Lesson - Tabs

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Tabs & Lesson

Lesson Introduction - by Jeff Fiorentino

A lesson on the style of Vai is a tricky thing to do.. I've watched a few of Steve's own lessons and a lot of times it's difficult even for him to explain what he's doing.. The reality is a Steve Vai style guitar lesson is really about thinking outside the box and taking inspiration from out of the norm sources..

Many of us take inspiration from Blues riffs or our favorite rock tunes and things like that for example. So does Steve Vai, but Steve also seems to draw inspiration from other places. One such place that comes to mind is someone he himself mentioned once on an ad piece for Pro-Tools, "Bulgarian wedding music". This stuff makes no sense, sometimes offering up 17/16 time which is just silly to count unless you understand Steve's own concept of counting odd time like even time and not getting psyched out by it so much... In other words most of us can handle a 3/4 time waltz type thing. We deal with it all the time. Well 7/4 time would simply add a 4 count to the 3/4, so deal with the 7 count as a set of 4 and a set of 3 and not 7.. This obviously becomes more important as harder counts like 15/16 and 17/16 time come into play but I'm sure you understand my meaning..

For this lesson which I call "Guitar Zen", I've done a variety of "Vai-like" things.. I've done some odd time, I've done some key or mode changes, I've used the whammy bar in a way that requires a large budget to replace parts if kept up for too long... LOL.. Primarily using a key Steve Vai technique which is pulling up on the whammy bar and manipulating it through a range of pitch while doing so.. If you have a non-floating bridge some of these techniques may not work well for you. I used my White Kramer, which does have a floating bridge but the upward motion still isn't quite as much as Vai can get with his.. Ideally for Vai style stuff you're looking for a max of about 3 steps in the sharp or upward direction with your bridge... My Kramer maxes out at about 2 steps, so it's close enough for rock and roll and does an OK job for Vai-style applications... Non-floating bridges will only give you about 1/4 of a step if any in the sharp direction so what ends up happening is when you try many of the Vai whammy bar tricks you end up sounding more like Van Halen and less like Steve Vai... I only point this whammy bar stuff out simply as something for you to be aware of with this style.

Speaking of Whammy bar, we have a new TAB symbol because of our Vai Whammy bar use. That TAB symbol is w.b.^. This new TAB symbol tells you to pull up on the whammy bar. There may also be a small number after the ^ such as w.b.^2 where the 2 would indicate to pull up on the bar 2 steps, but most of the time it will just be a blank ^ to indicate you need to pull up on the whammy bar in general..

I've also used a pitch shifter in various places and doubled the recording in spots. We'll take on the video lesson about pitch shifter use, and I'll run you through some of the techniques used on the song example.

Ideally though you should worry less about what's being played and worry more about the techniques, i.e. how things are being done and what type of journey the modes used to create the flow of the song take you on...

The inspiration for our "Guitar Zen" song example came from DLR Eat'em and smile era Vai, and also some of his later solo stuff which can get a little out there.. Also a pinch of Alcatraz thrown in for good measure, although I hid it well..

Please load the video lesson for more tips and to help you understand the tabs and the tab layout, and also please be sure that you listen to the lesson's example MP3 a few times to become familiar with it BEFORE diving into the video lesson and tabs.. You'll get much more out of the lesson if you do...

P.S. We did the best we could with the tabs... Their was a trade off between totally accurate and understandable as a lesson for all skill levels.. We opted for all skill levels/understandable.. Thus, the tabs are about 90% accurate but in some places secondary guitar portions have been edited out and listed as doubled when in reality they were not exactly doubled when recorded..

See video for added explanation of the tab situation.

Song Opener

E__________________________________________
B__________________________________________
G__w.b>begin with bar half depressed>0>w.b down>>_____________
D_________________________________________
A_________________________________________
E_________________________________________

Bb5

E_____________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________
G__w.b>begin with bar half depressed>1---7~~w.b left 1/4 depressed the depressed fully>>___
D_____________________________________________________
A_____________________________________________________
E_____________________________________________________

*A w.b vibration means to vibrate the floating bridge by either slipping your hand quickly off the locked in place bar itself as it points backward on the guitar, or to flick at the lock pieces the hold the strings in place at the back of the bridge causing it to vibrate quickly... This trick has many names, we always just call them vibrations... Call them what you like, it's a cool Vai-style whammy bar trick...

