Big Star - Ballad of el goodo

From: marc@owlnet.rice.edu (Marc Bennett Hirsh) Subject: TAB: "Ballad Of El Goodo" (Big Star) A great Pop gem from a great Pop group. No wonder every cool band (R.E.M., Replacements, Bangles, Nirvana, etc.) loved 'em. Notes: 1) Capo everything up six frets! And yet, even this won't get you in the right key to play along with the recording. All the instruments in this one are a touch flat. But the sixth fret will get you the closest to the recorded key. Side note: I had stupidly, stupidly thought that this was capoed at the first fret, but then I discovered that a few things didn't sound right and realized what was going on. Which means that I have to relearn this song that I thought I knew, since all of the chords have effectively changed. This *can* be faked with the capo at one, though it won't sound perfect and, frankly, you should just learn it at the 6th. I don't know why you'd bother confusing yourself. But I'm just so pissed that I know it two different ways that I thought I'd point it out. 2) Since we are capoed up 6 frets, I am treating the 6th fret as if it's the nut. Therefore, all chord names are really just the shapes and don't reflect the true concert pitch. Also, if the number in the TAB says "1", then it's really played on the 7th fret (since the seventh fret is the first non-capoed fret). This is fairly standard, but I'm just restating it. 3) As with all Big Star songs, there are some beauty vocal harmonies which I am abandoning for this feeble transcription. Sorry, folks. 4) I don't know what effects are on the main guitar (probably Chilton, since it seems to be his song), but it sounds quite nifty. Some sort of flanger, perhaps. 5) The rhythm for most of this song is dead-simple. 2 strums per bar (which means, for those of us who know nothing about theory or other real-music stuff, hit each chord twice and then move on). The chord changes are faster in the chorus than in the verses, so here's the deal: for the verses, hit each chord twice for each time I've written it. For the chorus, hit each chord once for every time I've written it. Thus, if it's the verse and I've written "Eb Eb," then play Eb four times. I've put "G (G)" in the chorus because you don't actually hit that second G, but you let the first one continue ringing. For the bridge, I actually point out how many times to play each chord. Make sense' I was originally going to put the chords in TAB, but it took up way too much space and you don't really need to know *exactly* what's going on (like rests, chordals, etc.). You can figure that out on your own if it bothers you. 6) A couple of places where I just list chords, there's something a little more complex going on. I try to point out basically what's happening, but I couldn't figure out exact TAB, so I decided against putting in guesses. If you can pick it out, please do, but I can't. 7) I came [] <--- *that* close to denoting 12-string TAB with '=' rather than '-' (like I always use) but then thought that that'd probably tell more about me than I really want people to know. "The Ballad of El Goodo" (Alex Chilton/Chris Bell) Performed by Big Star From the album _#1_Record_ (on one stupendous CD with _Radio_City_) Transcribed without permission as always by Marc Hirsh Notation: s - sixteenth note e - eighth note q - quarter note h - half note w - whole note . - play note for one and a half times the value before it (just like a dot in standard notation) ^ - ties two note lengths together NOTE LENGTHS IN CAPITAL LETTERS MEAN REST FOR THAT VALUE OF TIME! / - slide up \ - slide down h - hammer-on p - pull-off (capo all guitars up 6 frets) Let all guitars ring! (guitar 1 - electric, flanged') G D Em Bm Am7 Dsus4 E-3---2---|-3---2---|-3---3---| B---3---3-|---3---3-|---1---3-| G---------|---------|---------| D-----0---|---------|-----0---| A---------|-----2---|-0-------| E-3-------|-0-------|---------| q q q q q q q q q q q q G E-3---------|---------------|---------------|-------------| B-3-------3-|-------3-----3-|-----3-------3-|-------3-----| G-0---------|-----0-----0---|---0-----------|-----0-------| D-0-----0---|-0h2-----0-----|-----------0---|-0h2-----0---| A-2-0h2-----|---------------|-------0h2-----|-------------| E-3---------|---------------|-3-------------|-------------| h e e e e e e e e q e e q e e e e e e e e e e q Q CHORUS G D Em Bm C Dsus4 G (G) And there ain't no one goin' to turn me round (both guitars) CHORUS