Closer Nine Inch Nails
CLOSER tanscribed by John Vettese (spex49d@prodigy.com) as recorded on NIN's album The Downward Spiral -There is alot more going on in this song than what I have transcribed. Most of it is synth, but I know that alot of the synth is changed to guitar when Trent preforms it with his live band so I transcribed it for guitar and bass. To have it sound exactly like it does on the album, you'd need 4 guitars (all with effects processers), two drum sets, and a bass. I'm assuming that you have one or maybe two guitars (and if you're in a band, a bass) so that's all I transcribed it for. Also I'm just posting the main riffs. You can figure out how many times to play them. x=deaden /=slide ~=vibrato INTRO (drums...I don't play drums, sorry) 1ST VERSE (bass w/wah pedal) 1:----5---------3-------5--------3--0-------- 2:-------------------------------------3--0-- 3:-3-----x--3-3----x-3-----3--3-------------- 4:------------------------------------------- 1ST CHORUS (clean bass and one clean guitar) Bass 1:--------------- 2:--------------- 3:------x-1-x-2-- 4:-1------------- Guitar 1:------1----------- 2:------------------ 3:------------------ 4:-3--------3---4--- 5:-3----------3---4- 6:-1--1---1--------- 2ND VERSE (bass w/wah pedal, one guitar w/chorus pedal, one clean guitar) Bass (Same as 1st verse) Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal) 1:----------------------------3~~~/12~~~- 2:-5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-6~~~~~~~------------- 3:--------------------------------------- 4:--------------------------------------- 5:--------------------------------------- 6:--------------------------------------- Guitar 2 (clean) 1:----------------------------3333-4444-- 2:-5555555555555555-66666666------------- 3:--------------------------------------- 4:--------------------------------------- 5:--------------------------------------- 6:--------------------------------------- 2ND CHORUS (clean bass and two clean guitars) Bass (Same as 1st Chorus) Guitar 1 (Same as 1st Chorus) Guitar 2 1:-------------------------------- 2:----------------------4----4---- 3:----2----3--3--5------5----5---- 4:----3----5--5--6---------------- 5:-------------------------------- 6:-------------------------------- INTERLUDE (clean bass, one guitar w/chorus pedal, one guitar w/distortion pedal) Bass 1:--------------------------- 2:--------------------------- 3:--------------------------- 4:-0-0-0-1------------------- Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal) (same as 2nd Verse) Guitar 2 (w/distortion pedal, after a few repetitions) 1:------------------------------ 2:------------------------------ 3:--------6-5------------------- 4:-2--2-3-6-5--6-7--6-8--6-5-4-- 5:-2--2-3-4-3--6-7--6-8--6-5-4-- 6:-0--0-1------4-5--4-6--4-3-2-- PRE-OUTRO (clean bass, one guitar w/chorus pedal, one guitar w/wah pedal) Bass (same as interlude) Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal) (same as 2nd Verse) Guitar 2 (w/wah pedal) 1:----------------------- 2:----------------------- 3:----------------------- 4:-3----3----3----1-3-1-- 5:---3---------3--------- 6:---------4------------- OUTRO (bass w/wah pedal, two guitars w/chorus pedals) Bass (w/wah pedal) 1:---------------------------8- 2:-10--8--10--8-8--10--8-10---- 3:----------------------------- 4:----------------------------- Guitar 1 (w/chorus pedal) (same as 2nd verse) Guitar 2 (w/chorus pedal, after a few repetitions) 1:----------------------------------------------------------- 2:----------------------------------------------------------- 3:----------------------------------------------------------- 4:-5~~~-3~~~~~~~-3~~~-2~~~~~~~-1~~~----------------3~~~~~~~~- 5:----------------------------------5~~~~~~~-1-1-0----------- 6:----------------------------------------------------------- then, by itself 1:------------------------------------------------------------------- 2:------------------------------------------------------------------- 3:-12~~~-10~~~~~~~-10~~~-9~~~~~~~--------------------------10~~~~~~~- 4:--------------------------------13~~~-12~~~~~~~-13-13-12----------- 5:------------------------------------------------------------------- 6:------------------------------------------------------------------- THE END!!! [additions at end of document] This is the latest single from NIN off the downward spiral-a cool song,an easy song... CLOSER -------- Note that this may not be totally correct, as I'm trying to adapt a synth line to guitar-note the tuning...this song is played best with an envelope filter, but for those who don't have one, a wah sounds ok... Tuning (low to high):C,G,D,G,B,E Main "riff" E|-----------------------| B|-----------------------| G|-----------------------| D|-----------------------| G|------5-----3----------| C|--0------------5--3--0-| I know that there's lots more to it, but I haven't figured it out yet,and I've got a lot of other things to tab out...E-Mail me if there's anything you want posted, and I'll see about tabbing it... cianyde@zero.cypher.com grndlprime@aol.com P.S. Guitar For The Practicing Musician printed music for "March of the Pigs"-I MIGHT type that up, eventually, but don't hole your breath... | | | | |\| |/| \ > < / | | | | Nine Inch Nails -- "Closer" This thing's loaded with layers of guitar. The song starts out sparse, adding parts as it goes; the first big line is the main keyboard riff, which is described earlier by cianyde@zero.cypher.com. Following are some more lines, transcribed as best I could. [at 1:04] "I want to fuck you like an animal," etc. This line repeats. Use an octaver to get real low pitches, or use the tuning suggested earlier. E-----------------------E B-----------------------B G-----------------------G D------------------1----D A----3--3----1--3-------A E-----------------------E [at 3:45] Here, like cianyde said about the main riff, you'll want to use an envelope filter (preferred) or a wah. Something's going on here with two C notes being played an octave apart, but I know there's more to it than this: E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E B-------------------------------------------------------------------------B G-----5-----5-----5--------5-----5-----5-----5-----5----------------------G D-------------------------------------------------------------------------D A--------3-----3-----3--3-----------3-----3-----3-----3-------------------A E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E [at 4:47] Pretty easy, a 'typical' rock pattern: E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E B-------------------------------------------------------------------------B G-------------------------------------------------------------------------G D----------------------------------------------1--------------------------D A---3-----1-----3-----1--1---3-----1-----3--------------------------------A E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E These lines are simple -- but again, you have to get the rhythm down. Think Prince; at its heart, this is very much a black tune. Real black funk is where, I think, Reznor gets many of his rhythms. [at 5:09] Here's another funk/blues riff that you can hear in the background. Bend the D# to _almost_ an E, then hit the low C. E-----------------------E B-----------------------B G----8(9)---------------G D-----------------------D A----------10-----------A E-----------------------E [at 5:51] This is the riff at the end of the song, but note that it's also played quietly in the background for a while before (I first hear it at 5:30, but knowing Reznor, its probably layered in there somewhere before that, even). If you have a whammy bar, you can try playing it by plucking the string with your thumb while pulling down on the whammy and letting go right away; doing this with each note makes for a cool effect (different from the album, but cool nonetheless). Oh -- you'll want to play this line with as clean a tone as you can muster. E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E B---20---18-----18---17-----16---15-----11--11--10--13--------------------B G-------------------------------------------------------------------------G D--------------------------------------------------------10---------------D A-------------------------------------------------------------------------A E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E B---20---18-----18---17-----16---15-----11--11--10--13--------------------B G-------------------------------------------------------------------------G D-------------------------------------------------------------------------D A-------------------------------------------------------------------------A E-------------------------------------------------------------------------E -- Michael Stutz at118@po.cwru.edu 95.01.02
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