ELO Guitar Tabs

Electric Light Orchestra

Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO for short, achieved commercial and critical acclaim during their long career that spanned from 1970 to 1986. The genius behind the magic of ELO was the songwriting and production of Jeff Lynne. An unashamed lover of the Beatles, Lynne's lush harmonies, layered production techniques, catchy guitar riffs, and sweet as candy melodies fuelled some of the best power-pop music ever recorded.

After ELO, Lynne lent his writing and producing services to some of the biggest names in rock-n-roll. He formed the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison in the late 1980s. Lynne later went on to produce the Tom Petty solo albums Full Moon Fever, Into the Great Wide Open, and Highway Companion and co-wrote the hits I Won't Back Down and Runnin' Down a Dream.

ELO Hits

During their heyday, ELO strung together numerous top 20 hits. Their sound was constantly evolving and hinted at multiple genres from psychedelic to hard driving rock to disco. One thing all ELO hits have in common, however, is a great hook! Here's a list of some of their most famous contributions to the rock-n-roll canon.

• Evil Woman: The falsetto harmonies in this song's chorus illustrate textbook pop songwriting.

• Livin' Thing: With more great harmonies, plus soaring strings and Indian-influenced psychedelic textures, ELO extends the pop formula on this classic.

• Can't Get It Out of My Head: Jeff Lynne channels George Harrison on this melancholy mid-tempo ballad.

• Turn To Stone: Break out your amplifier and crank it up! This song's driving riff is infectious.

• Strange Magic: This psychedelic, phaser drenched ballad is pure ELO and may cause flash backs to holding hands at the roller rink.

Where to Find ELO Guitar Tabs

Check out these useful online resources to help you track down ElO guitar tabs for your favorite songs.

• Ultimate-Guitar: One of the most comprehensive lists of ELO tabs, chords, and lyrics can be found at Ultimate Guitar.

• 911 Tabs: 911 Tabs provides a substantial list of ELO songs transcribed in tablature.

• Guitare Tab: Guitare Tab (yes, that's "guitare" with an "e") is a well organized, colorful, and clean site that contains a large selection of the ELO catalogue.

• The Tab World: The Tab World offers two panels of ELO resources. One list provides links to tabs and the other takes you to ELO lyrics.

• Fret Play: With more chord arrangements than tabs, Fret Play offers fewer selections than some of the other sites, but it provides resources for how to read tabs and has ELO discography and album reviews sections.

• AZChords: AZChords is a solid site that offers tabs and well as chord charts.

Tabs vs. Chords

You'll have noticed that in addition to tabs, many of the above sites offer chord charts. These two systems are simply two different methods used to document the necessary musical information of a song. Chord charts are a more sparse, less detailed form of notation than tablature, and they aim to provide players with the raw structure of the music: what key the song is in, where the changes happen, and what chords the guitarist should play. Tablature attempts to notate in a more detailed fashion the exact position on the fret board a player should have his or her fingers during the song.

Which system is better? It's really depends on the individual. The most important thing is to get yourself playing the guitar and enjoying your favorite music to its fullest. Whatever system accomplishes this goal the best is the system for you!