Studio Daze "With a Little Help From My Friends"

For this installment of "Studio Daze" we are going to cover what many to consider one of the best covers of a song ever recorded, Joe Cocker's version of The Beatles hit "With a Little Help From My Friends". The song was originally written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon in 1967 and was given to their drummer Ringo Starr to sing, aka "Billy Shears". The song was released as the second track on their seminal effort "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Joe Cocker an English blues singer entered the studio to record his own version of "With a Little Help From My Friends: the next year and was released on an album of the same name. Cocker's version has been slowed down to 6/8 timing, and included the accompaniment of a choir as well as more instrumental bombast. Cocker did have a backing band known as The Grease Band, but for the recording of this song, he elected to use studio musicians including Jimmy Page on guitar.

Joe Cocker at Woodstock

The song went #1 in the U.K. and helped to launch Cocker's career - he would later perform an indelible version of the song at the Woodstock Music and Arts festival the next year in 1969. Many people today would of course recognize this as the song played at the beginning of the 1980's television show "The Wonder Years".

I have loved this song for many many years, and was myself introduced to it through "The Wonder Years" when I was a kid. I was thrilled to find out Jimmy played guitar on it, and that I would get an opportunity to learn to play it through this blog, so lets get to it. I decided to use my Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro played through my Marshall Haze 40 Amplifier.

This song is a bit tricky, but with a little practice you can get it. So lets start with the intro, it looks a bit like this:

e|--13b15vvvvvv--12b14vvvvvv--10b12vvvvvv--|--------------------------|
b|-----------------------------------------|----8vvvvvvvv---7vvvvvvv--|
g|o---------------------------------------o|---10bvvvvvvv---9bvvvvvv--|
d|o---------------------------------------o|--------------------------|
a|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------|
e|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------|

e-----------------------------------3-------------------------------------|
b---5vvvvvvv------------------------3-----3-----2-------------------------|
g---7bvvvvvv---7b9r7p5---7---5vv----0-----2-----2-------------------------|
d----------------------7---7--------0-----0-----2-------------------------|
a-----------------------------------x-----0-----0----0--2---5h7p5--5---5--|
e-----------------------------------3--------------------------------7----|

e----------2------------|
b---3------3-----2------|
g---0------2-----2------|
d---0------0-----2------|
a---2------0-----0------|
e---3-------------------|

To begin the song play that first phrase three times bending the notes on the high E string up; the "v" symbol stands for vibrato so make sure to add that at the top of the bend. from there the song drops into a lower register in the intro and continues along. You can follow this tablature to figure out where to go. From the intro it goes into the verse which contains only bass, but I'll include the chords anyway:

A              E       Bm 
What would you do if I sang out of tune,  
          E            E7          A 
would you stand up and walk out on me? 
             E             Bm 
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song  
         E          E7          A   
and I'll try not to sing out of key.

After the verse the song launches into the chorus and Jimmy plays barred major chords in accompaniment:

A                 G                D            A 
Oh, I'm gonna get by with a little help from my friends. 
                    G                  D            A 
I just keep trying, high with a little help from my friends. 
                  G                  D            A 
I wanna get high, high with a little help from my friends. 
            G  D       A 
I just hold on with my friends.

From there is the next verse again just bass:

A         E          Bm  
What do I do when my love is away? 
        E            E7  A 
Does it worry you to be alone? Oh no! 
         E           Bm 
How do I feel by the end of the day ? 
        E                  E7      A 
Are you sad because you're on your own? (I don't get sad!)

Then back to the chorus and then a small bridge that looks like this:

A              F#m       A        G       A
Do you need anybody?...I need somebody to love. 
               F#m                 E 
Could it be anybody? All I need is someone, 
E7                     G          D       A
Lord, I need someone...I want somebody to love.

There is as you can hear a little intro in this bridge before the chords

e|-----------------------------------------|
b|-----------------------------------------|
g|o-------------3--------------------------|
d|o---------2---4--------------------------|
a|--0---4-------4--------------------------|
e|--------------2--------------------------|

So play that little riff before the questions (Do you need anybody) Then play it backwards before the answer (I need someone to love).

After the bridge, there is another chorus, followed by another verse:
Chorus:

A                 G                D            A 
Oh, I'm gonna get by with a little help from my friends. 
                    G                  D            A 
I just keep trying, high with a little help from my friends. 
                  G                  D            A 
I wanna get high, high with a little help from my friends. 
            G  D       A 
I just hold on with my friends.

Verse:

A           E          Bm 
Would you believe in a love at first sight? 
    E               E7              A 
I'm certain that it happens all the time. 
     E                   Bm 
What do you see when you turn out the light? 
        E                   E7        A     
I don't see too much, but I know it's mine.  

Then the chorus is played two more times until to end the song on a fadeout.

A                 G                D            A 
Oh, I'm gonna get by with a little help from my friends. 
                    G                  D            A 
I just keep trying, high with a little help from my friends. 
                  G                  D            A 
I wanna get high, high with a little help from my friends. 
            G  D       A 
I just hold on with my friends.

This is an awesome tune, a classic and a personal favorite, I hope you enjoy learning to play this one as much as I did. I always admired the guitar on it myself, and for a long time never knew it was the work of one Mr. Jimmy Page.

Cover of "With a Little Help From My Friends"