‘Strong Enough’ is a well-known song by American singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow. It originates from her debut album Tuesday Night Music Club and has been a favourite of mine for many years. It was one of the earliest pieces that was written for this project, although it started off in a slightly different form: I originally did an arrangement of the guitar accompaniment section for the bass and recorded it as a bass/vocal duet with a female vocalist. This original version is available on the website to download. It was recorded very quickly, but became one of my favourite things that I had recorded. When the idea for a solo arrangements book occurred to me, I decided to adapt what I had done already with the song and incorporate the vocal melodies where possible. I also added some original material in the form of a free-time Intro and Outro section so that the arrangement was more than just a carbon copy of the original.

Arranging ‘Strong Enough’ The first and most obvious section of this song to arrange was the guitar accompaniment part which is used for much of the song. This simple riff, which is in 3/4 time, transferred to the bass easily enough using quite basic two handed tapping. I also explored the possibility of playing this part using the chordal fingerstyle technique and came up with another version that worked well. In the end I decided to work with the tapped version, although the fingerstyle section did get used later in the song. The Chorus section, which is based around an E minor key centre was another obvious candidate for the tapping technique, although this was trickier to get together than the first part. As the vocal line here features less movement I decided to only play the accompaniment part.

With the two main accompaniment sections sounding good, I began working on incorporating the vocal melody into the Verse sections. I first learnt the melody on its own, then practised tapping it with just some basic root notes added. Once this was comfortable, I filled in all the gaps that I felt were necessary to fill, using notes from the accompaniment part where possible as well as some other chord tones. Below you can see the development of the part:

Example 1 – Melody Only

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‘Strong Enough’ Performance Notes

Example 2 – Tapped Melody with Basic Bass Notes

Example 3 – Full Version

I then decided that I needed to develop this section for the second Verse. This was done because I felt the arrangement should be continuously evolving and should not repeat itself too much. It took a long time before I decided what to do with the second Verse but I ended up experimenting with adding extra notes to the melody and playing it as doublestops in conjunction with the bass part. The notes I chose gave the part a slightly ‘jazzier’ quality as the first two chords became major seventh chords.

Much of the arrangement was now in place, but I decided to try and add in some extra details from the original. The first section I added was the chordal part at Letter I in the transcription. On the original version the guitar accompaniment switches to a strummed chord part after the second Chorus and I sought to mimic this. To do so, I simply arranged the chord progression using voicings that work well on the bass, commonly tenths and any chord into which you can combine an upper register part with an open string. This section then naturally segued into the chordal fingerstyle version of the main accompaniment part that I had written. I decided to loop this (using a looping pedal) and then played a second part over the top with harmonics. The harmonics were chosen in two ways – firstly using notes from the chords below them and secondly going with what sounded best! My original intention was to play a brief solo over this looped section, but I eventually decided it didn’t need one.

Another part from the original that I attempted to incorporate was the slide guitar part that enters after the first Chorus (bars 54 - 57 in the transcription). This was quite simple to add to the main accompaniment part. I couldn’t resist adding a small rhythmic flourish - the pair of thirty-second notes in bars 55 and 57.

At this point the arrangement was essentially complete, yet I felt it had turned out to be a little dull. It needed something else adding to it and I was inspired to add a free-time Intro to the piece after listening to Victor Wooten play ‘The Vision’. Fortunately, I had some chordal material lying around that was in the same key and so I used it to form the basis of the Intro - this is the section beginning at Letter B. I decided to add some free-time parts before this section and improvised with various ideas over the rough chord progression until I found something I liked. The opening phrase of the piece came from

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my mimicking the vocal refrain ‘are you strong enough?’. I thought it was subtle, but would make a good opening statement. I ended up coming up with so much material for the Intro that became a rather long section! It was all centered around the main D - G - Bm - A progression and so I added the C section to break things up. This is the Chorus of the song, but played using a combination of harmonics and fretted bass notes. Following this I used the rest of my ideas, which included some difficult tapped passages that were most certainly inspired by Victor Wooten’s playing on ‘Norwegian Wood.’

I decided to use the very first section of the Intro as an Outro as well. Once I had completed these sections, the piece seemed like a much more cohesive arrangement. I was also pleased that I had been able to incorporate some of my own identity into it as well. I think it’s really important to do so when writing an arrangement of a well-known song.

Performing ‘Strong Enough’The Intro section to this piece should be performed in free time. I encourage you to learn the notes and understand the way each section is phrased and then concentrate on playing the section with feeling. Let the notes ring into each wherever possible as this will enhance the chordal effect. The descending phrase in bar 5 that begins with a tapped note should be played very legato, as should all of the phrases in this section.

Be sure to let harmonics ring clearly alongside the fretted bassnotes in the Chorus section beginning at letter C. You can play with a slightly more obvious tempo during this section, but try to still retain some freedom – this will give you room for maneuver when changing hand positions. Some of the position shifts during this section are tricky, so you’ll need to practice them slowly in order to be able to move between them cleanly.

The C section leads into a series of figures that are played with the two handed tapping technique. These are complex, and will require a high level of ability with the technique. Follow the tapping guides in bars 28 and 29 very carefully: the doublestop at the beginning of bar 29 is

played with the left hand. The right hand then plays the root-fifth-ninth figure over the top of it – this is quite a stretch. The hands cross slightly at this point. Bar 29 ends with a flurry of ascending notes. This is a relatively simple tapping pattern, but the difficulty lies in performing it accurately at a high speed. The sequence of playing two notes with the left hand followed by two notes with the right is mirrored on every string and you should practice this very slowly to begin with, increasing the tempo only as you become more comfortable with it. The long legato pull-off figure in bar 32 is a Jeff Berlin influence. The open A should ring while you play this figure entirely with the left hand. Try to keep this line very smooth.

At bar 34 the main accompaniment figure enters. This is a repeated two bar phrase which you should find relatively simple to perform using the two handed tapping technique. In bar 38 this figure is combined with the vocal melody. Take this a beat at a time, slowly. The key to learning complex tapping passage such as this one is to break them down and play them slowly: learn which notes are played together and which notes fall between them. Try to let all the melody notes ring for as long as possible.

At letter F the Chorus section of the song enters. This is a contrast to the rest of the song as it is built around an E minor key centre. The first note of the phrase is slapped and should ring until the left hand taps the F# bass note at the end of the first bar. From this point onward the section is a fairly simple tapping piece. You should however be aware of a tricky fingering needed at the beginning of bar 47. In the right hand, the first finger taps the D at the twelfth fret of the D-string and the second finger perform the F#-G-F#s then played with the third finger of the right hand. This is a rather awkward move and will take some practice in order for it to feel more natural.

The chordal parts at letter I are played with the strumming technique. You can afford to play these a little louder than the rest of the piece. This strummed section leads neatly into the quieter, delicate rendition of the main accompaniment, this time played fingerstyle. Let the open strings ring where possible here. This section was intended to be looped and you can

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hear that this is what happens on the recording. Once you have a loop going, you can add the decorative harmonic passage that is written in bars 86 – 89. You can also use this loop to solo over if you wish – I decided not to as I didn’t feel the piece needed it after all. This section ends with some additional chordal parts and leads to the Outro, which is a shortened version of the Intro section.

This material is intended for educational purposes only and must not be copied, distributed or sold without permission from the copyright owners.