The tab for Brett Dennen’s “Day By Day” is coming soon (as soon as I pick me up a mandoline).

day by day
minute by minute
it’s how we’re living

(repeat like a million times)

Download “By and By” and other Brett Dennen songs at iTunes.

Read my review of this and other Brett Dennen songs.

Intro (no real tempo yet):

----------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------1-----------|
----------------------------1-----------------------------|
---4--------------------------------2---------------------|
--------0-------------2-----------------------------------|

--------------------------------------|
--------------------------------------|
--------------------------------2-----|
--------------1-------------4---------|
---4------------------2---------------|
--------0-----------------------------|

Fig 1: play once as intro and then once for beginning of first vers.

.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|
-------0---------|-------------0---|-------9---------|-------0---------|
-------0---------|---------0-------|-------------5---|-----0-------0---|
-----------------|-----------------|-----6-----------|-----------------|
-------------6---|-------6---------|-7---------------|-6---------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
-0---------------|-0---------------|-----------------|-----------------|

.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|
-------0---------|-----------------|-----------------|-------0---------|
-------------0---|-----------------|-----------------|-----0-------0---|
-----------------|-------------4---|-----------------|-----------------|
-----6-----------|-2---4---6-------|-------------4---|-6---------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-2-----4/6-------|-----------------|
-0---------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

Fig 2: Play once for second half of first verse.

.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|
-------0---------|-----------------|-------5---------|-------0---------|
-------------0---|-----------------|-----------------|-----0-------0---|
-----------------|-------------4---|-----6-------6---|-----------------|
-----6-----------|-2---4---6-------|-7---------------|-6---------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
-0---------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|
-------0---------|-----------------|-----------------|-----0-----------|
-------------0---|-----------------|-----------------|---0-------------|
-----------------|-------------4---|-----------------|-----------------|
-----6-----------|-2---4---6-------|-------------4---|-6-------4---2---|
-----------------|-----------------|-2-----4/6-------|-----------------|
-0---------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

Fig 3: Play four times for first verse.

.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|.1.&.2.&.3.&.4.&.|
-------0--------|------------------|-------0---------|-----4-----------|
-----2-----2----|------------------|-----0-----0-----|---0-------------|
----------------|------------------|-----------------|-----------------|
----------------|--------------4---|-6-----------6---|-6-------4---2---|
-4-----------4--|--2---4---6-------|-----------------|-----------------|
----------------|------------------|-----------------|-----------------|

I’m lazy and you have all the tab now and can figure out which figures are played when by listening to the song.

listen close, as close as I am to you
like the bell of liberty, I’ll ring a sound that’s true

and days go by and seasons too
in time our love may digress with the words we can renew
I’ll tell you that I
I love you by and by
I don’t know if I’d survive
without a friend like you in my life

and I know words can be the worst to prevail
how it is I feel for you it’s hard for me to say
but if we keep it simple I think it’s better that way
tangled words tend to lead my messages astray

I’ll tell you that I
I love you by and by
I don’t know if I’d survive
without a friend like you in my life

this web we weave holds us hand in hand
and if we loosen our grips we may weaken these strands
so lets reinforce our love and let it echo through the land
and if we don’t we may find ourselves washed up with the sand

I’ll tell you that I
I love you by and by
I don’t know if I’d survive
without a friend like you in my life

Update: If you’re looking for tablature or lyrics for Brett Dennen songs, click here.
link to Brett Dennen at iTunes

While trying out Pandora.com I came across a song that brought me up from my work when it struck me as something completely original and brilliant. The song was called “Desert Sunsrise” by Brett Dennen and the moment I heard it I knew I was a fan. Not long after that I heard “By and By” from the same artist and from there I went straight to iTunes to buy the album.

“Brett Dennen” by Brett Dennen is an album with eleven unique tracks that would probably be classified as folk but that has its fingers in other genres as well (check out the jazz in “Desert Sunsrise”, the gospel in “All We Have”, reggae in “Day By Day”). Brett Dennen’s guitar-playing sounds very John Mayer in it’s purcussively jazz/folk quality, but his voice is all his own. It’s child-like, innocent quality, with soft “D”s and short vowels, reminds me of both Kalai and (dare I say it) Adam Sandler (especially in “By and By”, “Blessed”, “Don’t Forget”, and “When I Go”). But his vocal maturity comes out in his Jason Mraz style of chromatic note changes when, with deliberate and controlled emphasis, each note in a quick series is clearly produced.

Having heard “Desert Sunsrise” and “By and By” before purchasing the album I was expecting more of that caliber. I have to admit to more than a little disappointment, however, when I discovered that these two were the only ones that kept my attention. Brett Dennen’s guitar-work and sublime vocals were not enough to save “Blessed”, “Don’t Forget”, and “Day By Day” which were annoyingly repetitive, “Make the Most” and “All We Have”, which were didactic and left me feeling preached-to, and “When I Go” where his vocal melody just kind of wanders without any real focal point. For me this last point is most alarming and, while it was most apparent in “When I Go”, other songs suffer from it as well. Brett Dennen, at times, seems more interested in delivering lines than he does producing the melodies that he is capable of. As his career progresses I hope he learns that the music itself must sell the audience before anyone pays attention to his lyrical sermons.

If you would like a free flavor of Brett Dennen’s music he has a free download on his site. But know that it is far from his best. For two treasures download “By and By” and “Desert Sunsrise”. “Nothing Lasts Forever”, “Just Like the Moon”, and “Day By Day” are also ok.
But the rest are not good at all and I would not recommend them. –Andrew