love theme from the godfather

7/28/2019 Love Theme From the Godfather

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Love Theme from The Godfather by Nino Rota

Tabbed by Mick Killick, July 2009 (See below for a key to the tab)

M.M. = circa 85

4/4 1 2 3

3'' 4 5 | 5> 4 5 4 5> 4 3' 4> | 3'' 3'' 4 5 | 5> 4 5 4 5> 4 3' 3'' |

1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |

4 5 6 7

2 2 3' 4' | 5> 2 3' 4' | 4 1 2'' 4> | 3' 3'' 4> 3' 3' 3'' 3'' 1' |

1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |

8 9 10 11

1 4 4 4' | 4> 5> 4 3' | 3'' 3'' 3'' 3''' | 2 2 3' 3''' |

1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 2 3 & 4 & | 1 2 3 & 4 & |

12 13 14

3'' 3'' 4 5 | | 1 ^ | 1 \ \ \ |

Repeat bars 1 to 7

1 2 3 & 4 & | | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |


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Key To The Note Tab

This is the same as that used by Mike Quill on his site at:

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/Harmonica.html

I've added a few symbols to notate some common harp techniques and conventions that could otherwise

be written using manuscript, for example, grace notes, glissandi and rests (silence). My additions

are followed here by an asterisk.

\ : silence for a beat or part of a beat (really, just a note with zero cycles per second) *

1 : the hole to be played

2 : a draw note

2< : also a draw note (can be used to remove ambiguity) *

2> : a blow note

123 : a draw chord (no spaces between the numbers)

123> : a blow chord

' : a half step bend, e.g. 3'

'' : a whole step bend, e.g. 10>''

''' : a step and one half bend, e.g. 3'''

# : an overblow or overdraw, e.g. 6># or 7#

~ : a dip bend, e.g. ~4 or 4~

~~ : a slow bend, i.e. portamento, e.g. 2'' ~~ 2' *

& : a tongue block, e.g. 1&4>

/ : a slur, e.g. 4/5 or 4/3 or 4/35> (let in a bit of the hole(s) following the slash)

% : a tongue slap, e.g. %3 or 3%6>

%% : a flutter tongue, e.g. 2%%5

= : a warble, e.g. 4=5

^ : a tied note, e.g. 2 ^ | 2 or 2 | ^ 2 (play both 2 draws as one continuous note, in thiscase syncopating 2 draw over the bar line) *

[] : glissandi and grace notes, e.g. [4 3 2] 1 (4 to 2 draw are squeezed in quickly) *

One more example: [123>] ^ 2>, e.g. play 123 blow then quickly tighten your embouchure to

leave just 2 blow. Note how 2 blow has been tied to stress that it's not repeated.

The key to the rhythm tab is on the next page.


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Key To The Rhythm Tab

As Mike Quill points out on the site referred to above, What tab doesn't show is timing and

rhythm... which is why I use the system described here.

It's not really 'my' system; rather, it's just an extension of the way I was taught to count in the

piano lessons I took as a kid. If you ever took music lessons, the chances are you'll already be

familiar with most of this.

12/8, 4/4, etc : time signatures (shuffle time, straight time, etc)

| : a bar line

1 2 3 4 : counting beats

1 & 2 & : counting beats divided into two (straight time)

1 & a 2 & a : counting beats divided into three (shuffle time)

1 a & a : counting beats divided into four (straight time)

1 a & a & a : counting beats divided into six (shuffle time)

If you want to show irregular divisions of the beat, i.e. writing triplets in straight time or

duplets in shuffle time, just do exactly that:

4/4 1 & a 2 & 3 & a 4 & |

The presence of the beats 1 2 3 4 should make your meaning clear.

I've not attempted to notate anything more complex than what is shown here; or, rather, I did, but

the system becomes almost unreadable. Nevertheless, you don't have to notate every part of the

rhythm. You can always do something like this and leave the rhythm to be inferred from the placement

of the notes above the rhythm:

12/8

6> 5 4 4' 4> 3' 2 2'' ^ 2'' 2 3' 4' ^ 4' 4> 3/4' | 2 |

1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a | 1 2 3 4 |

If you look at the passage, it's clear enough where the notes are to be played in relation to the

beat. Also, see how twice a note has been tied (see Key To The Note Tab above) using ^ to stress

that it's not repeated and to help clarify where the notes should be played; this is exactly what

you can do in conventional notation, you just can't type the curved symbol that's used so I use an

angular one instead.

So, that's about it. Providing that you always mark the beats then you should be able to notate

rhythms on a computer keyboard in such a way that the rhythm can be interpreted without having to

actually know the tune first.

Just remember that you have to write the notes above the relevant part of the beat using a Teletype

or 'fixed space' font, e.g. that used in Notepad. So, a dotted rhythm in straight time on the 2 draw

would look like this:

4/4

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 |

1 a & a 2 a & a 3 a & a 4 a & a |

Or, if the second and third parts of each beat were to be silent, i.e. the first note of each beat

is staccato, then just use the backslash (for silence) on those parts of the beat:

4/4

2 \ \ 2 2 \ \ 2 2 \ \ 2 2 \ \ 2 |

1 a & a 2 a & a 3 a & a 4 a & a |

That's about as complex as it gets.

love theme from the godfather

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