Jeff Beck - Cause We've Ended As Lovers - Guitar Tab

Blow By Blow

1975 5:42

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About Cause We've Ended As Lovers

Few instrumental guitar pieces demand as much expressive control as this one. Written by Stevie Wonder and recorded by Jeff Beck for the 1975 album Blow By Blow, the track is essentially a slow vocal melody played entirely on guitar, which means every note has to sing the way a voice would. In G major and at 120 BPM, the tempo feels unhurried, but that spaciousness is exactly what makes it unforgiving: there is nowhere to hide a note that lacks feeling. The challenge is not speed or complexity but sustain, vibrato, and the subtle bending of notes to mimic a human inflection. Playing in E Standard tuning, you will want to focus on your fretting hand vibrato and the way you release bends, keeping them smooth rather than mechanical. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop individual phrases slowed down so you can hear exactly where your vibrato needs more width or your bends need more control. This is a piece where tone and touch matter far more than technique in the conventional sense, and it will honestly show you where your expressive playing stands.

• The entire melody is played as a guitar vocal substitute, so wide, controlled vibrato and precise bend intonation are the core skills the song demands.
• Recorded in E Standard tuning in the key of G major, the main melody sits comfortably in the upper positions of the neck where sustain and vibrato are easiest to shape.
• Because the song is a slow <a href="/genre/blues-rock/">Blues Rock</a> ballad at 120 BPM, practising with the loop slowed down helps you hear and correct any stiffness in your phrasing before returning to full tempo.