Melvins Tuning Tip (plus hints on TheWaterGlass,EvilNewWarGod,POTRE,AMAZON,+?)

[goldennuggetrecordings]

welp it came up in a melvins discussion on facebook so ill share it here too since i dont see any tabs of it online. theres a trick to all melvins C songs and its a tuning i thought only i did until i saw a picture of their setlist where they wrote it as c/g and i went DAMN i DIDNT come up with that.... but alas now all their C songs are easy to figure out. so heres the tuning then the tab.

E
B
G
D
G
C

youll notice its essentially a double drop tuning where is a dropped to g but e is dropped 2 whole steps to c so the e and a strings make a chord and a and d strings make a chord.


im almost certain EVERY song theyve written in low c is in this tuning.. hence you never see them switching guitars or tuning the whole guitar when they play C songs.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS MY INTEREPRATION BY EAR AND IT VERY WELL COULD BE WRONG. THIS IS JUST THE NOTES IN WHAT ORDER THEYRE PLAYED. theres a lot of palm muting and strumming and rhythm that i dont have the patience to type out so use your ears. this is just a guide to get you going.

i put periods in to try to line the d and g lines up better so dont get confused by the dots they dont mean anything.
its basically drop d style bar chords all through out and some are three string bars too like im pretty sure the last 5 is three strings and some others are too probably but im just writing the chords.


The Water Glass (Intro Riff)
E--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D ------3-----------------------5------5--------6---6---6---6-5-3-4-3--------------------------
G....----3-5-3-0-5-3-0-5-0-4-5-5-6-5-6-5-0-6---6---6---6-5-3-4-3-0-0-0-3-6-5-0-5-0-----
C ....------5-3-0-5-3-0-5-0-4---5-6----6-5-0--------------------------0-0-0-3-6-5-0-5-0-----



Hope this helps you guys. that tuning is the key to all these songs. its the tuning he uses for This Machine Kills Artists too.




for example, Pigs of the roman empire is various parts of this. the | marks the end of the guitar part but the bass part adds the other notes little by little.


                                            5
     3 5                      3|   3   5
0 5      3  5  0  3  5  0    5



you get the picture, this tuning is awesome, the melvins are awesome, etc


songs i can think of off the top of my head in c (meaning in this weird tuning) that will probably be much simpler for you now

Hung Bunny
Roman Dog Bird
AMAZON
manky
the horn bearer
see how pretty see how smart
pigs of the roman empire
bloated pope
talking horse
the water glass
evil new war god
ill finish you off
inhumanity and death
Onions make the milk taste bad

im sure im missing some... quite a few of their songs are also drop a and i could be mixing some up or skipping some...

drop a songs i can think of are:
Kool Legged
Boris
Nude With Boots
Dog Island
Sesame Street Meet
it tastes better than the truth
Probably more lol


yeah hope this helps you guys

[PepsiMike]

You just blew my MIND!   Thanks golden nuggets!

[jack5990]

Nice work. Did anyone ever figure out how to play the verse of Evil New War God? It's the only bit I could never get down....it's too fast.

[goldennuggetrecordings]

im most of the way through that verse. i know most of the notes involved just havent found time to sit and figure it out exactly. i know its something like
                                                                                             | 55 8  77   3  5        3  6 |                                                                           |                                   |
             30     3      5      30    5    05   30        3   5     30          | 55 8  77   3  5 00003  6 | 000 333 555 333 55 33 666 555 00 33 55 00 33 00 |  0  7   576     3  5 3 5 4 |
00000 00   0003  00500       005 45   00   00 003   5  00   0030   |                      0000       | 000 333 555 333 55 33 666 555 00 33 55 00 33 00 |  0  7   576     3  5 3 5 4 | 000

you get the picture. this video helps with that first part https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw_D1T_bSOI


also another i figured out after realizing the tuning is AMAZON
                                                  |              5~5       10~10        8~8       10~10      3~3       5~5       5~5
00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 |3~3        5~5       10~10        8~8       10~10      3~3       5~5       5~5
00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 |3~3 0000      0000         0000       0000         0000    0000      0000      0000

[Green Honey]

'Ava Gardner' tuning;)

[jack5990]

Your close with AMAZON. I'm pretty sure it's this.


                                                                 5~5                         8~8       10~10                             5~5        5~5
00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 |3~3        5~5        5 ~ 5         8~8       10~10        10~10            5~5        5~5
00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 |3~3 0000      0000 5 ~ 5 0000       0000         0000 10~10    0000      0000       0000

[jack5990]

As a side note to my tab amendment. Buzz plays on the 3rd fret for the G string instead the 10th fret on the C string (that I put in the tab). Both notes are the same (A#) so it makes little difference really make difference other than being a bit bassier.

[drumfreak:)]

I figured it out after the second listen to lysol and my mind got fucked up
Before I discovered it I thought 'FUUCK. BUZZ IS A GENIUS WITH ALL THOSE NEW RIFFS HE COMES UP WITH" and then i was like "wow ok. I can play most riffs of my favourite guitarist'

[goldennuggetrecordings]

yeah thats exactly what happened to me with all these songs. i just assumed the whole guitar was dropped to d and then "drop d" to get to c. but this makes way more sense with some of the funky tones he gets lol

i was bummed though at the same time cause i wrote a song in that tuning in idk maybe 2009-2010ish in highschool and thought i "Discovered" something... i didnt.

same thing happened the first time i heard Boris and realized i didnt come up with drop A either.

[goldennuggetrecordings]

Your close with AMAZON. I'm pretty sure it's this.


                                                                 5~5                         8~8       10~10                             5~5        5~5
00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 |3~3        5~5        5 ~ 5         8~8       10~10        10~10            5~5        5~5
00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 00 0000 |3~3 0000      0000 5 ~ 5 0000       0000         0000 10~10    0000      0000       0000

this is probably right lol ill try it on my break lol
                                                                                                                                                                          5       5           3     6
the one thats been getting me is onions make the milk taste bad. ive been playing a simplified version 000 30 00 30 00     56 65030 0     0    000           
or something like that. hard to think of how to play it off the top of my head but anyway the 565656565656565 shit  is longer then how i was playing it but ive yet to sit down and figure it out. and its different its longest the first time they do it i think unless im crazy

[DC]

I've been futzing around with that tuning all night. It's kinda cool once you get the hang of it.

[amazonAMAZON]

@Green Honey,

Where does 'Ava Gardner' tuning come from? I feel like I'm missing something...

[Green Honey]

this video from Buzz's solo acoustic tour in a record shop, while changing to the CG tuning he calls it Ava Gardner (ie. avant-garde) tuning

https://youtu.be/vYeYqn4SfTs

[meezer]

Or just CG

[branjaymes]

Or just CG

Is that Open G for Sober-Delic?