G5

E___________________________________________________________________________________
B__13-15_w.b^~vibration___13-15_w.b^~vibration___13-15_w.b^~vibration___13-15_w.b^~vibration___13-15_w.b^~vibration_____
G___________________________________________________________________________________
D___________________________________________________________________________________
A___________________________________________________________________________________
E___________________________________________________________________________________

F#5 E5

E___________________________________________
B__13-15_w.b^~vibration____13w.b^~vibration_______________
G___________________________________________
D___________________________________________
A___________________________________________
E___________________________________________

E_____________________________________________
B_____________________________________________
G__w.b>begin with bar half depressed>4h<w.b.^2>w.b back down>>>_______
D_____________________________________________
A_____________________________________________
E_____________________________________________

*doubled by playing twice while recording..

Dm7

E__13-15-13____12-13-12_______________________________________
B_________15_________15___13-15-13____12-13-12________________
G________________________________14________14__14-16-14______
D_____________________________________________________15____
A___________________________________________________________
E___________________________________________________________

E____________________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________________
G__w.b12^1/2-10__w.b12^1/2-10__w.b12^1/2-10__w.b12^1/2-10__w.b12^1/2-10>>w.b down>>___
D____________________________________________________________________
A____________________________________________________________________
E____________________________________________________________________

E______________________________________________________________
B__13-15_w.b^~vibration___13-15_w.b^~vibration___13-15_w.b^~vibration__13-15_w.b^~~___
G______________________________________________________________
D______________________________________________________________
A______________________________________________________________
E______________________________________________________________

E__12-13-12________________________________________________
B_________15__13-15-13_____________________________________
G____________________14__12w.b.^>>~>>____>into main theme riffing____
D_________________________________________________________
A_________________________________________________________
E_________________________________________________________

Main Theme Riffing

This is a classic Vai-style riff structure which is based on a few different things but is rooted in "Big Trouble" off of the "DLR Eat'em and smile" CD..

The riffing is a good lesson and leaves a lot of room for fills... I've embellished the C#m chord from "Big Trouble" leaving out the minor 3rd "E" on the 2nd fret 4th string, this gives our chord a slightly different feel than his version of it had, but makes it easier to do for our varied skill level audience here at JFRocks.com..

*Doubled - Recorded twice.

C#m7 E

E__0_________________________________________
B__0_________________________________________
G__4_________________________________________
D__2*optional note__________________________________
A__4_________________2____4^1a.h_4a.h~__________
E_____________0_0_4____4_____________________

C#m7 E

E___0___________________________________________
B___0__________________9---7---5__________________
G___4___________9--8___________7w.b>>down>>_________
D___x_______________9___________________________
A___4____2----11_________________________________
E_______________________________________________

C#m7 E

C#m7

E_____________________________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________________________
G______________________________________w.b>begin with bar half depressed>9-8>w.b down>>___
D_____________________________________________________________________
A__w.b>begin with bar half depressed>11---9>w.b down>>_____________________________________
E_____________________________________________________________________

E___________________________________________
B__w.b>begin with bar half depressed>9~_7-9-7---5~>w.b down>>_____
G___________________________________________
D___________________________________________
A___________________________________________
E___________________________________________

C#m7 E

C#m7

E__0_______________________________________________________________
B__0_______________________________________________________________
G__4____0-1-0~trill~w.b>>down>_______w.b>begin with bar half depressed>--12~>w.b down>>_______
D__x_______________________________________________________________
A__4_______________________________________________________________
E__________________________________________________________________

Main Theme Verse 2

This time around guitar 1 does what I call a baseline version of the main theme riffing without too many fancy fills, and guitar 2 and 3 play basically in unison, notice I say basically (see video) and are doing vocal melody and sound effects..

Take note of any pitch shifter setting given. The only difference between setting 1 and setting 2 is the Pitch setting. Setting 1 is the 5th and setting 2 is the 6th... See video and this lesson's setup page for more...

Guitar 1 plays main theme riff, guitar's 2 and 3 play what's tabbed below...

Guitar 2 uses setting 2 the 6th, and guitar 3 uses setting 1 the 5th.. The tabs for each are the same and are tabbed below. What this means is the pitches tabbed are not what you are hearing.. You are hearing the 6th of each of the pitches tabbed from guitar 2, and the 5th each of the pitches tabbed from guitar 3... See video for help..

