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Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi - L's Theme A (from Death Note OST)
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Tabbed by: Bryan Chim
E-mail: bryanchim88@gmail.com
You can find my cover of this song at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d-yaoUeW6M (with all instruments)
I believe it may differ slightly from the official version
(in particular, I choose to go to the D instead of D# in the verses),
but it's close enough and works fine in my cover.
Tuning: Standard
- Part 1, aka Verse 1 is in 27/8 -- (or you can read it as 2 bars of 13/8 and 14/8,
but for the purpose of this tab, I will be referring to the full 27/8 as one bar).
Bass enters after 4 bars (1 bar after the drums enter):
G|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
D|---------5-----/7-5-------5--|---------5--------------------|
A|-7-5-7-5---7-5------7-5-7----|-7-5-7-5---7-5-/7-5-------5-6-|
E|-----------------------------|--------------------7-5-7-----| (x4)
Then the bass goes through a few changes (starting with the initial riff above):
G|----------------------------|------------------------------|
D|---------5-----/7-5-------5-|------------------------------|
A|-7-5-7-5---7-5------7-5-7---|-3-2-3-2-3-3-3-/5-3-2---2-3-2-|
E|----------------------------|----------------------5-------| ---|
|- (x2)
G|----------------------------|-----------------------------| ----|
D|----------------------------|-----------------------------|
A|----------------------------|---------5---------------5-6-|
E|-5-3-5-3-5-5-5-5-3-5-/7-5-3-|-7-5-7-5---7-5-7-5-7-5-7-----|
- The "Chorus" switches between 4/4 and 7/4.
Here's the first 4/4 part with the guitar power chords:
G|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
D|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
A|-7-7---7-7---9-|-7-7-7-7---5-5-|-7-7---7-7---9-|-7-7-7-7-5---|
E|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
Switch to 7/4 part with the ostinato piano riff and muted guitar strumming:
G|-----------------------------|
D|---------3-------------------|
A|-5-3-5-3---3-5-5-3-5-3-----3-|
E|-----------------------3-5---| (x2)
Back to the power chord 4/4 part:
G|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
D|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
A|-7-7---7-7---9-|-7-7-7-7---5-5-|-7-7---7-7---9-|-7-7-7-7-5---|
E|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
Back again to 7/4:
G|-----------------------------|
D|---------3-------------------|
A|-5-3-5-3---3-5-5-3-5-3-----3-|
E|-----------------------3-5---| (x2)
Ending 4/4 part of the chorus:
G|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
D|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
A|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
E|-5-5---5-5---3-|-5-5-5-5---7-7-|-5-5---5-5---3-|-5-5-5-5-7---|
- In verse 2, the bass plays the same riff as in verse 1,
but for only once (after resting 3 bars of 27/8).
- Then it's just a single repeat of the chorus that I tabbed out above.
If you would like to play along to the ostinato piano/guitar riff in the 27/8 part, it goes:
G|-------14-------------16-14-------------|-------14-------------16-14----------------|
D|-17-14----14-16-17-14-------17-16-14----|-17-14----14-16-17-14-------17-16-14----14-|
A|-------------------------------------17-|-------------------------------------17----|
E|----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
^ I found that riff to be a great exercise for building pinky strength.
Good luck and have fun!
| / slide up
| \ slide down
| h hammer-on
| p pull-off
| ~ vibrato
| + harmonic
| x Mute note
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