Close to the Edge is a 20 minute epic made by the Prog Outfit Yes back in 1972. I consider it, and the album it is on, to be one of the best put together albums of all time.
The title track is full of amazing guitar parts, but one that stands out to most to me is the segment that starts at about 3 minutes into the song. I have attempted to tab it out, and have gotten a pretty good result.
After the point that I stopped tabbing, there are a few variations on the riff that are played. If you listen to the song, it is pretty easy to pick out how they are different and what you should play to correctly play them.
Also note that the tempo is not perfect: if you can, listen to the song while learning the riff so you can match tempos and style.
I’ve pretty much finished the piece I was working on… it turned out to only run to about 40 seconds, but it seems pretty much finished. Maybe I could expand the different sections some more, but for now, I’m calling it finished.
I forgot to add a time marking, so just remember that it was written to be played at about 120, though it sounds fine if you play it faster.
And sorry that I haven’t been updating for the last week… other things got in the way of my blogging… lousy internet connection… busy week at school… etc, etc. I”m back on the air.
Some of Bowie’s music has absolutely great guitar parts, and one of my favorite is the little progression midway through ‘Space Oddity’, which also happens to be one of my favorite Bowie songs.
Anyways, you can’t get the riff to work out on a normal GCEA tuned Uke exactly, but you can get close using four rather simple chords: C, F, G, and A.
The Stones are possibly one of the best classic rock outfits still around today… though they have, in my opinion, somewhat lost their touch recently… not saying that they’re bad… just saying that they’re a bit…. past their prime.
Anyways, one of their most memorable guitar parts is the intro to ‘Paint It Black’, which is somewhat ukeable. Here’s the result of my efforts.
The open C is not the correct note for the lower part of the riff, though it works as filler. If you want only the proper melody, just leave out the open C’s.
ZZ Top’s “La Grange” is full of great variations of its main riff that are, sadly, not all able to be played on the uke.
However, bu sortof meshing a couple of the riffs together, you get a ukeable riff that is definitely recognizable as La Grange: pure Bluesy, Beard Swingin’, Texan noise (and that’s good noise, too, I might add).
You might want to watch this video to gain a better understanding of the ‘Beard Swingin” part.
Today’s riff is from Roy Orbison’s classic, Oh, Pretty Woman.
Have fun!
There are many variations that you can use when playing. One main variation is replacing the open E string notes with an E on the c string, which is on the fouth fret. This allows you to stay in one position for much of the riff.
