Description
Notes From John
Tab at BPM = 133, marked “Tune down a half step”, with the lead lines and tone changes written out. The guitar comes in during the eighth bar of the Intro, marked f and “distortion, quarter note delay”, with 7th-fret harmonics in sixteenth notes mixed with muted notes over Em, Am, C, G and F(#4). Verse 1 at 0:43 prints “rub along fretboard”, “behind nut” and P.S. marks, then high notes at the 17th and 19th frets, with “clean” and “distortion” marked. After a held A chord and four bars’ rest, the Re-Intro is a single-note line marked mf, moving from the 7th and 9th frets up to the 14th, 16th and 19th, with slides. The Solo at 3:27 starts at the 19th fret, works down to the open strings with slides and climbs back to the 12th. The Interlude at 3:55 and Verse 3 at 4:46 are marked “run fretting hand up and down fretboard”, and Verse 3 adds a “2nd guitar (optional)” line on the 5th fret of the 1st string. The Outro at 5:15 is a single-note line with slides and a pull-off, marked “continue improvising to end”, and the last bar is an A5 chord under a fermata.
For the player
The song is built on the Edge’s piano and guitar on the 1983 War recording, and this page follows his lead lines. Tune down a half step as printed. Ride each gear change: the chart marks the switches between “distortion”, “clean”, “no delay” and “delay on”, so set them where they fall. Play the Solo at 3:27 as written, and the Outro as written up to “continue improvising to end”. At BPM = 133 the job is the feel.
Lead Guitar Sheet Music for “New Year’s Day” by U2.