G (G) (guitar 1) E---------| B---------| G---------| D-0-----0-| A---0h2---| E---------| G D Em Bm C Dsus4 h e e q And there ain't no one goin' to turn me round G (G) (guitar 1) E---------| B---------| G---------| D-0-----0-| A---0h2---| E---------| G D Em Bm C Dsus4 h e e q Ain't no one goin' to turn me round G (G) (guitar 1) E---------| B---------| G---------| D-0-----0-| A---0h2---| E---------| G D Em Bm C Dsus4 h e e q And there ain't no one goin' to turn me round [guitar 1 arpeggiates these next chords, but I'm not sure how] (guitar 1 plays chords, guitar 2 plays some arpeggiations) Am (4 times) C (3 times) G/B Been built up and trusted Am (4 times) C (3 times) G/B Broke down and busted (guitar 2) E-----------| B-1-0-------| G-----2-0---| D---------2-| A-----------| E-----------| e e e e h Am G/B C (twice) Am (twice, then rest twice) But they'll get theirs and we'll get ours, if you can just-a (both guitars) (guitar 2 only) Em Am D G E-3-2-|-0-2-|-3-2-|-0-2-|-3-2-|-0-2-|---------------|-3-| B-0-0-|-0-0-|-1-1-|-1-1-|-3-3-|-3-3-|---------------|-3-| G-0-0-|-0-0-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|---------------|-0-| D-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-0-0-|-0-0-|---------0h2p0-|-0-| A-2-2-|-2-2-|-0-0-|-0-0-|-----|-----|---1/2---------|---| E-0-0-|-0-0-|-----|-----|-----|-----|-3-----3-------|---| h h h h h h h h h h h h q e e e e e e w Hold on, hold on (both guitars) (guitar 2 only) Em Am D G E-3-2-|-0-2-|-3-2-|-0-2-|-3-2-|-0-2-|---------------|-3-| B-0-0-|-0-0-|-1-1-|-1-1-|-3-3-|-3-3-|---------------|-3-| G-0-0-|-0-0-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|---------------|-0-| D-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-0-0-|-0-0-|---------0h2p0-|-0-| A-2-2-|-2-2-|-0-0-|-0-0-|-----|-----|---1/2---------|---| E-0-0-|-0-0-|-----|-----|-----|-----|-3-----3-------|---| h h h h h h h h h h h h q e e e e e e w Hold on, hold on (guitar 1 does little one-note lines until "...strong odds") (guitar 2 plays chords as usual) CHORUS G D Em Bm C Dsus4 G (G) And there ain't no one goin' to turn me round [the rhythm for the end chord of every line in this final chorus is: e q. h, if you care] G D Em Bm C Dsus4 G (G) Ain't no one goin' to turn me round G D Em Bm C Dsus4 G (G) And there ain't no one goin' to turn me round G D Em Bm C Dsus4 G (G) Ain't no one goin' to turn me round (both guitars) (guitar 2 only) Em Am D G E-3-2-|-0-2-|-3-2-|-0-2-|-3-2-|-0-2-|---------------|-3-| B-0-0-|-0-0-|-1-1-|-1-1-|-3-3-|-3-3-|---------------|-3-| G-0-0-|-0-0-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|---------------|-0-| D-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-2-2-|-0-0-|-0-0-|---------0h2p0-|-0-| A-2-2-|-2-2-|-0-0-|-0-0-|-----|-----|---1/2---------|---| E-0-0-|-0-0-|-----|-----|-----|-----|-3-----3-------|---| h h h h h h h h h h h h q e e e e e e w Hold on, hold on (both guitars) (guitar 1 plays G chord once) (guitar 2) G E---3-------3---|---3-------3---|---3-------3---|---3-------3---| B-----3-------3-|-----3-------3-|-----3-------3-|-----3-------3-| G---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------| D-0-----0h2-----|-0-----0h2-----|-0-----0h2-----|-0-----0h2-----| A---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------| E---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------| q e e e e e e q e e e e e e q e e e e e e q e e e e e e on (guitar 2) G E---3-------3---|---3-------3---|---------------|-------| B-----3-------3-|-----3-------3-|---------------|-------| G---------------|---------------|---------------|-0-----| D-0-----0h2-----|-0-----0h2-----|-------0-0h2p0-|-------| A---------------|---------------|-2-1h2---------|---2---| E---------------|---------------|---------------|-----3-| q e e e e e e q e e e e e e q e e e e e e q q h ===================================================================== Chords used in this song (in order of appearance): G C Am7 D Bm Eb Fadd9 Em Dsus4 Am G/B E-3-|-3-|--3--|-2-|--2--|-----|---3---|--0--|---3---|--0--|-----| B-3-|-1-|--1--|-3-|--3--|--4--|---1---|--0--|---3---|--1--|--3--| G-0-|-0-|--2--|-2-|--4--|--0--|---2---|--0--|---2---|--2--|--0--| D-0-|-2-|--2--|-0-|--4--|--5--|---3---|--2--|---0---|--2--|--0--| A-2-|-3-|--0--|---|--2--|--6--|-------|--2--|-------|--0--|--2--| E-3-|---|-----|---|-----|-----|-------|--0--|-------|-----|-----| -- Marc Hirsh (marc@owlnet.rice.edu) \ / ^ --"It's easy to be nuts. Try being me." V (_The_Fisher_King_)