Van Halen – Pretty Woman
Transcribed by Norman Lin

E ———————————————————————-
B ———————————————————————-
G ———————————————————————-
D —————–0-(let ring for 4 beats) —————————-
A -2—2——-2——————————————————–
E -0—0—4————————————————————

^ ^

This is played twice, then comes the familiar complete arpeggio:

E ———————————————————————-
B ———————————————————————-
G ———————————————————————-
D —————–0—4—2—0—————————————-
A -2—2——-2——————————————————–
E -0—0—4————————————————————

It seems to sound better if you mute the E string right after playing the
G# so that the G# on the E string and the B on the A string don’t ring
together. Also, with the 2 performers I saw, one played an E chord
backing while the other picked out the E7 arpeggio.

Play that arpeggio as many times as you want to lead into the song:

Pretty woman, walking down the street/Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet
Pretty woman, I don’t believe you; you’re not true
No one could look as good as you

Pretty woman, won’t you pardon me/Pretty woman, I couldn’t help but see
Pretty woman, you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me?

Pretty woman, stop a while/Pretty woman, talk a while
Dm C (held for 2 measures)
Pretty woman, give your smile to me
Pretty woman, yeah yeah yeah/Pretty woman, walk my way
Pretty woman, say you’ll stay with me

Oh, ‘cause I need you; I’ll treat you right
Come with me baby; be mine tonight

(play E7 arpeggio here a couple of times)

Pretty woman, don’t walk on by/Pretty woman, don’t make me cry
A E (strummed until the last ‘A’ chord below)
Pretty woman, don’t walk away, hey… okay
If that’s the way it must be then okay
I guess I’ll go on home; it’s late; there’ll be tomorrow night, but wait…
What do I see? Is she walking back to me? Yeah, she’s walking back to me…
Oh, oh,
A (hit 2 times hard then mute completely)
Pretty Woman

Supplied by Greg J. Musi (musi+@pitt.edu)