Duran Duran - Big bang generation

Duran Duran - Big Bang Generation (1997) Tabbed by: trevgreg Email: trevgreg1227@hotmail.com Tuning: Standard Here is how to play most of this album track off the band's 1997 album, Medazzaland. This is one of the last songs to feature the classic Wedding Album era line-up for the band, as well as one of few tracks off the album to feature John Taylor on bass. Besides being one of the more underrated tracks overall in the band's back catalog, in my opinion, the song also features some neat distorted and reverb parts from Warren Cuccurullo. The choruses are particularly easy to play, consisting of mostly barre chords and some light muting of those chords that goes along with it. Here's the tab to the intro played before the verses, as well as briefly before the final chorus. Pretty basic stuff if you listen to the song, as long as you remember the bend the note on the 15th fret up and down with your finger every time. Repeat as necessary. e|-------------------------------------------------------------------| B|-------------------------------------------------------------------| G|--15(b) 13--14--13--14--15(b)--13--14--15(b)-----------------------| D|-------------------------------------------------------------------| A|-------------------------------------------------------------------| E|-------------------------------------------------------------------| For the verses, playing it with some reverb on seems to work out the best (a la How Soon Is Now by The Smiths, which also makes use of the reverb for playing an F# chord to start out with). If you have a decent pedal system though, you might be able to find an effect that works out just as effectively without using the reverb necessarily. F#5 B5 D5 C5 B5 e|------------------------------------------------------------------------| B|------------------------------------------------------------------------| G|--------------------------------4---4----7---5--4-----------------------| D|--4---4-----4(h)--2(h)--0(h)----4---4----7---5--4-----------------------| A|--4---4-------------------------2---2----5---3--2-----------------------| E|--2---2-----------------------------------------------------------------| After playing the F#5 chord twice more with reverb at the "Now that I'm so alien" lyric, make sure to transition into the chorus with this lead part used in the verses. The brief lead part isn't played with reverb this time, so remember to kick it into distortion before playing the chorus. e|----------------------------------------------------------------------| B|----------------------------------------------------------------------| G|----------------------------------------------------------------------| D|--4---4----4(h)--2(h)--0(h)-------------------------------------------| A|--4---4---------------------------------------------------------------| E|--2---4---------------------------------------------------------------| The chorus is fairly basic, as you can see below. Along with getting the up-to-down motions right while playing them, also remember to play some muted notes at times during the chorus. They aren't shown here since Warren seems to insert them inconsistently into each of the riffs on the studio version. So be sure to listen in and play along until you get something that's close to the right feel for it. D5 C5 D5 D5 C5 e|---------------------------------------------------------------| B|---------------------------------------------------------------| G|--9---9--9---5---5--5---7--7----7---5--------------------------| D|--9---9--9---5---5--5---7--7----7---5--------------------------| A|--7---7--7---3---3--3---5--5----5---3--------------------------| E|---------------------------------------------------------------| This is the middle eight lead part after Simon sings "We're gonna come together here." It appears that when Warren played it live, he did things a bit differently with it, playing all sorts of hammer-ons and pull-offs in the process. I tried to figure out something close to what he played on the studio track higher up on the neck. But since he usually kept this certain part to the middle part of the guitar neck, I figured out a simple way of playing it there too. So repeat this part three times at the middle eight... e|---------------------------------------------------------------------| B|---------------------------------------------------------------------| G|--7--7(h)-----6(h)8---7--7(h)---9-------6(h)8------------------------| D|---------------------------------------------------------------------| A|---------------------------------------------------------------------| E|---------------------------------------------------------------------| ... then finish it off with a pull-off at the end, before repeating the intro. e|---------------------------------------------------------------------| B|---------------------------------------------------------------------| G|--7--7(h)-----6(h)8---7--7(h)---9(p)8-----15(b) 13--14--13--14-------| D|---------------------------------------------------------------------| A|---------------------------------------------------------------------| E|---------------------------------------------------------------------| The final chorus is played almost exactly like the first two, only the barre chords are moved down two frets. Remember to listen in for some muting when wherever its needed too. This riff is also played for the rest of the song. F#5 D5 E5 E5 D5 e|------------------------------------------------------------------| B|------------------------------------------------------------------| G|--11---11--11---7---7--7----9----9---9----------------------------| D|--11---11--11---7---7--7----9----9---9----------------------------| A|--9----9---9----5---5--5----7----7---7----------------------------| E|------------------------------------------------------------------| I haven't been able to figure out Warren's outro at the end. So if any of you have ideas for it, feel free to submit them. F#5