Anyone good at tabbing out songs on guitar?

[Hana Suarez]

Hopefully I put this post in the right category
I'm really quite terrible at playing songs by ear. Is there anyone who would be willing to tab out this song for me? I really want to learn it, it's one of my favourites but they're a really underrated band (about 3k plays on their most popular song on spotify) so there aren't any pre-existing tabs on any sites.
The song is Placate by A Band Called Hemingway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itlucRUTtE
If not, does anyone know other forums that might have people who enjoy doing this kinda thing? Thanks.

[Forgotten]

If you take the delay away, it sounds like it's pretty simple to play.

Never really tried to write guitar tabs, as I'd far rather score something as an exercise than write tab, but that would only be helpful to you if you read music.

You should try to figure it out - listen past the delay and you'll realize it's really not that difficult to play.

[BertKoor]

You can do it, start simple...
What's the first chord you think?
Or what have you considered but discarded? Why?

[Hana Suarez]

The reason it's a problem for me is because I can't identify chords by name, and vice versa. If you play a chord on guitar, can't tell you what it is. If I play a chord on guitar, I can't tell you what it is. Just don't know. Learned almost all songs by tab so I just follow which fingers to put on whatever frets.
My other main issue is that I don't know how to navigate the fretboard so that what I'm playing is both accurate and comfortable. For example, when you play the piano every note is there in front of you. But on guitar, you can play the same note in 3 different places. So I can hear every note in a picking sequence but don't particularly know where to play it on the fretboard.

[The Noodlist]

Delete.

[BertKoor]

Just wanted to check you're not having a laugh. Apparently not.

Can't spell out the riff for you then(it's a riff on the C chord) but the first verse is four bars of C, four bars F. Then two bars F (so please please) and C again (come home)

So there's just two chords here that make up the first 45 secs of this song: C and F.
Too bad I couldn't pull you over to have a go yourself.

For me this is easy like a toddlers toy with square, circular and triangular shapes to push through square, circular and triangular holes into the box. Just twelve tones, how hard can it be. But apparently our skills differ.

If the second & third verses are the same, we're done! Otherwise just ask.

[an-electric-heart]

I listened to a little bit, I think it's just E major then B major, and the delayed bit is just picking around G#minor barre chord... that's a super quick go at working in out, I didn't get it exactly, but that's a stating point.

[skipscada]

My suggestion: hold a typical B barré chord (224442) but pick only the four middle strings in this pattern:
--------------------------
------------------------3-
-----------3--------------
----4------------4-------
-2-----2-----2-----2----
--------------------------

Possibly this picking pattern is continued (and simplified/varied) but with the F# dropped to E (222442).

Then there's an E (0022100) and later a F# barré chord (2244322)?

Anyway, with these B, E and F# chords and the suggested picking pattern, you should be 90 % there.

[an-electric-heart]

Skipscoda's got it, forget what I said about G#minor, it's a B chord.

[skipscada]

A link for you if you want to take your guitar playing further and learn to transcribe guitar parts: https://www.justinguitar.com/

He has some tips specifically for transcribing plus some handy tools for ear training, music theory for guitarists etc.

[skipscada]

A clean digital delay pedal like Boss DD-3 will give you the sound. Don't expect to be able to make a clean and quick transition from the picked delay sound to the strummed overdriven sound when you play it live on your own. If you want to do some sort of solo acoustic version, you may need to get creative to make it work as a performance.

Oh, and notice how the bass guitar plays B then E in the verse. That combines with the picked guitar pattern to create a feeling of movement in the guitar pattern although that pattern practically stays the same (one note changed?). That's another thing to keep in mind if you try to make a solo acoustic version: accentuate the B, then the E in the bass. Strummed, you could do the verse like this: x24442 (B) and something like 022442 (EM7sus2, I think - complicated name for a simple chord).

[BertKoor]

Right, B instead of C and E instead of F. Everything half a note down of what I though.
That should teach me not checking it with an actual guitar.

Well, maybe they have tuned their guitars half a note lower

[skipscada]

Yes, the important thing is it's just a I-IV progression in the verse and IV-V returning to I in the chorus (I think - I only listened briefly). Adjust (with capo or whatever) to suit voice register.

[Forgotten]

The reason it's a problem for me is because I can't identify chords by name, and vice versa. If you play a chord on guitar, can't tell you what it is. If I play a chord on guitar, I can't tell you what it is. Just don't know. Learned almost all songs by tab so I just follow which fingers to put on whatever frets.
My other main issue is that I don't know how to navigate the fretboard so that what I'm playing is both accurate and comfortable. For example, when you play the piano every note is there in front of you. But on guitar, you can play the same note in 3 different places. So I can hear every note in a picking sequence but don't particularly know where to play it on the fretboard.

It would be worthwhile putting in the effort to learn how to name chords, at least the more common ones. Without being able to name them it makes communication difficult, but it really doesn't take much to learn them.

As for where to play a note on the guitar, it's not as hard as you think to figure out where to play it. Start with the lowest position on the guitar and see if that works, and if you have trouble playing something, switch to a higher position and see if that works. It's all about practice, and once you start it gets easier.

You really should start with learning chord names though, as it's a lot easier for someone to call out a chord name that it is to wait for them to tab something out.

[Hana Suarez]

Appreciate all the responses. After this will definitely be putting in the work to recognize these sorts of things.