h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend
r - release bend
x - muted note (or Rake)
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
v or ~ - vibrato
t - right hand tap (eg. t10)
^ - Harmonic (eg. ^12)
P.H. - pinch harmonic
N.H. - natural harmonic
P.M. - palm muted note
(C#m) (A)
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | 8 8/9 8vvvvvv 6h8p6p4 6^vvvvv | |
| | | 6 6 | 9^ 9/13 14^vvvvvv |
| | | 4 | 7 7 |
| | 16\ | 0 | /5 |
| Gtr.1 (Doubled) P.H P.H P.H |
(F#m) (B)
| | | |
| | | |
| | | 6^ 6^b8 |
| 13^vvvvv 11^\ | 6 6^/7 6^vvvvvv 4h6 4p2 4^vvvv | 4 4 |
| | 4 4 | 2 |
| | 2 | |
| P.H | P.M | P.M P.H | P.H | P.H P.H |
(C#m)
| | | |
| | 9^b10 r(9) | |
| 6^ 4h6p4p2 4 4^b5vvvvv | 8 8/9 /11vvvvvv | |
| | 6 6 | |
| 2 | 2/4 | |
| | | |
| P.H P.H P.H |
(A) (F#m)
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 9 9/13 14 13^b14r 13^b14r 11^vvvv | 6 6b7 6^vvvvvv |
| | 7 7 | 4 4 |
| | 5 | 2 |
| P.M P.M P.H | P.M | P.M P.H |
(B)
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | 6^ 6^b8 6^ 4 6 4p2 4^vv 4^b5vvvvv | | |
| 4 6p4p2 4^vvvv | 4 4 | | |
| | 2 | | |
| | | | |
| P.H P.H P.H P.H P.H |
(C#m)
| | | |
| | | 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 |
| | | 11b13r(11)b13 11b13 11b13 11b13 11b13 11b13 11 |
| | | x |
| | | x |
| | | x |
Gtr.2
(A)
| 9 | 9 11 12 11b12vvvvvvvvvvvr(11) |
| 12p9 12b14 12p9 | 12b14vvvvvv 12 |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
(F#m)
| 9 11p9 12 9 | |
| 12 12 12p9 12 | |
| 11b13 11b13 | 11 12p11p9 11 11p9 11 9b11 |
| | 11 11 11 9 |
| | |
| | |
(B)
| | |
| | |
| 11 9 11 9b 11 9b | 9 9\8 8 8\6 |
| 11 11 11 9 11 11 11 9 11 11 11 9 11 | 11 11\9 9 9 9\7 |
| | 11 11\9 11 9 9\7 |
| | 11 |
Gtrs.3 and 4
G#/B#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| |
| 19b21 r(19)p17 |
| 6 6\4 5b6 r(5) |
| 7 7 7\6 6 6b7 r(6) |
| 9 7 7\6 7 6b7 r(6) 7 |
| 9 7 |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gtr.3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(C#m)
| | |
| | 19b21vvvvvvvvvvv 19b21r(19)p17 t21b24 21r19p17 t21b24 21r19p17 |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
*Bend tapped (t) notes w/left hand at 19th fret.
