Ain T Talkin Bout Love tab by Van Halen

Tabs

Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love off of the album Van Halen(1978)by Van Halen.

Originally recorded by Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony.

Tuning: E,A,G,D,B,E

Intro:
e|-------------0-1----------3-------------------|
BB|--------1---------1----------3----------------|
G+G|----------2----------2------------------------|
D MajorD|----2-----------------------------------------|
A augmentedA|--0-------------------------------0--3~--3~-2~|
E MajorE|----------------------------------------------|

Flanger on.

Palm-mute every note except the 0--3~--3~-2~.

Play that 4 times then the main riff is this:

e|----------------------------------|
BB|--1-----1-------------------------|
G+G|--2-----2-------------------------|
D MajorD|--2-----2-------------------------|
A augmentedA|-----0----0--2~--------3~--3~-2~--|
E MajorE|-------------3~-----3-------------|

mute the open a's. That's the main riff for the chorus and this part. But every 2nd time you play that riff there is a fill.

Fill 1:
e|--------------------------------------------|
BB|--------------------------------------------|
G+G|--------------------------------------------|
D MajorD|--6WBD-7WP-8WP-9WP-10WP-11WP-12WP-13WP-14WP-|
A augmentedA|--------------------------------------------|
E MajorE|--------------------------------------------|

WP means whammy bar push. Listen to the song for the amount of pressure.

Fill 2:

e|--5b7--7p5p4--------------------------|
BB|--------------7p5p4-------------------|
G+G|---------------------7p5p4------------|
D MajorD|----------------------------7p5p4-----|
A augmentedA|-----------------------------------7--|
E MajorE|--------------------------------------|

Verse Riff:
e|--------------0-1--3~-----------------|
BB|-------1-----------3~-----------------|
G+G|----------2---------------------------|
D MajorD|----2---------------------------------|
A augmentedA|--0----------------------0-3~--3~-2~--|
E MajorE|--------------------------------------|

That's of course during the vocals.

Palm-mute the first 6 notes. Play that over and over again until the chorus.

During the chorus play the main riff with these 3 new fills.

Fill 3:
e|-----------------------------|
BB|-----------------------------|
G+G|---------*7*~~~-*7*--*7*~~~~~|
D MajorD|---------------------*5*~~~~~|
A augmentedA|-0-2-3-----------------------|
E MajorE|-----------------------------|

Fill 4:
e|---------------------------------------|
BB|---------------------------------------|
G+G|-3h7----------------------------5h7h8--|
D MajorD|-----5h9-------------------5h7---------|
A augmentedA|---------3h7-------5h6h7---------------|
E MajorE|--------------5h8----------------------|

Fill 5:
e|--------------------------------|
BB|--------------------------------|
G+G|----------------------5T13p5p0--|
D MajorD|--------------5-9-11------------|
A augmentedA|-------5-7-8--------------------|
E MajorE|--5-7---------------------------|

Ok, the Guitar solo is this:
e|----------0--0---0--0--0-0------|
BB|----------10-10-10-12-13-12SWV--|
G+G|-------10-----------------------|
D MajorD|--9-12--------------------------|
A augmentedA|--------------------------------|
E MajorE|--------------------------------|

e|------------0--0--0-----------------------|
BB|-----------10-10-10-12TP-13TP-12~-12-12-5|
G+G|-------10---------------------------------|
D MajorD|--9-12------------------------------------|
A augmentedA|------------------------------------------|
E MajorE|------------------------------------------|

e|-----------0--0--0---------------------------|
BB|-----------10-10-10-12-13/-15-14-13-12-16/17-|
G+G|-------10------------------------------------|
D MajorD|--9-12---------------------------------------|
A augmentedA|---------------------------------------------|
E MajorE|---------------------------------------------|

