Songnotes
the hand-crafted music library of @davidpots
Intro
C ... C → walk up → F F → walk down → C C → walk up → Em → G C ... C → walk up → F F → walk down → C C → walk up → G → C (see below for tabs)Verse
C F C Sometimes in our lives... we all have pain C Em G We all have sorrow C F C But if we are wise, we know that there's C G C Always tomorrow Lean on me when you're not strong And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on For it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on Please, swallow your pride If I have things you need to borrow For no one can fill those of your needs That you won't let showRefrain
C You just call on me, brother, when you need a hand G C We all need somebody to lean on I just might have a problem that you'll understand We all need somebody to lean on Lean on me when you're not strong And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on For it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on You just call on me, brother, when you need a hand We all need somebody to lean on I just might have a problem that you'll understand We all need somebody to lean on If there is a load You have to bear that you can't carry I'm right up the road, I'll share your load If you just call meOutro
G C Call me... Call me... Call me... Call me...
The basic chords you'll need to play this song can be played as shown below. You can easily abbreviate the F chord by omitting the highest and lowest strings (so it looks like x3321x, from lowest to highest).
e-|----0-----1-----0-----3---- B-|----1-----1-----0-----0---- G-|----0-----2-----0-----0---- D-|----2-----3-----2-----0---- A-|----3-----3-----2-----2---- E-|----------1-----0-----3---- C F Em G
The distinctive piano walk-up and walk-down riff heard during the intro and verse can be imitated on guitar as follows. There are many ways you could play this riff, but this is a good and simple version to start with.
e-|----0-------------------------------------0-------------------0---3---- B-|----1----------------1--------------------1-------------------0---0---- G-|----0----------------2--------------------0-------------------0---0---- D-|----2---------0--2---3--------3--2---0----2----------0---2----2---0---- A-|----3----3-----------3--------------------3-------3-----------2---2---- E-|--------------------------------------------------------------0---3---- C F C Em G "Sometimes in our lives... we all have pain... we all have sorrow" -|----0----------------------------------0------------------0---0---- -|----1-------------1--------------------1------------------0---1---- -|----0-------------2--------------------0------------------0---0---- -|----2------0--2---3-------3--2----0----2----------0----2--0---2---- -|----3---3---------3--------------------3-------3----------2---3---- -|----------------------------------------------------------3-------- C F C G C "But if we are wise... we know that there's al-ways tomorrow"
| C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | Em . G . | | C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | G . C . |
| C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | Em . G . | | C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | G . C . |
| C . . . | . . . . | . . . . | G . C . | | C . . . | . . . . | . . . . | G . C . |
| G . C . | (repeat)
Song: Lean On Me
Artist: Bill Withers
Album: Still Bill
Year: 1972
Label: Sussex
Want to support Songnotes? If you would like to donate a dollar or few, that would make my day. I've spent over 1000+ hours building this site and transcribing these songs -- and happily make everything available freely. Visit my PayPal page if you'd like to toss something back my way.
Thanks so much!
Here are some of the video lessons I have made recently. I typically aim to create 3-4 lessons per month. Subscribe on YouTube to be sure you never miss a new lesson.
View my notes & tabs for Dead Flowers →
View my notes & tabs for Issues →
View my notes & tabs for 2U →
View my notes & tabs for Uh Huh →
View my notes & tabs for Meet Me in the Hallway →
View my notes & tabs for Stairway to Heaven →
View my notes & tabs for Wish You Were Here →
View my notes & tabs for Shape of You →
View my notes & tabs for Simple Man →
View my notes & tabs for Highwayman →
View my notes & tabs for Audition (The Fools Who Dream) →
View my notes & tabs for Strangers →
View my notes & tabs for A Lovely Night →
View my notes & tabs for this song →
Here's a list of the 173 songs I've added to the site since December 2012. Each song was added by me personally.
Songs are grouped by the year they were released.
My name is David Potsiadlo, and I created Songnotes to share my collection of guitar tabs, chords, and lyrics for my favorite songs.
Since I started playing guitar over 10 years ago, I've often been frustrated by the preponderance of mediocre and incomplete song tabs littered across the internet. To combat this, I started keeping my own collection of notes for each song I learn -- always taking the extra time to make sure accuracy and completeness are never compromised. Years later, my collection grew to the point where I knew I had to share it online with fellow aspiring musicians.
In December 2012, I began designing & developing a website that became Songnotes. Here, I share my personal collection of hand-crafted music notation with all those online. I hope you enjoy.
You can also view my personal website or follow me on Twitter / Dribbble / GitHub / LinkedIn.
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