Tabs
Song: The Unforgiven II
Artist:Metallica
Album:Re-Load
transcribed by:[email protected]
open the file in Courier font for best results
Ok..I got a few requests lately for this song. And I totally know why..The
Unforgiven II is both an INCREDIBLE song, AND its also hard as hell to play
and is a VERY VERY involved song guitar wise, but thankfully, I got my
trusty Ibanez tape recorder which helps me out when it comes to figuring
out songs.
First thing I wanna tell ya...there are a lot of 2 different guitar
parts going on at the same time....so whenever you see 2 lines of tab
connected like this....
/|-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
|
|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|
\|-----------------------------|
...notice the verticle line down the left of the tab. That means to play
both those lines (seperate guitars) at the same time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As always in Load and Re-load, tune down guitars 1 half step.
Oh, by the way, whenever theres a part with 2 guitars at the same time,
like I expalined above...The Part Kirk plays will be on top, and James will
be under it.
Intro (2 guitars-both distortion)
/ |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |-7------7/9/10---12\10/12----/14\12--10/12\10--10----7\9\10-12\10\12--|
| |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |-5------5/7/8----10\8 /10----/12\10---8/10\8---8-----5\7\8--10\8-\10--|
|
| |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |-2--2---5--------5--------------------------------2-------------------|
| |-2--2---5--------5-----5------2-------2-----------2---------------5---|
| |-0--0---3--------3-----5------2-------2-----------0---------------5---|
\ |-----------------------3------0-------0---------------------------3---|
/ |-----------------|
| |-----------------|
| |-----------------|
| |-/12\7---7/9\7---|
| |-----------------|
| |-/10\5---5/7\5---|
|
| |-----------------|
| |-----------------|
| |----out----------|
| |-----------------|
| |-----------------|
\ |-----------------|
Heres the thing, James uses a B-string bender on his guitar
for that "country" soundin part, you can play it ALMOST like that by
just playin what I got.
Light distortion
/|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
||------------------------------------------------5/10--10-12-13--12^-9-9/-|
||------------------------------------------------2/5----------------------|
||-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
||-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
||-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|
||------0----------------------3---3--3---------------|
||---------1---------------3^------3^-3^--0---1/3\1---|
||----------------------0-------------------0-2/4\2---|
||---2---------------2--------------------------------|repeat throughout
||0-----------0-2-3-----------------------------------|similar stuff
\|----------------------------------------------------|
full bend
..Then start singing the first verse
...Then when he sings "Then I can Understand the you", play the guitar part
that KIRK (and only Kirk) plays in the intro, and at the same time, a
second guitar (no distortion) plays a strummer of chords, like so...
(Chord boxes are listed at the top of the page)
A minorAm / / // 
Cadd9Cadd9 / / // 
G+G / / // 
E minorEm / / //
"Understand the you"
Play that 2 times. Then....
"Lay beside...
|--------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------|
|--------2-----------0---------0---------1---|Repeat that 3 more times
|----2-----------2---------------------------|
|-0-----------3-------------2---------2------|
|------------------------3---------0---------|
Then ya got....
No, theres no sun...
|-----------------------------------------------------0------|
|--------3-------------1-----------------------1------0------|
|-----2-------------2-------------0---------2---------2------|
|--0-------------3-----------------------3------------2------|
|------------------------------2----------------------0------|
|--------------------------3---------------------------------|
Chorus (distortion)
"What ive.." "Turn the pages.."
|--------------------------------------------------------------|
|--0--1-----1--1----1---0--1--0--3----3--3----3--1----1--1---0-|
|--2--2-----2--2----2---2--2--0--0----0--0----0--0----0--0---0-|
|--2--2-----2--2----2---2--2-----------------------------------|
|--0-----X------------X-0--------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------|
...Repeat that line again for the next part of the chorus
then play...
|---------------------------|
|---------------------------|
|----/7--5--4--5----4-------|
|---------------------7\----|
|---------------------------|
|---------------------------|
Repeat the entire thing for the rest of the chorus...
