I wrote this tune because somebody had already written "Misty". I wanted to try my hand at writing a "standard". Obviously I was many decades too late, but other than that I couldn't think of a good reason not to try.

It all started by picking a key. The key of C is so expansive on the guitar, but doesn't have quite the folky feel that G has. And I figured, since I (incorrectly) play "Misty" in C and it starts on a Cmaj7 chords, why shouldn't I? So there was my beginning.

The opening melody is full of scales, and the dim7 and m7b5 chords take those notes into a slightly jazzier feel. In good songwriting form, the chords eventually follow the Circle of 5ths around to lead to the first cadence, and a repeat of the "verse". You may recognize the chord progression in the middle 8 from Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" or Johnny Rivers' "Summer Rain". That's on purpose.

The only "lyrics" it has is the title line, and that occurs at measure 5. When writing a melody like this, I try to imagine what it would sound like if it had lyrics. With that in mind I try to write each different pass through the "verse" a little differently, because a singer would have different inflections and vowel formations with different words on the same note. I did not notate all of these in this transcription mainly because I wanted to leave a few things to the imagination of the performer- it never sounds exactly the same when I play it myself; it's not supposed to.

A few technical things:

1. As you can hear, this song is played rubato, allowing for that jazz vocal feel.
2. You will also do well to remember my own two rules for playing fingerstyle: move what you have to, leave what you can. Hold onto notes and chords until you can't anymore. Let the notes accumulate and ring through.
3. In the introduction, and elsewhere, you may want to try some of the longer scale passages using hammer-ons and slides rather than individually plucked notes. Mix and match them. Experiment.
4. In measure 8, you should slide off the diminished chord about halfway down the neck, then swoop up the 6th string with your first finger to the 8th fret to establish the barre C chord position. Don't actually strike the 6th string till your finger arrives at the bass C note.
5. In measure 26, the pinky is going to slide away to the high E (12th fret) necessitating that you abandon the chord. One day I would like to be able to make that reach, but until then slide will work.

You can learn a lot just by reading the notation or the TAB, or both. But the more of you that you can put in, the better.

I hope you have fun with "Nice Things Come and Go"!
Tom Rasely

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