Belief Guitar Tab

Belief
transcribed by Catherine Gagn�
Standard tuning
Intro / Verse
e--------------------------------------------|
b--------------------------------------------|
g-----------10--10----9---------7----7----5�-|
d--------------------------------------------|
a--------/12---12--\10-------/8----8---\7----|
e--10-10-----------------3-3-----------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|---------3---3---2-----------10---10-----12---|
|----------------------------------------------|
|-3-3--/5---5--\3---------/12---12---12/13-----|
|-------------------10-10----------------------|
"Oh everyone believes.."
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------/11--11--10---------10--10--8---------8---8---6--------6---6--5-\-3-|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----/12--12--\10-------/10--10-\8--------/8---8---\7-------/7---7---------|
|-------------------3-3---------------------------------1-1----------------|
|-3-3----------------------------------1-1---------------------------------|
Chorus
e|------------------------------|
b|------------------------------|
g|---10-------10-------9----7---|
d|----x--------x-------x---10---|
a|---12---/14-14--/10-10----x---|
E|---10---------------------8---|
Solo
E|--------------------------------------|
b|---13/15~~~~--------------------------|
g|-------------12/14-14\12~~~~-p10h12~~-|
d|--------------------------------------|
a|--------------------------------------|
e|--------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|
-----12-15-12--------------------------------|
12b14---------12b14-12-10--------------------|
-------------------------12------------------|
----------------------------12\10p8-10~~~~---|
---------------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|
----------------------------10~~-------------|
----------------------10-12------12~~p10-----|
---12/10-8-10-8-10/12------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------|
-5/7-5/7-5/7~~7p5------------------------------------|
------------------7\5p3------3/5-3/5-3/5~~/6\5~~p3~~-|
------------------------5~~--------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------|
------------------------|
---12/13-12/13-12/13--\-|
---13/14-13/14-13/14--\-|
------------------------|
------------------------|
------------------------|
----------------------------------------------10-13b15-10----10~~~~-\-|
----------------------------------------10-13-------------13----------|
------------10-12b13-12-10-10h12p10-12--------------------------------|
------10-12-----------------------------------------------------------|
--/12-----------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------|


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Source: GuitarMasta.net
http://www.guitarmasta.net/j/john_mayer/.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture jester Average	#1 by jester rage at Sep 26, 2007 at 10:56 PM EST
	have any of you thought deeply about the "war on terror"? this song, in my opinion, articulates the reason why the "war on terror" is almost impossible to win. if you think about it, the people who wish to harm the u.s. and its allies are those who are fighting not for a country but for a belief. mayer says "everyone believes in how it oughta be/ everyone believes and they're not going easy." - this is very true if you consider how difficult it has been to defeat our enemies, i.e. the "terrorists" who believe that suicide bombing is a beautiful act of sacrifice for their religion. he labels belief as both a beautiful armor - it shows faith and dedication (very positive qualities in a person) to believe wholeheartedly in an ideal - and as the heaviest sword - that it is the most dangerous weapon because one who is willing to kill for their beliefs is, first of all, not going to be "disarmed" of those beliefs, and, second of all, not going to be afraid of the consequences of acting out on those beliefs. i also think the lyrics are: "we're never gonna win the world, we're never gonna stop the war" --- as long as each person has freedom of thought, an unquestionably wonderful aspect of humanity, there is always the risk that one will believe differently, vehemently and dangerously. if there will always be differences in extremist beliefs, there will always be a war to fight.

No Picture Slash Rhythm Player	#2 by Slash at Oct 1, 2007 at 2:32 AM EST
	i think its no doubt about the war going on right now, it's about bush and co. changing the minds of americans to support going into iraq. Which more than anything was a money-driven region. It's called hegemony, why make someone do something by forcing them to do it. It is much more nuanced, much more effective to subconsciously change their morals in a way that benefits you. The idea is "the best way to police people, is to make them police themselves." Such as exploiting the event of 9/11. hence - "What puts a folded flag inside his mother�s hand? - BELIEF CAN"

No Picture Patrick Wanna Be	#3 by Patrick Bastien at Oct 1, 2007 at 5:27 AM EST
	I think everyone so far is right when about how it's about using religion or even just ideas for bad or negative purposes. Bush has very blatently done this. My favorite part is when he says "what puts a hundred thousand children in the sand/ belief can. what puts a folded flag inside his mother's hand/ belief can." i hope this song becomes a single. its a good song for anyone to here. he spent 3 years writing it and hopefully it will make people really think. I'm not s a huge ben harper fan but i love his solo on this song too.

