The following are emails submitted to the MBV-L list in June of 1997 in response to a question I posed on tunings and tabs for MBV. All authors credited. Full e-mails are at the bottom, there are some interesting tunings people have self-invented there as well. Kevin has also said in an interview or two that he sometimes uses capos on some songs. Most songs are done tuned to a variant of EB, especially on Isn't Anything, with of course the infamous Jazzmaster whammy bar antics. Of course, if you have others / complaints / actual tabs, do let meknow.
(high to low) E B F# E B E: YMMR, FMWYK, Soon, When You Wake, Off Yr Face,
Sometimes, Honey Power, NMTL, I Only Said, What You Want, more
(H t L) F# B G D A F#: Moon Song
(H t L) D# B G D A D#: Swallow
(H t L) D# D# D# A E/A# A# A# A E: various
Standard Tuning Down A Half-Step: When You Sleep | sequence is C D F
Standard Tuning Down A Half-Step, tehn F# --> E & B -->A: Only Shallow
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complete e-mails:
Subject: Re: Tunings/Guitar TAB?
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 18:43:35 +0100
From:MUV96TBD@Student2.lu.se (Ralph Wiggum)
Hi!
are there any places to get guitar tab/tunings on the net for MBV?
all i've seen were two really horrid ones for only shallow and soon.
does anyone know any offhand?
cheers
chris
No, but here's what MBV-tunings I've discovered by myself:
(high to low) E B F# E B E: YMMR, FMWYK, Soon, When You Wake, Off Yr Face,
Sometimes, Honey Power, NMTL, I Only Said, What You Want, there's other
examples I can't remember right now.
(H t L) F# B G D A F#: Moon Song
(H t L) D# B G D A D#: Swallow
(H t L) D# D# D# A E/A# A# A# A E: Can't remember which of them is the
right one, but it's the bit between Honey Power and Moon Song
When You Sleep is in standard tuning, though every string is tuned down one
half step (for example: E - D#) so that the chordsequence is C D F instead
of H C# E (because the 'g' string has to ring out during parts of the song)
I once found out the tuning to Only Shallow too, I can't remember it but it
might be the same as the 1st one above but with the 'F#' tuned to an 'E'
and the 5th string (B) tuned to an 'A', though I'm not sure.
Ralph Wiggum
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Subject: Re: Tunings/Guitar TAB?
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 19:39:12 -0500
From: envelope@bbs.adept.net
MB(high to low) E B F# E B E: YMMR, FMWYK, Soon, When You Wake, Off Yr Face,
MBSometimes, Honey Power, NMTL, I Only Said, What You Want, there's other
MBexamples I can't remember right now.
MB(H t L) F# B G D A F#: Moon Song
MB(H t L) D# B G D A D#: Swallow
MB(H t L) D# D# D# A E/A# A# A# A E: Can't remember which of them is the
MBright one, but it's the bit between Honey Power and Moon Song
Whew... Umm, before anyone snaps a string across your face, be sure to
take note that he wrote these HIGH to LOW!!
Most often people write tunings Low-to-High, and I didn't want anyone to
tune their D string to F# for nothing! I came close:)
Thanks, by the way, for the tunings though-- much appreciated by all of
us, I'm here. Have you tabbed any of these with your knowledge?
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ryan
Subject: tunings -- (NON-MBV!)
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 17:00:38 -0500
From:envelope@bbs.adept.net
MB Is there any sort of method you use for finding alt tunings? There
MBare so many degrees of freedom (each string, plus the chords you play)
MBthat I haven't even tried yet.. Do you, perhaps, play more-or-less
MBstandard chord shapes but tweek the strings until it sounds right?
(I'm not the person who wrote the original message)
Personally, I'm very big into harmonics, so usually I'll just turn the
strings 'til all the harmonics sound nice, and I have nice
interchangability between the 7th, 9th, and 12th frets..
You can also tune to chord shapes (which MBV seems to like), or standard
intervals -- like 5ths (cello, etc.. low-to-high C,G,D,A, etc),
half-steps (E, F, F#, G, G#, A)...
These are all unnecesarry, though. All you need to do is turn the
strings.
Some Tunings:
E-B-E-G#-B-E (open E-chord)
D-A-D-G-A-D (another very common alt. tuning)
E-Ab-B-G-B-D (my favorite!)
E-A-Db-G#-A-E (my newest discovery! :))
ryan
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Subject: EXTREMELY NON-MBV! -- tunings
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 23:59:16 -0500
From:envelope@bbs.adept.net
MB
[snip snip snip]
MB...or EBEEBE, what is known as a "perfect" tuning (i.e. open power chord).
MBKev mentions this, I know that the Lilys have used it as well.
MBD-A-D-G-A-D (another very common alt. tuning)
MBModal tuning (i.e. open sus4). How common? How 'bout "Kashmir"? Okay, how
MB'bout lots of Irish music? How 'bout American Music Club?
Wow, you know lots of stuff. What'd you think of my E-A#-B-G-B-D? :)
I wrote a song on piano where I moved lower chords around while I played
a constant G major chord, and I made this up to play it on guitar. It's
turned out to be as standard for -ME- as EADGBE... The harmonics on the
lower three strings all work together beautifully, and you can do
powerchordesque chords on the lower three strings, straight across for
majors and dropping the "A#" a half step for minor chords.. Wheee!
Sorry about the non-MBV content. It's been about 5 years since there's
been a better topic:)
ryan
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Subject: Re: tunings -- (NON-MBV!)
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 12:12:54 -0300 (ADT)
From: Michael Damian Catano
On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Robert Tichacek wrote:
...or EBEEBE, what is known as a "perfect" tuning (i.e. open power chord).
Kev mentions this, I know that the Lilys have used it as well.
my band uses EBEBBE a lot, wherein the g string is tuned up to match the
high b string. you get nice sitar-y drones, weird atonal stuff, and
MASSIVE power chords all from one tuning. although, it's very easy to
sound too much like the archers of loaf or swervedriver.
Mdc
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Subject: Re: tunings -- (NON-MBV!)
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 23:37:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: butterfly mcqueen
...or EBEEBE, what is known as a "perfect" tuning (i.e. open power chord).
Kev mentions this, I know that the Lilys have used it as well.
my band uses EBEBBE a lot, wherein the g string is tuned up to match the
high b string. you get nice sitar-y drones, weird atonal stuff, and
MASSIVE power chords all from one tuning. although, it's very easy to
sound too much like the archers of loaf or swervedriver.
Bowery Electric used that tuning on their _Drop_ 2x7", which sounds very
Loopy, if you know what I mean.... good nevertheless. *Mad* overtones! :)
; ed