Closer tab by Nine Inch Nails

CLOSER
tanscribed by John Vettese (spex49d@prodigy.com)
as recorded on NIN's album The Downward Spiral

-There is alot more going on in this song than what I have transcribed.
 Most of it is synth, but I know that alot of the synth is changed to
 guitar when Trent preforms it with his live band so I transcribed it for
 guitar and bass. To have it sound exactly like it does on the album,
 you'd need 4 guitars (all with effects processers), two drum sets,
 and a bass.

 I'm assuming that you have one or maybe two guitars (and if you're in a
 band, a bass) so that's all I transcribed it for. Also I'm just posting
 the main riffs. You can figure out how many times to play them.

x=deaden
/=slide
~=vibrato

INTRO (drums...I don't play drums, sorry)

1ST VERSE (bass w/wah pedal)
1:----5---------3-------5--------3--0--------
2:-------------------------------------3--0--
3:-3-----x--3-3----x-3-----3--3--------------
4:-------------------------------------------

1ST CHORUS (clean bass and one clean guitar)
Bass
1:---------------
2:---------------
3:------x-1-x-2--
4:-1-------------

Guitar
1:------1-----------
2:------------------
3:------------------
4:-3--------3---4---
5:-3----------3---4-
6:-1--1---1---------

2ND VERSE (bass w/wah pedal, one guitar w/chorus pedal, one clean
guitar)
Bass
(Same as 1st verse)

Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal)
1:----------------------------3~~~/12~~~-
2:-5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-6~~~~~~~-------------
3:---------------------------------------
4:---------------------------------------
5:---------------------------------------
6:---------------------------------------

Guitar 2 (clean)
1:----------------------------3333-4444--
2:-5555555555555555-66666666-------------
3:---------------------------------------
4:---------------------------------------
5:---------------------------------------
6:---------------------------------------

2ND CHORUS (clean bass and two clean guitars)
Bass
 (Same as 1st Chorus)
Guitar 1
 (Same as 1st Chorus)
Guitar 2
1:--------------------------------
2:----------------------4----4----
3:----2----3--3--5------5----5----
4:----3----5--5--6----------------
5:--------------------------------
6:--------------------------------

INTERLUDE (clean bass, one guitar w/chorus pedal, one guitar
w/distortion
           pedal)
Bass
1:---------------------------
2:---------------------------
3:---------------------------
4:-0-0-0-1-------------------
Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal)
 (same as 2nd Verse)
Guitar 2 (w/distortion pedal, after a few repetitions)
1:------------------------------
2:------------------------------
3:--------6-5-------------------
4:-2--2-3-6-5--6-7--6-8--6-5-4--
5:-2--2-3-4-3--6-7--6-8--6-5-4--
6:-0--0-1------4-5--4-6--4-3-2--

PRE-OUTRO (clean bass, one guitar w/chorus pedal, one guitar w/wah
pedal)
Bass
 (same as interlude)
Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal)
 (same as 2nd Verse)
Guitar 2 (w/wah pedal)
1:-----------------------
2:-----------------------
3:-----------------------
4:-3----3----3----1-3-1--
5:---3---------3---------
6:---------4-------------

OUTRO (bass w/wah pedal, two guitars w/chorus pedals)
Bass (w/wah pedal)
1:---------------------------8-
2:-10--8--10--8-8--10--8-10----
3:-----------------------------
4:-----------------------------

Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal)
 (same as 2nd verse)
Guitar 2 (w/chorus pedal, after a few repetitions)
1:-----------------------------------------------------------
2:-----------------------------------------------------------
3:-----------------------------------------------------------
4:-5~~~-3~~~~~~~-3~~~-2~~~~~~~-1~~~----------------3~~~~~~~~-
5:----------------------------------5~~~~~~~-1-1-0-----------
6:-----------------------------------------------------------

then, by itself

1:-------------------------------------------------------------------
2:-------------------------------------------------------------------
3:-12~~~-10~~~~~~~-10~~~-9~~~~~~~--------------------------10~~~~~~~-
4:--------------------------------13~~~-12~~~~~~~-13-13-12-----------
5:-------------------------------------------------------------------
6:-------------------------------------------------------------------

                               THE END!!!

---

Nine Inch Nails -- "Closer"


This thing's loaded with layers of guitar.  The song starts out sparse,
adding parts as it goes; the first big line is the main keyboard riff,
which is described earlier by cianyde@zero.cypher.com.  Following are
some more lines, transcribed as best I could.


[at 1:04]

"I want to fuck you like an animal," etc.

This line repeats.  Use an octaver to get real low pitches, or use the
tuning suggested earlier.

E-----------------------E
B-----------------------B
G-----------------------G
D------------------1----D
A----3--3----1--3-------A
E-----------------------E


[at 3:45]

Here, like cianyde said about the main riff, you'll want to use an envelope
filter (preferred) or a wah.  Something's going on here with two C notes
being played an octave apart, but I know there's more to it than this:

E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E
B-------------------------------------------------------------------------B
G-----5-----5-----5--------5-----5-----5-----5-----5----------------------G
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------D
A--------3-----3-----3--3-----------3-----3-----3-----3-------------------A
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E


[at 4:47]

Pretty easy, a 'typical' rock pattern:

E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E
B-------------------------------------------------------------------------B
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------G
D----------------------------------------------1--------------------------D
A---3-----1-----3-----1--1---3-----1-----3--------------------------------A
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E

These lines are simple -- but again, you have to get the rhythm down.
Think Prince; at its heart, this is very much a black tune.  Real black
funk is where, I think, Reznor gets many of his rhythms.


[at 5:09]

Here's another funk/blues riff that you can hear in the background.
Bend the D# to _almost_ an E, then hit the low C.

E-----------------------E
B-----------------------B
G----8(9)---------------G
D-----------------------D
A----------10-----------A
E-----------------------E


[at 5:51]

This is the riff at the end of the song, but note that it's also played
quietly in the background for a while before (I first hear it at 5:30,
but knowing Reznor, its probably layered in there somewhere before that,
even).  If you have a whammy bar, you can try playing it by plucking the
string with your thumb while pulling down on the whammy and letting go
right away; doing this with each note makes for a cool effect (different
from the album, but cool nonetheless).

Oh -- you'll want to play this line with as clean a tone as you can muster.

E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E
B---20---18-----18---17-----16---15-----11--11--10--13--------------------B
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------G
D--------------------------------------------------------10---------------D
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------A
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E

E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E
B---20---18-----18---17-----16---15-----11--11--10--13--------------------B
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------G
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------D
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------A
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E


--  Michael Stutz
at118@po.cwru.edu                                               95.01.02