(A)
| | 19b21vvvvvvvvvvvv 21b24 (21)pb24 |
| t21b24 21r19p17 t21b24 21r19p17 | x |
| | x |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| (21)pb23 (21)pb24 (21)pb23 (21)pb24 (21)pb23 r(21) (21)vvvvvvvv |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
(F#m)
| | 17 17 17 17 |
| | 16b17 16b17 16b17 16b17 16b17 16b17r(16) 14 16 14 |
| | 16 16 |
| | |
| | |
| | |
Gtr.3 (Dbld)
(B) (A)
| | 17 18 19 17 18 19 17 18 19 18 17 18 17 vvvvvv |
| | /19 19 19 19 20b22vvvvvv |
| 16\14b (14)/ | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
dive w/bar +1_____
(B) \ / \
| 19 vvvvv | 20 | \slack/ \ |
| 22b24vvvvv | 22b25 | \ / \ |
| | | 0 (x) \ |
| | | \ |
| | | \ |
| | | \ |
Gtr.3 slack
_+6 _+6 w/bar
\ / ~~~~~~~~~~
| \ / \ | Last 3 bars were very difficult to tab |
| (5) (5) \ | 'cause there were bunch of weird symbols |
| (5) (5) \ | in the magazine. |
| \ |
| \ |
| \ |
slack
Guitar World / March 1997
Best solos of '96
Dimebag Darrell:
"Flods"(3:50-5:01)
Pantera, The Great Southern Trendkill
"Damn! This is a total honor, man. It's a trip!" exclaimed the "jenovah of the
hangova," Dimebag Darrell, when we informed him that he'd been voted Most
Valuable Player in our latest Readers Poll."It feels real good and I appreciate
it. I guess "most valuable" means that I haven't let anyone down on record yet-
and hopefully not live either! Please tell your readers I'm real flattered and
would obviously like to say a big-assed 'thank you' to all of 'em that voted for
me.
"One of the things that makes the 'Floods' solo come across like it does is
Rex's bass playing behind it," Dime points out. "He's almost playing a whole
lead on his own and he did it in one take, dude! He's using his fingers and he
plays a whole bunch of cool lick and shit in there. And all those factors
Definitely add to the vibe and feel of my solo 'cause I'm playing off his part a
lot - it was a great foundation for me to build upon."
When asked about the catchy, arpeggiated theme he uses to fill the first eight
Bars of the solo, Dime reveals: "That particular solo was thought-out in a more
orchestrated fashion than the ones I played in 'Drag the Waters' or 'Cowboys
from Hell', where I'd just start ripping right off the bat. It seemed
appropriate to start off like that and then build and build and build and then
climax with the big harmonic squeals at the end," he continues. "The whole thing
fell into place real easily and naturally. It just kind did what it did!"
As you can see, the theme in question is based on root-five-nine interval
pattern or motif which Darrell applies to each of the following notes: C#, A, F#
and B to imply a four-bar chord progression of C#m(add9)-A(add9)-F#m(add9)-
B(add9), which is then repeated. For added color, Dime embellishes the end of
each root-five-nine motif slightly different every time, using chord tones such
as the third, fifth and/or seventh of each root, all in the key of C# natural
(Aeolian) minor (C# D# E F# G# A B). He also uses lots of pinch harmonics (P.H.)
to further spice up the proceedings. To fatten up the sound of this eight-bar
Intro, Dime doubled the part: " I picked up the idea of doubling leads from
listening to Randy Rhoads when I was a kid," he says.
The doubling stops at the end of bar 8 and just one guitar plays the soulful
passage that fills the next three bars using the C# minor blues scale (C# E F# G
G# B) with ninth (D#) added. Then, at bar 12, two other guitar lines are added
for the short descending three-part harmony run based on C# natural minor. "The
third one was pretty low (in terms of pitch) and we mixed it down a bit so it
wouldn't sound too overhelming," Dime states. "I didn't sit there and go, 'let's
play a third here and fifth there' when I worked those parts out, though. I just
grabbed the notes I heard in my head.
"Right out of that three-part thing I go into that upper-register stuff almost
an old Lynyrd Skynyrd-style thing, where I was using right-hand taps (bar 13).
They probably wouldn't have used right-hand hammer-ons to play that lick, but I
thought playing it that way sounded cool." Our helpful tour guide adds, "I
doubled this part too but a little more lossely this time."
And as for Dime's trademark whammy baraided harmonic squeal that finishes the
Solo? Don't be surprised if you can't duplicate the CD version exactly using
just one guitar. "For the big climax note I think there's four guitars goin'
on!" Dime laughs. "There's a squeal at the 2nd fret of the g string, a squeal at
the 5th fret of the G string and then I used the Digitech Whammy Pedal on two
string squeals at the harmonics at the 4th and 12 frets of the G and B strings,
I believe. Once again, it was one of those deals where I didn't plan it out. I
just sat there and fucked with it until it sounded right."