Artist: Megadeth Recording: "Risk" (c) 1999 Capitol Records, Inc. Song: "Breadline" (CD track #5) Transcribed by: Chris Janicki, Janicki@ia-inc.com This is the most commercial song off the "Risk" album, but it sounds good and is fun to play. The lyrics are also cool. The opening riff to this song won me over. One neat thing about the CD is that is comes with a QuickTime show for PC/Mac that gives some insight into the album. Apparently they immersed themselved in a bunch of 70's and 80's music before writing. Even disco! And it shows... each song is quite different, but you can almost hear one 70s/80s band in each song. The influences are subtle of course, being Megadeth.
Everything is transcribed here except the solo. It didn't catch my fancy so I didn't bother going note for note. It's pretty slow and easy enough to toy with while listening to the CD. o-------o This cool picked section is what inspired me to buy the album and then to figure out this song. For some reason it took forever to get this right. I don't know if it was the guitar effects or my tin ear that was hampering me. Anyway, this is it. It has some odd timing but its easy to play. Kudos to Dave M. for coming up with such a cool and unique intro piece. You can start by holding an E, but you can loosen it up. E-------------|----------------|--------------|-----------------| B-------------|----------------|--------------|-----------------| G-----2-----1-|----1-----------|-----0--------|-----0---2-0-----| D---2-----2---|-2~---2~--4-2---|---2-----2-4~-|---2---2-----2-0-| A-------------|--------------2-|--------------|-----------------| E-0-----0-----|----------------|-0-----0------|-0---------------| (Repeat 4x) I think this is what's called the bridge. It leads to the chorus. Pretty boring part but sounds good, and requires fast hands to get in position to play the root notes in time and cleanly. E G A C E G A E----------------------------||---------------------------------- B----------------------------||---------------------------------- G-------------------2------5-||--------------2------------------- D-----2------5----2------5---||-----2-----5--2------------------- A---2------5----0------3-----||---2-----5----0------------------- E-0------3-------------------||-0-----3-------------------------- (Repeat 3x) Chorus. Lots of strumming going on here but not detailed in the tab. Interestingly this part sounds pretty darn fruity for Megadeth when played on an acoustic. Buy hey, polished musicians use classic chord progressions right? E B A A E A E D A A E E E-----0---------------------------------4---4-----0-------------- B-----0-------------------5-5-5-5-3-----5---5-----0-------------- G-----x------4-----2------6-4-6-4-2-2---6---4-----x-------------- D-2---2------4-----2------7-6-7-6-4-2---7---6---2-2-------------- A-2----------2-----0----------------0-----------2---------------- E-0---------------------------------------------0---------------- This is the little riff after the chorus. It may take a couple practice tries to get the bends to sound just right and clean. Bending up 2 or 3 frets accurately is not too hard, but nailing two different bends back to back is a slight challenge. (I just wish he had varied the riff a bit throughout the song. It sounds too commercial to hear the exact same catch phrase repeated.) E---------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------- G------9-11-11b3-11b2-9~----------------------------------------- D--/11----------------------------------------------------------- A---------------------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------------------------------------------- (I wasn't sure of the tab punctuation here... the bends should be up 3 half-steps, then up 2 half-steps.)
Breadline by Megadeth guitar tabs playing instructions.