Conventional Wisdom Chords & Tabs
Intro:
Guitar 1:
e|------------------------------------------------------|
b|------------------------------------------------------|
g|---0-0-------0-0-0---0-0-0------0-0-0-----------------|
d|--4-4-4-----9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9----4-4-4-4----------------|
a|-5-----5-/10-------10--------/5-----------------------|
E|------------------------------------------------------|
Chorus:
Guitar 1:
D: x57775
G: 355433
The pattern in the chorus (and verse) is D to G to D. I am leaving it to you to figure
the timing.
Guitar 2:
e|-10-10-12/14/12- 10------10------10----------10--|
b|-10-10----------12----12------12------12---------|
g|-11-11----------12--12------12------12----11--11-| x2
d|-------------------------------------------------|
a|-------------------------------------------------|
e|-------------------------------------------------|
e|-10-10-12/14/12-15-14-12-14-12-10-10---10h12p10-14-14-14-12-10-12p10-10-|
b|-10-10------------------------------------------------------------------|
g|-11-11------------------------------------------------------------------|
d|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
a|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|-10-10-12/14/12- 10------10------10----------10--|
b|-10-10----------12----12------12------12---------|
g|-11-11----------12--12------12------12----11--11-|
d|-------------------------------------------------|
a|-------------------------------------------------|
e|-------------------------------------------------|
Verse:
Both guitars do the D to G to D pattern, with the rhythm doing the
above chords and the lead doing
D: 10 12 12 11 10 10
G: 10 10 12 12 12 x
Repeat the verse twice, then comes the bridge.
Bridge chords:
G: 355433
A: 577655
F# 244322
The bridge goes:
Some things never change
F#-----------------D
Nothing’s gonna change that
G----------------------D
Some things you can’t explain
F#---------------------D
Like why we’re all embracing conventional wisdom in a world...
------A-----------------------------------------------G
Jam section A:
Chord progression switches to straight up D and C.
Guitar 1:
e|-----2-------2-------2-------2---- 0-------------------------|
b|---3---3---3---3---3---3---3---3-- 1-------------------------|
g|-2-------2-------2-------2-------- 0 (strum the c 4 times---|
d|-----------------------------------2-------------------------|
a|-----------------------------------3-------------------------|
e|-----------------------------------3 ------------------------|
Guitar 2:
e|----------------------------------------(you can----|
b|--7-7-7-7-7--8-----7-7-7-7-7--8---------improvise---|
g|---9-9-9-9------7---9-9-9-9------7---/5--here-if----|
d|-----------------------------------------you-want)--|
a|----------------------------------------------------|
e|----------------------------------------------------|
Jam section B:
Guitar 1:
e|-----2-------2-------2-------2-------0-------0-------0-------0---|
b|---3---3---3---3---3---3---3---3---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1-|
g|-2-------2-------2-------2-------0-------0-------0-------0-------|
d|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
a|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
Guitar 2:
e|--10-12-10------10-12-10--10-12-14--10-12-10------10-12-10--10-12-14--8-10-8----|
b|------------10--------------------------------10------------------------------8-|
g|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
d|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
a|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|-8-10-8--8-10-12--8-10-8-----8-10-8--8-10-12--|
b|--------------------------8-------------------|
g|----------------------------------------------|
d|----------------------------------------------|
a|----------------------------------------------|
e|----------------------------------------------|
Repeat these riffs twice.
Jam section C:
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/b/built_to_spill/conventional_wisdom_tab_ver_4.html ]
Guitar 1:
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-12/10/9--7--12/10/9--9/10/12--12/10/9--7--12/10/9--9/10/12--12/14/12--10--|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|12/14/12--12/17--12/14/12--10--12/14/12--12/17-----------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
x2
Next section:
Guitar 1:
(do these notes faster, without rhythm)
e|-----2-------2-------2-------2---- 0---------------- |
b|---3---3---3---3---3---3---3---3-- 1---------------- |
g|-2-------2-------2-------2-------- 0 ----------------|
d|-----------------------------------2-----------------|
a|-----------------------------------3-----------------|
e|-----------------------------------3 --------------- |
Guitar 2:
With distortion:
e|-x----------------------------------0----------------|
b|-7----------------------------------1----------------|
g|-7----------------------------------0----------------|
d|-7----------------------------------2----------------|
a|-5----------------------------------3----------------|
e|-x----------------------------------3----------------|
Next part:
Guitar 1 switches to lead, and Guitar 2 starts playing the chords as written above for
For that reason, I will just list the lead parts for this section.
Lead part 1:
e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
b|-8/7-8/10-8/7-5-7-8/7-8/7-8/7-5/3-3/1-0-1-/5--3--1-0-1-0(whammy)-|
g|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
d|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
a|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
Lead part 2:
e|------------------------------------------------------------|
b|-8/7-8/10-8/7-5-7-8/7-8/7-8/7-5/3-3/1-0-1-/5--3-1-3-5-3-5b6-|
g|------------------------------------------------------------|
d|------------------------------------------------------------|
a|------------------------------------------------------------|
e|------------------------------------------------------------|
Lead part 3:
e|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
b|-8/7-8/10-12-10-12-15-17-15-17-15-20-19--/8--7-5-3-5-3--/8--7-3-5-3-5b-|
g|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
d|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
a|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
Lead part 4:
e|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
b|-8/7-8/10-8/7-5-7-8-7-5-3-5-7-5--3-1(whammy)-3(whammy)-5(whammy)-8-------|(whammy)
g|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
d|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
a|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Then the rhythm strikes dead notes and increases in volume, and the lead switches tone
plays:
e|------------------------------------------------------|
b|-7/5-3/2-3/5/7--7/5-3/2-3/5/7-------------------------|
g|------------------------------9/7-5/4-5-0--9/7-5/4/5-0|
d|------------------------------------------------------|
a|------------------------------------------------------|
e|------------------------------------------------------|
This lead part repeats twice, then switches to:
e|------------------------------------------------------------------|
b|-7-7--8--10-10-----7-7--8--10-10----8-8--7--5-5----8-8--7--5-5----|
g|------------------------------------------------------------------|
d|------------------------------------------------------------------|
a|------------------------------------------------------------------|
e|------------------------------------------------------------------|
After this lead part goes through twice, a third guitar comes into wildly
soloing using the same scale. I'm really not going to bother tabbing that out.
If you can't improvise, find someone who can for this solo.
That's about it. I'm glad to be the first to submit a correct and full tab for this song,
as it's a great one.
