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Memphis Water by The Answer
Memphis Water
This song has really grown on me. It is a 6 minute blues song loosely based on a 12 Bar
in E.
The intro is basically an E7 chord with a few borrowed notes from the blues scale.
The chorus uses chords from the E major scale and the is a cool turnaround riff to bring
back into the main section.
Getting The Sound:
You want a humbucker equipped axe through a valve style amp, so on your amp or pedal,
set the gain around 4 and boost the middle a couple of notches. For the intro,
you want to roll back the volume on the guitar to clean it up a little and for the heavy
section and the solo, roll the volume on full!
The main reason for not tabbing out all the solos, is not because I am lazy,
but I am a keen player of the blues and it is all about expression.
I will quote times, suggest scales and tab out some key elements in the solos,
but it's the blues! You just gotta feel it in your heart and soul.
This is the main "riff"
e|-------------------------------|--0----0-------------------|--0----0-------------------|
b|----3--5-----------------------|----3----------------------|----3----------------------|
g|--4-------2^2------------------|----------0h1--------------|----------0h1--------------|
d|--------------2-0-2-0----------|----------------0--2-------|----------------0--2-------|
a|----------------------2-0-2-0--|--------------2------------|--------------2------------|
e|------------------------------3|0---------------------3^0--|0---------------------3^0--|
Drums Enter
--0----0-------------------|--0----0-------------------|--0----0-------------------|
----3----------------------|----3----------------------|----3----------------------|
----------0h1--------------|----------0h1--------------|----------0h1--------------|
----------------0--2-------|----------------0--2-------|----------------0--2-------|
--------------2------------|--------------2------------|--------------2------------|
0---------------------3^0--|0---------------------3^0--|0---------------------3^0--|
--0----0-------------------|--0----0-------------------|--0----0-------------------|
----3----------------------|----3----------------------|----3----------3-5---------|
----------0h1--------------|----------0h1--------------|---------0h1-/4----2^------|
----------------0--2-------|----------------0--2-------|---------------------2p0---|
--------------2------------|--------------2------------|---------------------------|
the E7 x4
0---------------------3^0--|0---------------------3^0--|0-------------------------3|
"Memphis Water,.."
|-----------------||-----------------||-----------------||-----------------|
|-----------------||-----------------||-----------------||-----------------|
|----------------2||----------------2||----------------2||-----------------|
|-2---4---2-------||-2---4---2-------||-2---4---2-------||-2---4---2-------|
|-0-0-0-0-0-0-3h4-||-0-0-0-0-0-0-3h4-||-0-0-0-0-0-0-3h4-||-0-0-0-0-0-0-3h4-|
|-----------------||-----------------||-----------------||----------------3|
"Memphis Water, you're a hero so they say"
*(first time around)
--0----0-------------------|--0----0-------------------|---------------------------------|
----3----------------------|----3----------------------|---------------------------------|
----------0h1--------------|----------0h1--------------|---------------------------------|
----------------0--2-------|----------------0--2-------|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-6-6-6-6-6-4-6-7-|
--------------2------------|--------------2------------|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-6-6-6-6-6-4-6-7-|
0---------------------3^0--|0---------------------3^0--|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-4-4-4-4-2-4-5-|
"..You dont wanna be
else.."
The Turnaround
---------------------------2-|
---------------------------0-|
---------------------------2-| repeat the 8 bars just like any other 12 bar blues
---------------------------1-| and when you get to bar 10 it goes to B instead of F#
----7--5---4---3---2--0-1--2-|
-0-------0---0---0-----------|
--------------------------------||--------------------------------------|-------------|
--------------------------------||--------------------------------------|-------------|
-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2||-7----7-6---6-5---5-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-|-------------|
-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2||-7----7-6---6-5---5-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-|-------------|
-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0||-5----5-4---4-3---3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|-------------|
--------------------------------||--------------------------------------|-------------|
Now this is where it gets swampy. Bridge humbucker with volume on 11!
(2:17 on original recording)
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|
|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|
(2:33 - 3:39 one of the many guitar solos, use the E minor pentatonic)
at 3:29 the chord sequence changes to E///F#///Ab///A///
e|-------X---------------X-------------------|
b|-------X---------------X-------------------|
g|-------X---------------X-------------------|
d|-2-2-2-X-4-4-4-4-6-6-6-X-7-7-7-7-----------|
a|-2-2-2-X-4-4-4-4-6-6-6-X-7-7-7-7--4-5-6-7-\|
e|-0-0-0-X-2-2-2-2-4-4-4-X-5-5-5-5-----------|
Next Verse
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------| x 4
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|
|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|-4--4-4--4--4-4-|-6--6-6-7--7-7-x-|
|-4--4-4--4--4-4-|-6--6-6-7--7-7-x-|
|-2--2-2--2--2-2-|-4--4-4-5--5-5-x-|
"...You left without a trace."
Breakdown
(E7) (E7) (E7) (E7)
e|----------------|--------------------|----------------------------|--------------------|
b|----------------|--------------------|----------------------------|-15^(17)~~~~~~~~~~~~|
g|--12------------|--14^----14----12~~~|----------------12--14^12~~\|--------------------|
d|------14-14~~~~~|------14----14------|----------12-14-------------|--------------------|
a|----------------|--------------------|-12-13-14-------------------|--------------------|
e|----------------|--------------------|----------------------------|--------------------|
"Memphis Waterrrrrrr..."
Last Verse
This follows the bog standard 12 Bar Blues I-IV-V progession.
E7///E7///E7///E7///
A7///A7///E7///E7///
B7///A7///E7///E7///
for the first six bars of E7, this is what you do
|--0----0-------------------|
|----3----------------------|
|----------0h1--------------|
|----------------0--2-------|
|--------------2------------|
|0---------------------3^0--|
A7 based on:
|-----0-------|
|----2--2-----|
|---0----0----|
|--2------2---|
|-0--------0--|
|-------------|
then 8th note power chord the B and A:
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|
|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|
|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|---------------------------------|
for the ending
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|-----5----4---3---|
|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|-0-0----0---0---3-|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|---------7---------------|---------7---------------|
|---------7---------7-5-4-|---------7---------7-5-4-|
|---------5---------7-5-4-|---------5---------7-5-4-|
|-0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-5-3-2-|-0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-5-3-2-|
|-------------------------|------------------------------------------------||
|-------------------------|------------------------------------------------||
|---------7---------------|---------7--------------------------------------||
|---------7---------7-5-4-|---------7---------7-5-4------------------------||
|---------5---------7-5-4-|---------5---------7-5-4------------------------||
|-0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-5-3-2-|-0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-5-3-2------------------------||
Let the last chord ring on.
--------