The Dead Flag Blues Chords & Tabs
Great song, even though the guitar is absent in the first movement. This is for the
movement, starting around 10:10
Artist: Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Song: The Dead Flag Blues
Album: F#A# (Infinity Symbol)
Tabbed By: Michael McElligott
Tuning: Standard
Key: A# Minor (C# Major) - 7 Sharps
Hold all chords using the top 5 strings as bar chords. Be sure to not play the bottom E
on these chords, though.
C#M A#m F#M A#m
-----------9------------6-----------2-----------6------------|
-----------9------------6-----------2-----------6------------|
-----------10-----------6-----------3-----------6------------|
-----------11-----------8-----------4-----------8------------|
-----------11-----------8-----------4-----------8------------|
--6--8--9------9--8--6-----6--4--2-----2--4--6---------------|
----IMPORTANT----
Those notes leading up to the chords are played only by the bass until the short melody
finishes. After it has finished, this harmony often strikes the chords more than once,
your ear peeled. Also, listen for small dynamic changes: the composer will often mute
D, G, B, and high E string when he plays them. I'm not going to hold your hand and go
all of them, you can figure this one out on your own.
The main challenge of this song is its slide-esque guitar sound. You must stay on the
string as long as possible, until a pitch at a certain octave is not reachable without
to an adjacent string. This technique is the only thing that will truly capture the
of this song.
Melody (starts at 10:53, ends at 11:34):
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/g/godspeed_you_black_emperor/the_dead_flag_blues_tab_ver_2.html ]
Take this slowly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
---13b15-13---10b11----10--8--6----6--8--10--11-10---------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
---13b15-13--13-13b15r13---10--11-10---10--8--6----6--5--3-------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
Melody (starts at 12:51, ends at 13:25):
Bit quicker than the previous one
----------------------------|-------------------------|
----11--11--11--11-11-11s13-|----11-11--11--11---11-9-|
--10--10--10--10------------|-(10)----10--10--10------|
----------------------------|-------------------------|
----------------------------|-------------------------|
----------------------------|-------------------------|
v-These first two notes are hard to notice
-----------------------------|---------------------------|
-11-----11--11--11--11-11s13-|-----11-11--11--11--11--9--|
---13-10--10--10--10---------|-(10)-----10--10--10-------|
-----------------------------|---------------------------|
-----------------------------|---------------------------|
-----------------------------|---------------------------|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
--8b~-----6---4s6s4------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------3---6s5s3--6s8-6--6s10-8--6s8s6-5s6s5-3-3s8-6-5-0h1--1-1-------|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------3--3--|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
After this the harmony above takes over. Listen to the song to know what to do as far
dynamics go. Hope you enjoy. Go find a violin player to play the additional
and make this sound beautiful.
-Michael
