Death by Guitar: (or «Silent Anticipations» by Michael Hedges)
(butchered transcription intuited by Scott Edgar)
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Line numbers at far left; string tuning shown for all strings
h = harmonic s = stringslap (generic punishment, no precision
H = hammer-on S = bodysmack /necessary:just get that bass])
p = pulloff to < = downslide
= upslide
r = righthand Tuning from standard: tune the low E down two
l = lefthand frets to a D and the B string up one fret to
ro= rightover a C. That’s all:)
lo= leftover
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) I N T R O (
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E—12h—-12—>—14—14—14—>—15—15—15——-12h—12—>—
C—12h——————-7h———————-12h———
0G—12h——————-7h———————-12h———
1D—12h——————-7h———————-12h———
A—12h——————-7h——————s0—————
D—-0———————0——————-s0—————
E-(>)-14—14—14—14—14—p—10—12—12—p—10—p—8—p—7—-
C————-7h———————————————-
0G————-7h———————————————-
2D————-7h———————————————-
A————-7h———————————————-
D————-0————————————————
E—8—p—7—p—0—H2->-3—p—2—2—H3—p—2—p—0————-
C—————0—————-3h——————H2->-3—14—
C—p—0——————————————4h————
0G———H2->-4—4—4—4h————
D————————————————0————
E-p-7-H9—9—p-7-p-5—14-14—p-12-H14->-15—15—————-
C———7h————-12h—————-7h—————-
0G———7h————-12h—————-7h—*breath]*—-
5D———7h————-12h—————-7h—————-
A———7h————-12h—————-7h—————-
D————————-0————————————
E——12h—————7h————————-5h———
C——12h—————7h————————-5h———
0G——12h—————7h————————-5h———
6D——12h-loH10—-10—3—>—10—3—>—10—p—0—1—>—3—————
A—lo3—>—10—3—>—10—3—>—10—p—0—1—>—3—————
D—lo3—>—10—3—>—10—3—>—10—p—0—1—>—3—————
This also repeats about three times, then follows another line 09,
then another set of these, and then…oh, eventually a crash’n’burn
variation on line 06 with lots of offkey harmonics, screeching to a
halt with a ferocious hammer-on over the neck with the left hand
on a 333000 chord, after which collapse from oxygen depletion is in
order, and makes a touching finale.
* * * * ** * * ** ** *
So…let’s see where I can further confuse the issue….
Line 03: the 3h is an octave up from the 7h and sounds wonderful,
if it can be coaxed into being. All those initial harmonic chords
are nice slightly arpeggiated, although just a fist-impact (*POW]*)
will do as well.
Line 05: the X7h7h7h7h15 is indeed a bit of a stretch, so I
often use the other harmonic node (don’t ask at which fret, my
hyperoctaves aren’t too great) which involves a flamenco-style
right-handed strum with the heel of the thumb brushing the
strings at the requisite fret to get the harmonic. It’s about
fret 18 or 20 or something; two before the hole on my machine.
Line 06: the harmonics can also be arpeggiated; he does them
both ways, since that line more or less crops up more than once.
Line 07: He accompanies the slap against the body with a
short strum, or something. It comes out slightly different when
I play it; too much intuition fluxing it up, I guess. He frets the
slide from lo3 to pulloff to the 12h (or whatever sounds good; I
do it a bit differently, and this may not be exact…prob’ly ain’t)
with his left index finger over the neck, then hits the 555555
from under the neck as a regular chord.
Line 08: The lo3’s (and following slides later on) are fretted
over the neck with the left thumb. Most of the overneck hammer-ons
are pinch-hit with the left index and thumb.
Line 10: All the 333000’s preceeding a slide to 10’s are fretted
over the neck with the left thumb. Get ready for the smoke to fly;
I still can’t play this fast enough. I think he must oil his strings:)
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