No Picture Jonathan Wanna Be	#4 by Jonathan Takish at Oct 1, 2007 at 2:49 PM EST
	he describes how everyone has a different view of what they believe in, and how if we have wars over it, it's never going to solve anything. "we're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for" we can't fight over religion, there is so one correct answer, yet we all do, and the consequences are horrible. one of the most meaningful songs out right now.

No Picture Denver Wanna Be	#5 by Denver #2 at Oct 1, 2007 at 5:35 PM EST
	the paint on a sign lyrics: Is there anyone who Ever remembers Changing their mind from The paint on a sign Is there anyone who Really recalls Ever breaking rank at all For something someone yelled real loud one time and he's just saying "does going out to rallies and protests yelling and screaming and waving signs with slogans or whatever actually change people's minds about things?" the "belief is a beautiful armor but makes for the heaviest sword" is john mayer saying that it's good to defend your beliefs (armor is for defense) but you can't attack others with your beliefs (swords for attacks) i.e. saying all muslims or christians or jews or gays or blacks or whites or whatever other group out there should die because your belief or holy book or diety says you should

No Picture Redryder Rhythm Player	#6 by Redryder at Oct 1, 2007 at 8:16 PM EST
	At first I thought this was about how so many people don't really know where there views and opinions come from on topics like politics and the war- if it was just "the paint on a sign". But, now I think it may be more about what thatguy5 said...what difference does it make to rally and scream your beliefs, who really changes their mind from seeing or hearing something like that? And if people do change their minds from that, blind faith is what can cause such pointless messes without real foundation for them. I'm just not sure which point of view works better with this song

No Picture matthew Rhythm Player	#7 by matthew robinson at Oct 2, 2007 at 9:58 PM EST
	about the armor/sword part: when he says "belief is a beautiful armor", he is saying that belief is good for protection/defense. "but makes for the heaviest sword"...i would have to disagree with what a few people are saying about this line. a heavy sword is hard to wield, obviously because of its weight. you would have very little control when swinging a heavy sword. at the same time, the heavier a sword is, the more powerful and destructive it is. john is saying that using belief as an attack/offense is like wielding a heavy sword, difficult and destructive. it's "like punching underwater, you never can hit who you're trying for", meaning you have no control swinging the sword and will cause more destruction than you intended. innocent people may get hurt, etc. it's just plain impractical to use such a weapon. sorry for the longwindedness.

No Picture Dale Average	#8 by Dale Steele at Oct 4, 2007 at 10:59 AM EST
	by the way, i love john mayer - his music is a breath of fresh air, especially when compared to the britney spears' (lip-sincing pop princesses) out there. and i really enjoy reading all the different possible interpretations of these songs - everyone on this site has really thoughtful ideas.

No Picture ...I think I'm Wanna Be	#9 by ...I think I'm addicted to ritalin... at Oct 4, 2007 at 3:19 PM EST
	it's about how blind faith (religion) drives people to do terrible things which impact on the innocent, in the name of what is essentially perpetuated myth and nonsense - religion!

No Picture Average	#10 by Brian (Add Me!) at Oct 6, 2007 at 3:18 AM EST
	In the beginning of the version I have, he says: "This next song I'm about to play for you, it's a really tricky one and I didn't think it was going to be on the record, but I really really really fought. I don't think there was a harder fought song that had been put on a record before. It's a really tricky topic. Y'know, you write a song called 'belief', and you better be careful. It took me a lnog time to choose my words correctly unlike the rest of my life. And I ran into Ben Harper one night, actually the night I decided to finish this song. Very kinda senedipidous, asked him if he'd play on it, and he really kinda drove the song home for me, and um, with him on it, it is now officially now I feel the song is really really kinda gritty. And thanks to Ben Harper, this is a song 'belief'. Enjoy" I'm not sure if that helps anyone's interpretation, just wanted to put that info out there.

No Picture jonas Average	#11 by jonas schlechtweg at Oct 6, 2007 at 5:22 PM EST
	I agree with tbug3 also... The song can DEFINITELY be about the war on terror. When people believe something strongly, they are not going to change their mind because someone tells them to. They won't "give up with their life on the line."