Anyone ever learn to play "Spirit"?

[jjtrain]

There's a song by John Denver, titled "Spirit" that appears on three of his albums. In my opinion, it's one of the best songs he ever wrote. That said, I can't find any tabs or even the chords for the song. I tried to look on Youtube for his live performances of the song, but the video (from the 70's) is too grainy to see where John's hands are going on the fret board. Furthermore, all the other instruments accompanying John during the song is screwing with my tuner, so I can't get a clear reading on what chords are being played. In fact, all I've been able to figure out is that John isn't picking, but is strumming like a mad man with three fingerpicks normally used on banjos.

So, has anyone ever deciphered this song, or remember seeing anywhere online the lyrics with chords or tabs? This really is a song that would be a joy to play.

--James

[LeftArm]

There's a chord and lyric sheet here:

http://spikesmusic-folk.spike-jamie....hn-Denver.html

I couldn't tell you whether it is accurate or not.

[jjtrain]

Thanks, the chords seem accurate enough. One thing though, what the heck is a "D/A", "A/G#", and an "A/E" chord? My chord book doesn't have them at all, unless these chords go by a different name. I've got the majors, minors, diminished, augmented, seventh, ninth, and sixth chords as well as a few blues/jazz chords. But nothing labeled like these above.

Also, thank you for the link to this site, it's got almost everything John Denver played during his career.

--James

[mr. beaumont]

Just a bass note under a chord. Probably during some "walk ups or downs" in fingerpicking.

So a D/A is a D chord with an A as the lowest note, etc.

[Montag311]

One clarification on those chords. Wherever it says AM7, make sure to play Amaj7. Maybe the capital M means major, but when I see AM7, I think A minor 7.

[mr. beaumont]

This reminds me of a guy I played with one time...all handwritten charts, capital M's for maj7, lowercase m's for m7...but all of his "M's" had curvy tops!

Thank goodness the tunes were pretty straightforward and I could guess what he meant rather easily!