Transcription By: Michael J. Fromberger Composer, Guitarist Sting AT Dartmouth DOT EDU The chord outline for Message looks like this: Verse: C#add9 Aadd9 Badd9 F#add9 (sliding up to m3) :| "Chorus" 1 (I'll send an S.O.S....) A D E :| "Chorus" 2 (I hope that some one gets my...) F#m D :| "Chorus" 3 (Message in a bottle...) C#m A (repeat) resolve to F#m then back to verse. >From watching the old Police live tapes, you can see that Andy plays the add9 chords something like this: 1---------------------------------------------------------------------1 2---------------------------------------------------------------------2 3----------8-----------4----------6-----------------------------------3 4------6-----------2----------4--------------6-7----------------------4 5--4-----------0----------2--------------4----------------------------5 6------------------------------------2--------------------------------6 I recommend doing the troups of three with fingers 1, 3, 4. This way, you can slide up from 6-7 on the final chord with your pinky and your index will be in position over fret 4 to begin the cycle again. I recommend barres for the chorus chords, to reproduce the original feeling. Try the 5th position A and D, 7th position E, 2nd position F#m, and 4th position C#m. In article <1992May10.192811.23775@athena.cs.uga.edu> howard AT castor DOT cs DOT uga DOT edu (Les Howard) writes: >Does anyone have the TAB for Message In A Bottle. I think the guitar part >sounds real cool. While I'm at it does anyone have TAB for any other songs >by The Police? Thanks. > This is really reaching but I will try it anyway. I think the chords are c#m, A, B, f#m for the verse and then possibly c#m, A g#m or something like that for the chorus. When I played it with a band, my hand would ache after a short time because of the barre chords so I now play it like this (although I haven't played it for months, so I don't know if this is right): Verse (main riff) --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- ------------------------------------2-- -------14--------7-------9-------4----- ----14--------7-------9-------4-------- -12--------5-------7-------2----------- I don't remember how the chorus goes; I think I just strummed c#m, A, g#m and f#m (but hearing it in my head, that last chord sounds like it should be a seventh ???) One thing to keep in mind is that chorus sounds great on this but with a little distortion, the constant sliding around sounds pretty crappy if you don't muffle the strings. That is one problem I had anyway. I hope that helps. The chord outline for Message looks like this: Verse: C#add9 Aadd9 Badd9 F#add9 (sliding up to m3) :| "Chorus" 1 (I'll send an S.O.S....) A D E :| "Chorus" 2 (I hope that some one gets my...) F#m D :| "Chorus" 3 (Message in a bottle...) C#m A (repeat) resolve to F#m then back to verse. From watching the old Police live tapes, you can see that Andy plays the add9 chords something like this: 1---------------------------------------------------------------------1 2---------------------------------------------------------------------2 3----------8-----------4----------6-----------------------------------3 4------6-----------2----------4--------------6-7----------------------4 5--4-----------0----------2--------------4----------------------------5 6------------------------------------2--------------------------------6 I recommend doing the troups of three with fingers 1, 3, 4. This way, you can slide up from 6-7 on the final chord with your pinky and your index will be in position over fret 4 to begin the cycle again. I recommend barres for the chorus chords, to reproduce the original feeling. Try the 5th position A and D, 7th position E, 2nd position F#m, and 4th position C#m. Enjoy! -Michael -- Michael J. Fromberger | Composer, Guitarist | Sting AT Dartmouth DOT EDU | |