The Fragile tab by Nine Inch Nails

Tabs

Band: Nine Inch Nails
Album: The Fragile
Song: The Fragile

song by heart, and it's not a complex song, I decided to submit a corrected
version.

The song's basically in G+G minor, and there's lots of layering of distortion
and stuff in some parts,
and out-of-tune-ness in others, as is standard NIN style. This will give you
the basic gist of the
chords

Tuning is standard.

Bassline, During verse 1: (repeated 4 times)
(if you want to play the bassline on the guitar,
like I often do. The real bass is an octave or two lower)
|----------------------|----------------------|
|----------------------|----------------------|
|----------------------|----------------------|
|---------3--3---------|----------------------|
|----------------------|------------2--3--2---|
|--3----------------1--|--1------3------------|

|----------------------|----------------------|
|----------------------|----------------------|
|----------------------|----------------------|
|---------3--3---------|----------------------|
|----------------------|----------------------|
|--3----------------1--|--1------1--3\--------|

Verse 1


Chorus chords are just like this:
|---------------------------|
|---------------------------|
|--7--7--7--7--8--8--8--10--|
|--7--7--7--7--8--8--8--10--|
|--5--5--5--5--6--6--6--8---|
|---------------------------|

|------------------------------|
|------------------------------|
|--10--10--10--10--------------|
|--10--10--10--10--5--5--5--5--|
|--8---8---8---8---5--5--5--5--|
|------------------3--3--3--3--|

Chorus lyrics:
D MajorD    D#D#   FF     G+G
I won't let you fall apart

line is repeated 4 times, but timing isn't regular.
First line: full chord pattern
Second line: 7/8 chord pattern
Third line: full chord pattern
Forth line: 3/4 chord pattern

Second verse, same bassline as first, repeated 1 7/8 times

Lyrics:

During this verse there's a quiet out-of-tune guitar in the
background plucking something like this:

|--2--------------------|
|-----0----0----0----0--|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|

And another that kinda randomly (but very slowly,
no more than once per measure) plucks a high G, sorta
complementing the other guitar plucking:

|--15--|
|------|
|------|
|------|
|------|
|------|


The 2nd chorus has the same lyrics and chord progression
as the first, but the timing is regular now. The line
"I won't let you fall apart" is repeated 4 full times.

In addition, there's another guitar layered over it
doing this twice:
                          3x
|--15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15--||
|--15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15--||
|--------------------------------------------------*||
|--------------------------------------------------*||
|---------------------------------------------------||
|---------------------------------------------------||

|--15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-----------|
|--15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-----------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------15-15-15--|
|--------------------------------------13-13-13--|
|------------------------------------------------|


The break starts off quiet, with a distorted sound for
two measures, then strings and such come in carrying the
chord progression along with lyrics.

The chord progression during the break is FF C majorC D#,
but things are a bit out of tune giving a strange ambience.

Break
FF         C majorC                D#D#
FF        C majorC                D#D#
FF            C majorC            D#D#
FF            C majorC            D#D#
picking and...


For the first half of it, there's two very quiet out of
tune guitars, one doing something like this, the other
complementing it:

|--------------------------|-------------------------|
|--------------------------|-------------------------|
|--10--9----9----9--10--9--|----9----9--10----9--10--|
|--------------------------|-------------------------|
|--------------------------|-------------------------|
|--------------------------|-------------------------|


Then during "picking and picking and..." another quiet
out-of-tune guitar comes in doing something like this:

|-----------------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------------|---------------------11--|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|
|--9--9----9----9--9----|--9--9----9----9--9------|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|


As the break nears it's end, you hear a guitar reverse-echoing
in ... it leads to the solo, which is on top of the chorus
chord progression.

(if you're an astute NIN fan, you'll notice that this
solo is repeated almost exactly somewhere else on the album...
can you hear where? ;)


|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--5--5--5--5--------------|--------------------|
|--------------3--3--3-----|--------------------|
|-----------------------6--|------6----3--------|

|-----------------------------|--------------------|
|-----------------------------|--------------------|
|-----------------------------|--------------------|
|--5--5--5--5--12--12--12--3--|--------------------|
|-----------------------------|------3----2--------|
|-----------------------------|--------------------|

|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--2--2--2--2--3--3--3-----|--------------------|
|-----------------------3--|------3----2--------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|

|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--5--5--5--5--------------|--------------------|
|--------------3--3--3-----|--------------------|
|-----------------------6--|------6----3--------|

|--------------------------|----------------------|
|--------------------------|----------------------|
|--------------------------|----------------------|
|--2--2--2--2--3--3--3-----|----------------------|
|-----------------------1--|------3----5-6-5------|
|--------------------------|----------------------|

|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--3--3--3--3-----------5--|------5-------------|
|--------------3--3--3-----|-----------5--------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|

|-----------------------------|--------------------|
|-----------------------------|--------------------|
|-----------------------------|--------------------|
|--5--5--5--5--12--12--12--3--|--------------------|
|-----------------------------|------3----2--------|
|-----------------------------|--------------------|

|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--------------------------|--------------------|
|--2--2--2--2--3--3--3-----|--------------------|
|-----------------------1--|------1-------------|
|--------------------------|-----------3--------|


At the end of the solo Trent begins to yell
"It's something I have to do.."
which leads into the 3rd chorus which musically is just
like the 2nd chorus, but with more lyrics superimposed
on it in addition to the "I won't let you fall apart"

Coda Lyrics:
it's something I have to do
I was there too
before everything else
I was like you

Other versions of The Fragile

Alternative guitar chords and tabs for The wretched by Nine Inch Nails