Solo tabs
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East Hastings - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
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E-mail: [email protected]
Notice: this song (and most Godspeed songs, for that matter) is NOT played in standard
tuning. Rather, the band plays in an alternate tuning. Unlike the previous track (The
Dead Flag Blues) this track does not switch tunings, it stays in one tuning.
The whole song has a hall reverb at maximum setting, any pedal model will do.
LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL PIECE FOR TIMING. I cannot stress this enough, as it would be
impossible for me to capture the feel that the band does with just text.
...Nothing's Alrite in Our Life... / The Dead Flag Blues (Reprise):
There's no guitar here, just wait for the bagpipe and preacher to fade out.
The Sad Mafioso...:
The bulk of the song is based around here, including the crescendo and whatnot.
Open with the same screwdriver technique used in "Slow Moving Trains" off of The Dead
Flag Blues, but instead of moving down the fretboard just bow the 12th fret and
occasionally move up and down, while still staying in the same area. Only use the top 5
strings, which will give you an 
A#A# minor chord.
Then, quiet down for Guitar 1 to start playing the following.
GUITAR 1:
MELODY 1.1:
C#C#|---------------|
A#A#|---------------|
FF |-----8-8-8-7-7-|
C#C#|---------------|
A#A#|-0-------------|
F#F#|---------------|
Then the screwdriver guitars come back in, using the same technique as previously. They
quiet down again to allow Guitar 1 to play a second phrase, and so on and so for. Do
this until all four phrases have been played twice.
C#C#|---------------|
A#A#|---------------|
FF |-----8-8-8-4-4-|
C#C#|---------------|
A#A#|-0-------------|
F#F#|---------------|
C#C#|-----------------|
A#A#|-----------------|
FF |-----8-8-8-10-10-|
C#C#|-----------------|
A#A#|-0---------------|
F#F#|-----------------|
C#C#|---------------|
A#A#|---------------|
FF |-----8-8-8-5-5-|
C#C#|---------------|
A#A#|-0-------------|
F#F#|---------------|
Once Melody 1.1 has been played twice the screwdriver guitars should play for a longer
time before once again ending for Guitar 1 to play the following.
MELODY 1.2:
C#C#|---------------------------------------------------|
A#A#|-----7-7-8-5-------5-5-7-3-----3-3-5-2-----2-2-3-0-|
FF |---------------------------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------------------------|
A#A#|-0-------------0-----------0-----------0-----------|
F#F#|---------------------------------------------------|
Repeat this, then play Melody 1.1 again but this time without the breaks.
So this part's structure should look like this.
Melody 1.1 (with breaks) x2
Melody 1.2 x2
Melody 1.1 (no breaks) x2
Melody 1.2 x2
Melody 1.1 x2
The last time you play Melody 1.1, play the variation below instead of the original.
MELODY 1.1 VAR:
C#C#|-----------------------------------------------------|
A#A#|-----------------------------------------------------|
FF |-----8-8-8-7-7------8-8-8---8b10------8-8-8-10-10----|
C#C#|-----------------------------------------------------|
A#A#|-0--------------0---------7-------0----------------0-|
F#F#|-----------------------------------------------------|
Then play this twice
MELODY 1.3:
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|-7-8-7-7-8-7-7-8-7-7-8-7-8-7-5-5-|
FF |---------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|---------------------------------|
F#F#|---------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|-5-7-5-5-7-5-5-7-5-5-7-5-7-5-3-3-|
FF |---------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|---------------------------------|
F#F#|---------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|-3-5-3-3-5-3-3-5-3-3-5-3-5-3-2-2-|
FF |---------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|---------------------------------|
F#F#|---------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|-2-3-2-2-3-2-2-3-2-2-3-2-3-2-0-0-|
FF |---------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------|
A#A#|---------------------------------|
F#F#|---------------------------------|
Repeat it again, but this time the 4th part should be replaced with this.
MELODY 1.3 VAR:
C#C#|-------------------------|
A#A#|-2-3---2-3---2-3---2-3-3-|
FF |-------------------------|
C#C#|-------------------------|
A#A#|-------------------------|
F#F#|-------------------------|
Then let the chamber orchestra take over.
GUITAR 2:
Guitar 2 mostly plays the screwdriver parts talked about above, that is, until Guitar 1
plays Melody 2.
As the timing for when these notes come in is quite strange, listen to the original
recording to know how to sync up with Guitar 1.
MELODY 2.1
C#C#|-12t---14-11---11b12b11----|
A#A#|------------------------12-|
FF |---------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------|
A#A#|---------------------------|
F#F#|---------------------------|
("t" denotes that the note is tremolo picked)
When Guitar 1 goes back to Melody 1.1 play the following
MELODY 2.2
C#C#|-12t------14t------16t------14t----|
A#A#|-----12-------12-------12-------12-|
FF |-----------------------------------|
C#C#|-----------------------------------|
A#A#|-----------------------------------|
F#F#|-----------------------------------|
Keep on playing Melody 2.2 until the strings come in.