...then, for the next verse...ok, let me explain the next verse..
the next verse, as you should obviously know, has a weird sounding
guitar effect in it. That effect can be produced by taking your
chorus pedal, and turn the SPEED and the DEPTH both up ALL THE WAY.
and, thats how you make the effect.
Next verse
|--8------8------8-------8------7------7------7------7------|
|-10-----10------8-------8------8------8------9------9------|
|-----9------9-------9------9------7------7------9------9---|Repeat for
|-----------------------------------------------------------|entire verse
|-----------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------|
the third time you play that..the 2nd guitar plays..
|--------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------|
|--------2-----------0---------0---------1---|
|----2-----------2---------------------------|
|-0-----------3-------------2---------2------|
|------------------------3---------0---------|
..then, for the PRE CHORUS ("she'll be there when Im gone"), play...
|-----------------------------------------------------0------|
|--------3-------------1-----------------------1------0------|
|-----2-------------2-------------0---------2---------2------|
|--0-------------3-----------------------3------------2------|
|------------------------------2----------------------0------|
|--------------------------3---------------------------------|
...then ya repeat the chorus....
Ok...im about to type out the solo. Its actually kinda easy for Kirk's
standards.....before I type the solo...i want to tell you what the other
guitar shouls play...
first, when the solo starts, the other guitar plays the intro part 1 and
a half times, then it plays 
G5G5 / / / 
E5E5 / XX X, then it plays the
chorus part until the solo is finished....just listen to the cd.
Solo
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------5--7----------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------5--7---5\4--5--4h5p4---4----------------17-19^-17----17-|
|-/7----7--7---7-----------------------7----5~~--5-5--/19-----------19----|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------20-------20------20-------20------20--20----20--20---19^--17---17-|
|-19^------19-------19------^19------19^--19-----19-----19-----------19---|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------17--------------17--------------17-------17---|
|--20^--20^--20^--20^\--/17----17-20^^\-/17----17--20^\-/17---17-20^---20-|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-17----------------19-17----19-17----19-17----19-17----------------------|
|----19p17-19p17----19-17----19-17----19-17----19-17----17-19-19^-19p17---|
|----------------19-------19-------19-------19-------19----------------19-|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------19--17\-------------------------------------------|
|--17--19^^p17----19--17\------5------------------------------------|
|--------------19----------/7------7--5----5------------------------|
|---------------------------------------7----7--6--5--3----5---3----|
|--------------------------------------------------------5-------5--|
..right after the solo, play the intro part again.
then, play the Jaymz's "country" sounding part (you know what I mean), then
the chorus, and half way through, you hear a part in there (the main part
from the Original Unforgiven), which is played...
(with reverb or some sort of echo)
|---------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|
|--2--4-4h5--5--5-5-4--0-----2--4-4h5--7--5---|
|---------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|
the second time around, you play it....
|----------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------5---|
|--2--4-4h5--5--5-5-4--0-----2--4-4h5--7-------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
...then the outro is basically just a strummer of chords..Play each chord
in gropus of 2, and keep them spaced out between each chord
A minorAm / G-B / 
Asus2Asus2 A minorAm 
D5D5 / A minorAm / G+G / G5G5
"unforgiven too" (hold)
....then, afer a second or 2 in silence, you think the song is over, but
then you hear the cymbal, and a little soft sounding thing on the guitar.
it goes like this....
Play this volume swell
|------------------|
|------------------|
|--4^-grad.-bend---|
|--2---------------|
|--0---------------|
|------------------|
in case you dont know what a volume swell is..before you play that chord,
turn the volume knob on the guitar down all the way, play the chord, then
turn the volume up.
...GUESS WHAT!!! THAT'S THE ENTIRE SONG!!! ITS OVER!! IT'S QUITE 
A augmentedA
CHALLENGING SONG BUT THATS IT!
as always, any questions, comments, death threats, AND NOW REQUESTS, are
accepted at [email protected]
