Prodigal Son – Rolling Stones

>From the album ‘Beggars Banquet’

Traditional

Tabbed by Koen van der Drift

Tune your guitar in open E or open D with a capo at the 2nd position. I prefer

the last one, because of the lower string tension, so the strings don’t break

that easily. The TAB is for open E. Only the basic chord shapes are shown. But

this should get you on the way. Remember to listen to the record to get the

right groove. The song is very repetitive and once you got the feel, it’s very

easy!

Have fun,

– Koen.

[—]  

open E tuning

Intro:

E —————-3–0————
B ———————0———-
G# ———————–1p0-0—-
E -3-0—0—0——————–
B —–3————————–
E ———3———————-

The following two chords are played in a very fast strumming pattern. Do not

play all six strings all the time, but damp them with you right hand. Every

other bar a little riff is played.

E -0-0- —0—-0——0- -0-0- —0—-0——0- -(0-0-0-0)- -0-0-
B -0-2- —–0h2—0h2— -0-2- —–0h2—0h2— -(2-2-3-4)- -0-2-
G# -0-1- —————– -0-1- —————– -(1-1)—– -0-1-
E -0-0- —————– -0-0- —————– -(0-0-0-0)- -0-0-
B -0-2- —————– -0-2- —————– 0h2-2-3-4– -0-2-
E -0-X- -0————— -0-X- -0————— ———– -0-X-

–(1)— means not necessarily played

Now the singing starts, with the following basic pattern accompanying the

singing. The strumming rhythm ‘follows’ the voice, and I show only the ‘chords’

played.

The poor boy took his father’s bread and started down the road

E –3—0————3—0—————3—————0–
B –2—0————2—0—————2—————0–
G# -(0)-(0)———-(0)-(0)————-(0)————-(0)-
E ———————————————————-
B ———————————————————-
E ———————————————————-

Started down the road Took all he had and started down the road

E –7—————0—– –0–0———————————–
B –9—————0—– –0–2———————————–
G# –8—————0—– –0–1———————————–
E ———————— –0–0———————————–
B ———————— –0–2———————————–
E ———————— –0–X———————————–

Goin’ out in this world where God only knows

E —0—-0——0- -0–0—————————————-
B —–0h2—0h2— -0–2—————————————-
G# —————– -0–1—————————————-
E —————– -0–0—————————————-
B —————– -0–2—————————————-
E -0————— -0–X—————————————-

And that will be the way to get along

E ————————————- —0——0——0—-
B —-(2)——(2)—-(3)—(4)——– ——0h2—0h2——-
G# —-(1)——(1)——————— ———————-
E —-(0)——(0)—-(0)—(0)——– ———————-
B —–2——–2——3—–4——— ———————-
E ————————————- -0——————–
E ————————————- —0——0——0—-
B —-(2)——(2)—-(3)—(4)——– ——0h2—0h2——-
G# —-(1)——(1)——————— ———————-
E —-(0)——(0)—-(0)—(0)——– ———————-
B —–2——–2——3—–4——— ———————-
E ————————————- -0——————–

The outtro chord is:

[–2—]  

G# [–3—]–0—

E ——
B ——
E ——

Sorry, no lyrics!