/F#
Now we're out in the back with the barking dogs
                 G                        A7sus4      A7
My heart the red sun, your heart the moon clouded

           G                       A
I could go crazy on a night like tonight
                   D   -    D/C#       Gmaj7/B
When summer's beginning to give up her fight
               G                 A
And every thought's a possibility
               D     -    D/C#       D7/C
And voices are heard, but nothing is seen
           G                      A
Why do you spend this time with me
          G  -  A      D - Dsus4   D
May be an equal mystery

So what is love then
Is it dictated or chosen (handed down or made by hand)
Does it sing like the hymns of a thousand years
Or is it just pop emotion (handed down or made by hand)

And if it ever was there, and it left
Does it mean it was never true
And to exist it must elude
Is that why I think these things of you

But I could go crazy on a night like tonight
When summer's beginning to give up her fight
And every thought's a possibility
And voices are heard, but nothing is seen
Why do you spend this time with me
May be an equal mystery

                     C9
Oh, but you like the taste of danger
   C9                 D   -   Dsus4      D
It shines like sugar on your lips
                  C9                   C9
And you like to stand in the line of fire
              Em7                             D7/C
Just to show you can shoot straight from your hip
                G                         Gm
There must be a thousand things you would die for
      D  -   D/C#     Gmaj7/B
I can hardly think of two
                   Em7                D/F#
But not everything is better spoken aloud
              G             A7sus4    A7
Not when I'm talking to you


        Dmaj9                               G
Oh, the pirate gets the ship and the girl tonight
                      D   -    Dsus4     D
Breaks a bottle to christen her
               Em7                  G  -  A7sus4
Basking in the exploits of her thief
               D    -     Gm     D
She's a very good listener

                 Dmaj9                  G
And maybe that's all that we need is to meet in the middle
          D  -  Dsus4    D
Of impossibility
             Em7          
Standing at opposite poles
      G      -      A        D  -  Dsus4     D
Equal partners in a mystery
                   Em7          
We're standing at opposite poles
      G      -      A       D  -  Dsus4    D  -  Dsus4    D  -  Gm    D.
Equal partners in a mystery


AMY'S CHORDS:
Dmaj9: x00220     G: 320033     Gm: xx0333     A7sus4: x02030
D/C#: x40232     Gmaj7/B: x20032     D7/C: x30232
C9: x32330 (actually x32333, but can _you_ play that?)
(The rest should be pretty standard.)


If you want to get that jangly 12-string kind of sound on an ordinary
6-string,  put a capo at the 5th fret and transpose everything to the
key of A.  Then, try using these for some of your chord fingerings:

 Amaj9      D(9)         A      As2s4        A      As2s4
x02100     x00230     x07650 - x07700     x07650 - x07700
[intro]
 Amaj9      D(9)        A       Dm(9)        A
x02100     x00230     x02220 - x03230     x02220
[intro]

Later in the song, the only suggestions I have are 32320x for G9,
and x02220 x02120 x00252 (A Amaj7 D(9)) instead of A A/G# Dmaj7/F#.




- Adam Schneider, schneider@pobox.com