Chord/Tab song: Love Ain't No Stranger

majakobs@news.abo.fi (Markus Jakobsson FIN)

WHITESNAKE-
"LOVE AIN'T NO STRANGER" (Transcribed by Markus Jakobsson)

A-Intro/First Verse

The song begins with (Jon Lord's) wonderful keyboards. The keyboard parts
mainly outline these chord changes, that could be strummed if you don't play
with a keyboard player.

Who knows where the cold wind blows? I ask my friends, but nobody knows...
| | | | | | | |
[D/F#] [G] [A] [Bm] [D/F#][G][A][Bm]
Who am I to believe in love? Oh, oh, oh. Love ain't no stranger...
| | | | | |
[D/F#] [G] [A] [Bm] [Bm][A]
B-Second Verse

The acoustic guitar enters, arpeggiating the same chords(almost). It is pos-
soble that the slide in the Bsus2 chord should be a hammer-on. It is also
possible that I just have tin ears, but I do think I hear SOME sort of grace
note there. Anyway, it is just a detail, so if the fingering is tricky to you,
forget it.NOTE: What I call "dive bomb" slide has nothing to do with the thing
you do with the whammy bar. I just don't know what else you call those long,
fast slides down the low E-string.

[-Rhythm Fig.1--------------] Strum chords and let ring.
|-----------|---------------| Played 5 times, |----------|-0------------|
|---------3-|-------------2-| and then... |-0--------|-2------------|
|---2----0--|---2------s-4--| |-4--------|-2------------|
|--0----0---|--2----(2)/4---| |-4--------|-2------------|
|-----------|-0---2---------| |-2--------|-0------------|
|-2---3-----|---------------| |----------|---------xxxxx|

Verse 2:(with rhy.fig1) xxxElectric guitars enters,
I looked around, and what did I see? with a "dive bomb slide"
Broken hearted people staring at me...
All searching 'cause they still believe.. Oh, oh, oh...Love ain't no
stranger!!!
C-Main Riff/Third Verse

()These notes are there, but I can't make out if they are played by the
hammond or another guitar. They don't have to be played by this guitar, anyway.

[-Rhythm Fig2----------------------------------------------------------------]
|------------|------------|-------------|-----------|---------|--------------|
|-(3-2-3)----|-(3-2-3)----|-(3-2-3)-----|-----------|-------With- drum-fills-|
|--4-2-4-----|--4-2-4-----|--4-2-4----2-|-----------|---------|-2------------|
|--4-2-4-----|--4-2-4-----|--4-2-4----2-|----2------|-(2)-----|-/---(2)------|
|--2-0-2-----|--2-0-2-----|--2-0-2----0-|----2------|-(2)-----|-4---(2)----s-|
|------------|------------|-------------|----0------|-(0)-----|-----(0)--xxxx|

Let E5-chord ring
Make sure to nail that staccato rhythm, and to shake that last B5-chord in
every bar a little. (Maybe it would make more sense to place the 2/4 bar
after the A5-chord, but that's one for the music theory guys to think about.)

[-Rhythm Fig. 3---------------------------------------------------------------]
|---------------|------------------|-----------------------|------------------|
|---------------|------------------|-------------------3---|------------------|
|-------4-2-4---|----------4-2-4---|-------------------2---|----------4-2-4---|
|-------4-2-4---|----------4-2-4---|--------2----------0---|----------4-2-4---|
|-------2-0-2---|----------2-0-2---|--------2--------------|----------2-0-2---|
|---------------|------------------|--------0--------------|------------------|

Verse 3:
I was alone,And I needed love. So much I'd sacrifice for all I was dreaming of.

(With Rhy.fig3)

I heard no warning, but a heart can tell... I feel the emptiness of love I know
so well...

D-Chorus.

Those slighly muted G5-Chords are the key to the fat, chunky sound. I don't
really remember if those "extra" chunks on the open and fifth fret of the A-
string really are on the record, but experiment with 16th-note chunks there.
It can sound very cool...

[Rhy.fig.4---------------------------------------------play-two-times------]
|------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------------|
|-Slight-Palm-Muting---------------|-----------------|-------------------|
|-------------7--2-|-(2)-------------|-----------7---7-|---2---------------|
|--5----5-7-p2-|-(2)-------------|-------7-pp7-|-pp2---------------|
|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-00-|-(0)-------------|-p-5-5-5-5-5-555-|-000---------------|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3------|-----------------|-3-3-3-3-3-------|-------------------|

Let Chord Ring.
Chorus: Love ain't no stranger... I ain't no stranger...
Love ain't no stranger... I ain't no stranger to
with Ry.Fig2.

[----------4-----------]

love... no ,no ,no...
E-Fourth Verse

With Rhy.fig.3 ( 2 times)
Can't hold the passion, of a soul in need...
I look for mercy when my heart begins to bleed.
I've known good loving, I'm a friend of pain.
But when I read between the lines it's all the same...

F-Second Chorus

with Rhy.Fig4

[--------8----------]

Love ain't no stranger.
I ain't no stranger.
Love ain't no stranger.
I ain't no stranger to love...

E-Guitar Solo

The rhythm part behind the solo is a semi-distorted electric, playing a pro-
gression almost like the one in Rhythm Figure 1. The chords are the same, but
I think they are arpeggiated a little differently. Play that, and nobody will
notice. The solo is a slow beautiful melody thing, that should not be hard to
figure out. I haven't transcribed it, since I work out my own leads for the co-
ver tunes I learn.(Try it, it's great fun).The last three bars of the rhythm
part goes something like this.

|-----------|----|-----|
|--3--3-----|----|-----| Then the song comes back to rhythm figure 1.
|--2--0---2-|-2--|-(2)-|
|--0--0---2-|-2--|-(2)-| [--------8---------]
|---------0-|-0--|-(0)-|
|--2--3-----|----|-----| With Verse 1. "Lord have mercy...

Love ain't no stranger!!!"
F-Agressive part.(Dunno what else to call it)
Play this part aggressively(Why do I keep giving these instructions? You know
how the record sounds. Oh, well...).

with Ry.fig2, 1,5 times, then... |------------|-----|------------|
[-----6------] |------------|-----|------------|
|-4-2-4----2-|-(2)-|--9-7-9-----|
|-4-2-4----2-|-(2)-|--9-7-9-----|
|-2-0-2----0-|-(0)-|--7-5-7-----|
|------------|-----|--------xxxx|

G-Fifth Verse/Last Chorus.
w.Rhy.fig3 (two times)

[-------8--------]

I was alone, and I needed love.
So much I'd sacrifice for all I was dreaming of.
Can't hold the passion of a soul in need.
I look for mercy when my heart begin to bleed.

w.rhy.fig4 (two times)

[------8---------]

H-Outro

Turn down the volume knob on your guitar a bit for this tone. This is mainly
Rhythm Figure 1, again with some different arpeggiations.

w.Rhy.Fig1

[-----6-----] |-----------|----------|-----|
|-3--3------|----------|-----|
|-2--0----2-|-2----4-4-|-(4)-|
|-0--0----2-|-2----4-4-|-(4)-|
|---------0-|-0----2-2-|-(2)-|
|-2--3------|----------|-----|

"I ain't no stranger..."

There we are. I hope I haven't forgotten anything, but I'm too sick of this
machine to double check anything. If something is missing, or if something is
unclear, mail me. If the guy who requested this song still needed it and found
it useful, I would appreciate it if he mailed me and let me know. That goes for
everyone else who finds use for it as well. It is always nice to get some feed-
back.
"Well I got this guitar,
and I learned how to make it talk..."
-Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"-

[MAC](majakobs@aton.abo.fi)