Since Cat Stevens is the reason I picked up the guitar in the first place (an Ovation no less, signed by Alun Davies), I decided a while ago to go through his entire repertoire again and transcribe all the classic songs that I like and always wanted to play properly.

A few dozen guitar tabs later, I now collect them all in one place, with more tabs to come, at

https://catstevensguitar.wordpress.com.

Feel free to stop by!

I also further refined the look and feel of the site to make it more accessible. I hope you like it!

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Cat Stevens Ad 1.jpg (48KB - 1 downloads)

The song Don't Be Shy is now up on the site fully tabbed.

Oh Very Young is now up on the site.

Getting all the intricate detail of the song down was time-consuming to say the least.

I've been digging a lot of Steve's demo tapes lately, so here we go with the most recently transcribed The Day They Make Me Tsar (Demo).

While I took the site down from public view, I also finished tabbing Can This Be Love? (Demo).

Other tabs on the site have been further revised and touched up as usual.

I took some time off today to transcribe the iconic I Love My Dog (1966), Cat Stevens' first single.

The Katmandu tablature got further revised (here especially the interlude) thanks to recent live footage.

I've uploaded the tablature of Another Saturday Night to the site - Cat Stevens's cover of a Sam Cooke song. Enjoy!

I'm happy to announce that the guitar tab for Bonfire (1977) is now up on the site. To my knowledge, it has never been transcribed by fans before. This a good one for our electric O players as well. Happy playing y'all!

Blackness of the Night, Steve's folkie protest song from 1967, made it onto the site fully tabbed. The intro was the tricky part...

Back to the Good Old Times (1965), Steve's first successful pop tune and a very rare gem, got the tab treatment on the site. Be sure to check it out!

One Day at a Time (2006) has now been added. This marks the first time a Yusuf song made it fully tabbed onto the site, which I had planned to do for a long time now.

New song is up: Thinking 'Bout You (2009)

New guitar tab: If Only Mother Could See Me Now (Demo)

One of those early demos Steve recorded somewhere between NEW MASTERS and MONA BONE JAKON and which he slaved away at East London Recordings. While on the face the song deals with a man’s dream of flying (like an angel), its moral is ever so strongly influenced by Christianity’s guiding idea of perfecting Man by overcoming one’s devilish tendencies and develop into a higher character in order to eventually embrace one’s angelic qualities.

New guitar tab: Sad Lisa

One of the most beautiful ballads for piano there is, “Sad Lisa” is perhaps as much about a real fan of Steve’s as it is about himself really. The grand piano was run through an Hammond organ amp (called a Leslie) with its rotating speakers giving the whole a more dreamy, watery sound. Steve worked out the main riff upstairs on the piano alone at home until the song eventually started flowing and becoming its very own thing. Capoing up the guitar at the 7th fret gets surprisingly close to the piano original while keeping the whole thing playable. I have also included Alun Davies’ original guitar solo from the Majikat Earth Tour 1976 (capoed and uncapoed version) for the instrumental verse.

Perhaps a good opportunity to get a guitar tab out for First Cut.

New guitar tab: The Tramp (1967)

Just Steve’s guitar, bass, and a single trumpet make up all the accompaniment. This is perhaps why “The Tramp” seems closer in style to his later work than most of his other early songs. The transcription wasn’t without issues since there’s so little reference material out there to work with. You’ll probably find that play-wise it’s very Cat Stevens.

Boy with a Moon and Star on His Head (1972)

 An acoustic magnum opus, "Boy" has one of the most fleshed-out fantastical story Steve ever told in his songs. Given the scope of the work and in order to keep the tablature compact and readable, I had to forego some of the intricacies of how the song is played since it varies from verse to verse, motif to motif. In the latter half, for instance, the filler bits get much shorter each time the riff ends. Overall this tablature should give a good idea, though, what Steve was aiming for acoustically and should capture Steve's fingerpicking style very accurately.

Newest guitar tab: I've Got A Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old (1970)

“Grandson” was written during Steve’s transitional phase from big-band arrangements—his first career—to a softer, more reflective type of song—his second career starting with the original album MONA BONE JAKON (1970)—that came closer in sound to his own demos. Ultimately, the song ended up on the cutting floor for that album and remained in the archives of Olympic Studios, London, for 30 years until in the 2000s it got released (in various mixes) on two compilation albums only. The song features Steve’s own, prominent licks, without relying on session men anymore, as was often the case during his first career. In the chorus Steve does an unusual Buddy Holly impression, singing “Grow old, oh_____. Oh___________.”

New guitar tab: You Can Do (Whatever)! (2017)

While deceptively simple due to the employment of a capo on guitar, the song is rather the result of highly sophisticated composing. One wouldn't be wrong to state that the song consist of only chorus lines trumping each other.

New guitar tab: Where Are You? (1969)

https://catstevensguitar.wordpress.com/other-songs/where-are-you/

“Where Are You” serves as a swan song marking the start of the end of the cooperation with producer Mike Hurst under the Decca label. While it failed to land in the charts, it stands as one of Steve’s favorite track from that time with its tamer overall arrangement uncharacteristic of Hurst’s prescribed sound of that time. Its classical character is reminiscent of song arrangements heard in musicals. The influences of the melancholy French genre are apparent, not only in the lyrics. Its simplified arrangement serves as a look into the things to come for Steve starting with Mona Bone Jakon.

New guitar tab:

I Wish, I Wish (1970)

With the advent of his second career and with it his new album MONA BONE JAKON (1970), Steve charted onto a new spiritual journey, and his growing sense of enlightenment is perfectly reflected in the lyrics of this song. Musically, this is a very catchy gigging song that keeps on rolling, one that guitarists can perhaps appreciate the most. 

An amazing labor of love leonardmccoy! Just wanted to let you know that the above link is not working properly. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, Arumako. Unfortunately, I can't correct the link anymore, so here's the correct one:

https://catstevensguitar.wordpress.com/mona-bone-jakon/i-wish-i-wish/

New guitar tab:

Rubylove (1971)

Had I known before how complicated the song structure would turn out to be, I would probably have let this one go. This marks Cat's second song in Open E (besides the sublime "If I Laugh"), and it's a tour de force no doubt. Be sure to get the time signature down first (see notes at bottom). With this one tabbed out, I have the complete Teaser & the Firecat album as guitar tabs on the site now. Yay!

Cat wanted to introduce his Greek influences into his music, and so some friends of his father, who ran a Greek restaurant, came down to the studio to play on the record with their bozoukis. Alun's daughter, then four years old, asked Cat to sing "the Rubylove song" and so the name stayed, but he song was originally called "Who'll Be My Love?" and did not contain the Greek verse until later. Together with "If I Laugh", this song is a tour de force through all kinds of Open E voicings. Even the advanced player will have to overcome the unusual time signature of the song first so be sure to read the bottom notes on rhythm first.