e|--17P4T-20P4T-17P4T-20P4T--------------------|
BB|---------------------------17P4T-20P4T-17P4T-|
G+G|---------------------------------------------|
D MajorD|---------------------------------------------|
A augmentedA|---------------------------------------------|
E MajorE|---------------------------------------------|

e|----------------------------------------------|
BB|-20P4T----------------------------------------|
G+G|--------17P4T-20P4T--20p17p15-----------------|
D MajorD|------------------------------20p17p15--------|
A augmentedA|--------------------------------------20p17p15|
E MajorE|----------------------------------------------|

e|--------------------------------------------|
BB|--------------------------------------------|
G+G|--------------------------------------------|
D MajorD|--------------------------------------------|
A augmentedA|--------------------------------------------|
E MajorE|-20p17p15-20p17p15-20p17p15-20p17p15--15WD--|

Ok then the chorus comes back in, no new fills.

During the bridge, switch to clean tone and push the volume pedal down to low volume and play this:
e|------------1p0-----------------|
BB|-------1--------0---------------|
G+G|---------2----------------------|
D MajorD|----2---------------------------|
A augmentedA|--0-----------------0-3p0-3~-2~-|
E MajorE|--------------------------------|

play 4 times.

at the BE FOR BABY!!
play this with flanger on:
e|-------------------------------------|
BB|-------------------------------------|
G+G|---------------------3p2p0-----------|
D MajorD|--5-5------------------------3p2p0------|
A augmentedA|--5-5-----------------------------3p2p0-|
E MajorE|--3-3-----------------------------------|

e|--------------------------------------|
BB|--------------------------------------|
G+G|--------------------------------3p2p0-|
D MajorD|--5-5------------------------3p2p0-------|
A augmentedA|--5-5------------------3p2p0-------------|
E MajorE|--3-3------------------------------------|

play that routine twice with volume pedal up with light distortion.

then play the chorus a final time with 3 new fills.
Fill 6:
e|-------------------------------------------|
BB|-------------------------------------------|
G+G|-------------------------------------------|
D MajorD|-------------------------------------------|
A augmentedA|-------------------------------------------|
E MajorE|---7-5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-|

Fill 7:
e|-----------------------|
BB|-----------------------|
G+G|--5WBP-6WBP-7WBP-8WBP--|
D MajorD|-----------------------|
A augmentedA|-----------------------|
E MajorE|-----------------------|

Fill 8:
e|----------------------------------------------|
BB|----------------------------------------------|
G+G|----------------------------------------------|
D MajorD|----------------------------------------------|
A augmentedA|----0\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|
E MajorE|----------------------------------------------|

The ///'s mean strong whammy bar dive.

After that repeat the above guitar solo.

Then the outro:
e|----------------------------------------------|
BB|----------------------------------------------|
G+G|----------------------------------------------|
D MajorD|-4--6--8-------------4--6-------------4--6--9-|
A augmentedA|-4--6--8--------1p0--4--6-------------4--6--9-|
E MajorE|-2--4--6---2h3-------2--4--0\\\\--2--4--7-|

e|----------------------------------------------|
BB|----------------------------------------------|
G+G|--3p2p0-------------------------5--7----------|
D MajorD|-------3p2p0--------------------5--7----------|
A augmentedA|------------3p2p0--------7p5p4--3--5----------|
E MajorE|------------------7p5p4-----------------------|

that space is holding out the final D MajorD barre chord while the drums go mad and then the last chord is:
e|-----------------------|
BB|-----------------------|
G+G|-----------------------|
D MajorD|--6~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
A augmentedA|--6~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
E MajorE|--4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

There you go!!! Listen to the song for rhythm.

I feel the tricky part of this song is progressing through these parts.

Hope this tab is helpful. It covers all the fills which I noticed is something rarely done on ATBL tabs.

🏷Legend:
*7*= Pinch Harmonic
P4T= Play note 4 times
WD= Whammy Bar dive
/= just 1 means slide down and just 1 / means slide up.

There you go.