E____________________________________________________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________________w.b>begin with bar half depressed>14~w.b>>down>___
G__w.b>begin with bar depressed>6~w.b>>down>_____w.b>begin with bar depressed>12~w.b>>down>__________________________________
D____________________________________________________________________________________________
A____________________________________________________________________________________________
E____________________________________________________________________________________________

E____________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________
G__w.b>begin with bar half depressed>7~w.b>>down>then quick release of the bar_7*dead stop the note____
D___________________________________________________________
A___________________________________________________________
E___________________________________________________________

Both guitars 2 and 3 use setting 1 the 5th

E__12-9___9__________________________________________________________________________
B______12___12-9_12-9___9__12-9_12-9___9__12-9_12-9___9________________________________
G____________________11____________11____________11___11_9_11-9___9__11-9__9_11a.h~~__
D______________________________________________________________11_______11___________
A____________________________________________________________________________________
E____________________________________________________________________________________

E________________________________________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________w.b>begin with bar depressed>14~w.b>>down>__
G__w.b>begin with bar depressed>1~w.b>>down>______w.b>begin with bar depressed>12~w.b>>down>_____________________________
D________________________________________________________________________________________
A________________________________________________________________________________________
E________________________________________________________________________________________

E____________________________________________________________________
B__w.b>begin with bar depressed>19~~~____17~~~___________________________________
G_____________________________________w.b>begin with bar depressed>6~w.b>>down>>>>____
D____________________________________________________________________
A____________________________________________________________________
E____________________________________________________________________

**Pitch shifter off!!

E___________________________________________
B_______________9---7---5>w.b down>>______________
G_________9-8_______________________________
D____________9______________________________
A__4---11____________________________________
E___________________________________________

**Solo lead in below is transcribed for 1 guitar..
-

>pre solo lead in chords A5 Bb5

E__14 w.b^~vibration_____________________________________
B__14^1/4 w.b^~vibration__** apply 4 hits of w.b vibration and go into the solo______
G_________________________________________________
D_________________________________________________
A_________________________________________________
E_________________________________________________

SOLO

The solo to this track is very abstract.. It's actually taken from various segments of Vai's solo work with a drum and rhythm theme that was taken from "Shy Boy" off the DLR Eat'em and smile CD...

There are many elements here.. Take note that things are not always doubled or double recorded.. Also the pitch shifter is on sometimes and off other times. Take note of the written notes above the tabs.. They will tell you what's going on.. See video for added lesson..

NOTE: This solo is over a rhythm that's unique to the rest of this song.. The chord names written above the tabs are "implied by the bass".. In other words they are the root notes the bass is driving... Know them and understand them so that you know what you're soloing over, and you're not just learning leads with no way to re-apply them in real world jam or songwriting situations...

B5

E___15*let ring************>w.b down slowly>>_______________
B___15^^gradual bend^1>w.b down slowly>>_______________
G__________________________________________
D__________________________________________
A__________________________________________
E__________________________________________

G5 F#m

E__10-7____7_______________________________
B_________________________________________
G_______9____9_7_9^1 a.h__9a.h---7_____________
D_____________________________9___________
A_________________________________________
E_________________________________________

(X) = Notes in parenthesis are tapped..

B5 G5 F#m

E__(12)-7-9-10__________________________________________________________________________(12)-7-9-10_
B___________(12)-7-9-10_______________________________________________________(12)-7-9-10___________
G____________________(12)-7-9-11_____________________________________(12)-7-9-11____________________
D_____________________________(12)-7-9-11___________________(12)-7-9-11_____________________________
A______________________________________(12)-7-9-11_(12)-11-9-7______________________________________
E_______________________________________________________________________________________________

B5 G5

E____________________________________________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________________________________________
G__w.b>begin with bar depressed>12~w.b>>down>____w.b>begin with bar depressed>0~w.b>>down>___w.b>begin with bar depressed>12^1.5>release_12~~___
D____________________________________________________________________________________________
A____________________________________________________________________________________________
E____________________________________________________________________________________________

Used setting 1 the 5th

F#m B5

E__7-0_7-0________________________________________
B__________7-0_7-0__7-0____7-0_____________________
G_______________________________7a.h~~____________
D______________________9______9__________________
A________________________________________________
E________________________________________________

G5 F#m

E___________________________________________
B_____________________________ 7~~__________
G__9^1~~>release_9-7-9_9-7__7~_9~_7~~__________
D_____________________9_______ _____________
A___________________________________________
E___________________________________________

Guitar 2 uses setting 2 the 6th, Guitar 1 has no pitch shifter on it... Both guitars play what's tabbed below...

