Transcribing Notes From John Neil (Head Transcriber)
Sweet Child o’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses – Song Breakdown
Melody
A nice Axl Rose melody, with the large range of Gb2 to Eb5. The lower notes come in at the bridge. A little tidbit, the “where do we go now?” line was actually penned by Axl when they were writing the song, as in, where do we go in the song at this point?
Download the Melody Sheet Music Here
Keyboard
There isn’t a keyboard part that I could hear, so I made one up based on the general groove. It calls for piano, but can be played with any percussive keyboard sound.
Download the Keyboard Sheet Music Here
Lead Guitar
The iconic Slash riff song. I got the beginning hook up/downstroke pattern from a live video. Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be a real pattern that I could see (from the brief times they show Slash picking), so I made a note to use discretion. Palm muted passages will be more downstrokes, and a lot of their syncopated 8th note upbeats are done as downstrokes instead of up, so really, whatever comes natural playing it. Also, the guitar & bass parts are tuned down a half step so you’re basically playing in A, while the recording is in Ab.
Download the Lead Guitar Tab Here
Rhythm Guitar
Lots of power chords and more. At the solo section (starting at bar 113), seeing as there are 3 guitars playing (including the solo), I opted for the rhythm to play the power/barre chord part as opposed to the one playing sustained lines.
Download the Rhythm Guitar Tab Here
Strum/Ukulele Guitar
There isn’t an acoustic strum part to this song, so a part was made up. The strum guitar is also tuned down a half step, while the ukulele is done as capo 1.
Download the Strum Tab Here
Download the Ukulele Tab Here
Bass Guitar
A bass part that does some nice melodic lines, then drives it home. An isolated stem that I found reveals intricate parts, and also where some punch ins were done later :). It sounds like he’s using a pick. He also has chorus on for parts of it, including the intro and choruses.
Download the Bass Tab Here
Drums
Some rocking drums playing a pretty basic beat. The details were sort of hard to hear – which crash cymbal is hit, how many crash cymbals are hit, how often the ride is played, etc…, but what I could hear is there.
Download the Drum Music Here
Download the Lead Sheet Here
