The Last Straw Marillion
The Last Straw - Lyrics by Fish, music by Marillion.
Transcribed by James Osgood - jco100@tower.york.ac.uk
Legend
10b12 means bend from the tenth fret to the twelfth.
(10)b12 means pre-bend
20r18 means release bend
~ indicates vibrato.
/ means slide
\/ means dive with whammy bar.
p indicates pull off, and
h indicates hammer on
q indicates quarter tone bend.
Intro and Verse - Clean guitar with Chorus and Delay
e-----------------------------------------------| B-----1--3--1h3p1p0-----0-h-1--0----------------| G-----2--------------2------------2--2-p-0--0---| D-----2-----------------------------------------| A--0--0-----------------------------------------| E-----------------------------------------------| e--------------------------------2-- B-----1--3--1h3p1p0-----1--------3-- G-----2--------------2-----0-----2-- D-----2-----------------------3--0-- A--0--0----------------------------- E-----------------------------------
There are slight fills at the end of this, which are different
for the two verses. They are
[1] [2]
e---0h2--|--3-2---| B--------|--------| G--------|--------| D--------|--------| A--------|--------| E--------|--------|
The bits between verses are just Eb and F chords played as
follows
[Eb] [F]
e---6---------| B---8----10---| G---8----10---| D---8----10---| A---6----8----| E-------------| It goes Eb - F - Eb - F - Eb - F -Eb - F - F - F.
SR arpeggiates the chords second time around.
After the second 'chorus' he whips on a capo at the third fret
and plays an arpeggiated Cm7 as follows.
e------------------6--| B-----------4p3h4-----| G--------5------------| D-----5---------------| A--3------------------| E---------------------|
He plays this repeadedly until the solo (There are various odd
bits of guitar under it but I haven't bothered to work them out)
( Tab from: http://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/m/marillion/the_last_straw_tab.html )
Solo - a cracker. It's simple and very effective and I think I read
somewhere that he improvised it!!
e--------------------------------------------------------| B--(16)b18~---11--9--11--(11)b13~------------------------| G--------------------------------------------------------| D---------------------------------------3--6--3--8/10\8--| A--------------------------------------------------------| E--------------------------------------------------------|
dive with bar
e----------------------------------------------------13--| B-----------------------16-p-13--16~--16p13--(16)b18-----| G--------------------------------------------------------| D--8p6p3--3--6q\----/------------------------------------| A---------------\--/-------------------------------------| E----------------\/--------------------------------------| |-------| rpt x 8 e--(15)b16~-16--(15)b16--16--18--(18)b20~------16p13-----| B-------------------------------------------13-----------| G--------------------------------------------------------| D--------------------------------------------------------| A--------------------------------------------------------| E--------------------------------------------------------| e----------------------------------------------------------| B--(16)b18-------------------------------------------------| G-----------13--13~--13h15p13--13~\------------------------| D------------------------------------6~-3--6h8-6-8/10--10~-| A----------------------------------------------------------| E----------------------------------------------------------| e----------------------------------------------16-18-(18)b20~| B-----------------------------------16-(16)b18---------------| G--10\-------------------------------------------------------| D-------6~-8--6--8/10--8~--10-6p5p3--------------------------| A------------------------------------------------------------| E------------------------------------------------------------|
Then this bit which is great fun - still distorted.
e-----3---------------------3--3-----------------| B-----4--3------------------4-----4-----6--------| G-----5-----3-----5---------5--------3--5--------| D-----5--------3--6---------5-----------3--------| A--3--3-----------6------3--3--------------------| E-----------------4------------------------------|
This chord sequence is used until the end. Steve solos over it
after a while, using the same melodic ideas as the solo, but
now in Cm as opposed to Fm.
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