G5 F5

E__15^1~~>slight release>___13-15-13____12-13-12_________________________________________________________
B___________________________15_________15__13-15-13____12-13-12___________________________________
G_________________________________________________14_________14__12-13-12________________14a.h>w.b>_
D_______________________________________________________________________15______________________
A__________________________________________________________________________12~~________________
E_______________________________________________________________________________________________

**Pitch shifter off!!

A5

E___________________________________5_______________________
B_________________________8__8-7____5_______________________
G_________________________7__7___________7-5________________
D________________________________7____7__7-5___5_____4______
A_w.b>begin with bar depressed>0~~~______________________7___4--5___5____
E___________________________________________________________

E__18-15___15____________________________________________________________________________________
B_______18___18_15__18-15___15___________________________________________________________________
G________________________17___17_15__15-17-15___15-17-15___15______________________________________
D___________________________________________17________17___17_15-17-15__15________________________
A____________________________________________________________________17__17_15-17-15____15~-sl dwn--_
E___________________________________________________________________________________18___________

*The solo ending portion below leads us back into the main theme riffing. The tab below has been modified from what's on the mp3 to reflect 2 guitars transcribed for 1 guitar...

No chord (n.c.)

E________________________________________________________________________________
B_____________________________13-w.b^115-w.b12*leave bar in limbo and slowly bring upward as theme riffing kicks in____
G________________________________________________________________________________
D________________________________________________________________________________
A_<w.b into---12^^gradual bend^1~~_________________________________________________________
E_________________________________________________________________________________

Main Theme Riffing Verse 3

Slight variation from the others, mostly used as a lead in to get us to the outro..

E___0______________________________________________________
B___0__________________9w.b~vibration---7w.b~vibration---5w.b~vibration________
G___4___________9--8________________________________________
D___x_______________9______________________________________
A___4____2----11_____________________________________________
E___________________________________________________________

E__0___________________________________________
B__0___________________________________________
G__4_____6a.h>w.b down>>_____6w.b~vibration__9w.b~vibration_____
D__x___________________________________________
A__4___________________________________________
E______________________________________________

Outro - 7/8 time

This outro is odd time. The count is 7. The best way to count this is to count a measure of 4 and then a measure of 3 rather than trying to count to 7 all the time... For most people this style of counting makes odd time a breeze to master with a little practice...

There are 2 guitar parts here.

Guitar 1 = Black Tab and was double recorded as the main rhythm
Guitar 2 = Blue Tab and is the lead accompaniment..

Guitar 1: Main Rhythm

**Chord names written above the tabs are the root notes the bass is driving... These chords are "implied by bass".

C#5 B5 E5

E__________________________________________
B__________________________________________
G___6_6_6__________9--8_________9--8________
D___6_6_6_______________9~___9____________
A___4_4_4___2----11_________________________
E__________________________________________

C#5 E5 F#5

E__________________________________________
B__________________________________________
G___6_6_6__________9--8__8--11~__11---9~_____
D___6_6_6__________________________________
A___4_4_4___2----11_________________________
E__________________________________________

C#5 B5 E5

C#5 E5 F#5

C#5 B5 E5 C# sus4 C# Maj

E________________________________________________________
B_______________________________________7___________6____
G___6_6_6__________9--8_________9--8_____ 6___________6____
D___6_6_6_______________9~___9_________ 6_*let chord ring___6____
A___4_4_4___2----11______________________ 4___________4____
E________________________________________________________

Guitar 2: Accompaniment over the above guitar 1 part..

E__________________________________________
B__________________________________________
G__________________________________________
D__________________________________________
A__4_4_4_4_4____7-6_______7-6_______________
E_____________7_____7~__7__________________

E__________________________________________
B__________________________________________
G__________________________________________
D__________________________________________
A__4_4_4_4_4____7_6__7---9~__9---7~__________
E_____________7_____________________________

E__________________________________________
B__________________________________________
G__________________________________________
D__________________________________________
A__4_4_4_4_4_____7_6__7---9~__9---7~_________
E_____________0x____________________________

E_____________________________________________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________________________________________
G_____________________________________________________________________________________
D_____________________________________________________________________________________
A__(16)-4-7-9__(16)-4-7-9__(16)-4-7-9__(16)-4-7-9____(16)-4-7-9__(16)-4-7-9__(16)-4-7-9__(16)-4-7-9___
E_____________________________________________________________________________________

E_____________________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________________
G_____________________________________________________________
D__(16)-8-11-8___(16)-8-11-8__(16)-8-11-8___(16)-8-11-8_______________
A_________________________________________________4~~~_______
E_____________________________________________________________

End

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"Guitar Zen"
Written by:	Jeff Fiorentino
Performed by:	Jeff Fiorentino, & Mick the Mixer
Transcribed by:	Erica Reese with notes by Jeff Fiorentino
Song Engineered by:	Mick the Mixer


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