This is where things get confusing.
Once the strings end Guitars 1 & 2 play the following four times. And the band actually
starts singing.
Sing along with them, it's the only way to capture the same delicacy and intimacy the
record has.
MELODY 3.1
C#C#|-----------|
A#A#|-----------|
FF |---0-------|
C#C#|---------0-|
A#A#|-0---------|
F#F#|-------0---|
Then Guitars 1 & 2 plays the following
MELODY 3.2
C#C#|-----16-16-14-14-------14-14-12-12-------12-12-11-11--------11-11-9-9-|
A#A#|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
FF |---0-----------------------------------0------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------0------------------------------------0-----------|
A#A#|-0-----------------------------------0--------------------------------|
F#F#|-------------------0------------------------------------0-------------|
Guitar 2 plays Melody 3.2 again while Guitar 1 plays the next melody.
MELODY 3.3
C#C#|-----9-9-11-11-------11-11-12-12-------12-12-14-14--------14-14-16-16-|
A#A#|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
FF |---0---------------------------------0--------------------------------|
C#C#|-------------------0------------------------------------0-------------|
A#A#|-0---------------------------------0----------------------------------|
F#F#|-----------------0------------------------------------0---------------|
Then Guitar 1 plays Melody 3.2 while Guitar 2 plays Melody 3.3. After this Guitar 1
plays Melody 3.2 while Guitar 2 plays the below.
MELODY 3.4
C#C#|-----19-19-17-16-------16-16-17-14-------16-16-17-12--------19-19-17-16-14-|
A#A#|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
FF |---0-----------------------------------0-----------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------0------------------------------------0----------------|
A#A#|-0-----------------------------------0-------------------------------------|
F#F#|-------------------0------------------------------------0------------------|
Then Guitar 1 improvises a solo while Guitar 2 plays Melody 3.3 once before getting
ready for the crescendo.
A augmentedA third guitar can actually be heard at the very far left of the stereo mix, when the
chamber orchestra comes in while Guitars 1 & 2 do their routine. This guitar plays to
the rhythm of the orchestra, just strum the following and you should capture Guitar 3.
CHORD DIAGRAM 1
C#C#|-x-|
A#A#|-x-|
FF |-5-|
C#C#|-3-|
A#A#|-0-|
F#F#|-x-|
Then Guitar 1 comes in with this
MELODY 4.1
C#C#|-9-11-11-9-9-11-11-9-9-11-11-9-9-7-7-9-|
A#A#|---------------------------------------|
FF |---------------------------------------|
C#C#|---------------------------------------|
A#A#|---------------------------------------|
F#F#|---------------------------------------|
Guitar 1 repeats this 2 times while a violin harmonizes with the above melody, and ends
with repeating a single note at the 9th fret while slowly bending up towards the 11th fret.
This is everyone's favorite part, the crescendo! Extremely easy to play too. For Guitar
1, just fire your distortion up and strum the following chord once every bar for the
next 8 bars.
CHORD DIAGRAM 2.1
C#C#|-x-|
A#A#|-x-|
FF |-5-|
C#C#|-4-|
A#A#|-0-|
F#F#|-x-|
Meanwhile Guitar 3 plays the below on a distorted tone.
CHORD DIAGRAM 2.2
C#C#|-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
A#A#|-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
FF |-3-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|
C#C#|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-|
A#A#|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
F#F#|-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
After that Guitars 1 & 2 (1 is on distortion, 2 is clean) play the next chord once
every bar for another 8 bars.
CHORD DIAGRAM 2.3
C#C#|-x---|
A#A#|-x---|
FF |-3h5-|
C#C#|-4---|
A#A#|-0---|
F#F#|-x---|
Then they join Guitar 3 in playing Chord Diagram 2.2 until the drummer has finished his
snare roll, which ends with Chord Diagram 1.
Drugs in Tokyo / Black Helicopter:
This is another impossible to tab section, but there is a guitar playing the following
melody on an extremely mellow tone. I use my Stratocaster's middle pickup with the tone
turned all the way down for this, it works fairly well.
MELODY 5
C#C#|-----------|
A#A#|---7----10-|
FF |-7---10----|
C#C#|-----------|
A#A#|-----------|
F#F#|-----------|
Repeat this until a low rumbling takes over, then the creepy dark ambient stuff happens.
The extremely high pitched buzzing can be replicated using screwdriver guitars by bowing
quite aggressively at the 22nd fret. After this whole thing a low rumbling takes over and
the song ends
