Guitar tab for "He was a friend of mine" by the Grateful dead?

Question

Very early - it's on the boxed set and the 2-CD 'Birth of the Dead'.

Answer 1

Hey Jim.  I'm familiar with the tune.  I pulled it up on my iTunes library to provide inspiration while I searched for the tab.   While I didn't find any tab, I found out via wikipedia and deaddisc.com that the what the Dead actually performed was a section of a song called "Just A Hand to Hold" by Mark Spoelstra.  Search for that tab was fruitless as well.

So i pounded out the chords.  It wasn't too hard.  My only problem is I can;t get the chords to line up over the lyrics properly without putting a bunch of dots as place holders.  It looks fine when I type it but when I preview it it's all goofed up.  So you're gonna probably have to write it out on your own again while listening to the recording.

G......Bm.......D.....C............  ..........G                  

Heeeeeeeeee was He was a friend of mine

G......Bm....... D... C ...............    ....D

Heeeeeeeeee was He was a friend of mine

C.........   .........   ....... G   C D C G C D C

Now he's dead and gone

G

This morning my best friend

C                           D

Was sleeping in his bed

C                          D

His face was like a jewel

                  G    C D C

And he was dead

G        Bm     D     C                        G   C D C

Heeeeeeeeee was He was a friend of mine

G        Bm     D     C                        D

Heeeeeeeeee was He was a friend of mine

C                           G    C D C G C D C

Now he's dead and gone

Solo (these are the chords underneath what jerry's playing.  Just keep listening to the tune to get the feel)

G D C G (G) D C D G

G

He liked to play games

                C                      D

(Maude??) push me on the swing

              C                                    D

(Maude?) push me on the merry-go-round

                       G      C D C

Goin' round and round

G   Bm       D

Heeeeeeee he was

C                        D

He was a friend of mine

C                          G    C G C G C

Now he's dead and gone

G        Bm     D     C

Heeeeeeeeee was He was a friend of mine