The Who - Success Story bass tab
Success Story - The Who
From Who By Numbers, 1975
Written by John Entwistle, ©1975 Hot Red Music
So long, John. 1944-2002. Goodbye to one hell of a bassist.
Tabbed by Jeremy D. (FearOfScissors@aol.com)
I'm not so sure this was done on an eight-string, but rather, some odd
effect on the guitar. (Or maybe both a 4- and 8-string) This is the actual
bassline I heard after quite a few listens. It also sounds like there's two
basses during the bass solo; the normal, 'clear' one, and a fuzzy, distorted
one. I only tabbed the clean one.
The "r" means to pluck rapidly. "/r" means slide down while rapidly plucking.
I think JE does this on a few songs, and to tab it would be murder.
Intro:
G-----------5--|-----------5--|-----------5--|--7r--------|
D-----7---7----|-----7---7----|-----7---7----|-------------|
A---5---5------|---5---5------|---5---5------|-------------|
E--------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
Verses
(This is an outline; listen for timing. There's more notes,
so play around with it.)
This part's played twice:
G--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|
D--------------|-5-5-5-3p0h3-|--------------|--------------|
A--5--0--3---3-|-------------|--5--0--3---3-|--5--0--3---3-|
E--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|
And this twice:
G--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|
D-5-5--5-5-5---|-3-3-3-3--3--|--------------|--------------|
A--------------|-------------|--5---0---3---|-3-5--0--3--3-|
E--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|
Second time, end the verse on:
G-------|
D-------|
A---5---|
E-------|
Bass tacet during "Deserted rock'n'roll/To try and save his soul" part,
then repeat verses.
Middle ('just like Cinderella...'), twice:
G-------------|-------------|-----------|
D-------------|-------------|-----------|
A-------------|-------------|6--6---3r--|
E-3--3-3--3-3-|-3-3--3-3--3-|-----------|
On the shorter verses, it's
G-------------|------|
D-------------|------|
A-------6---6-|--3r--|
E--3---3------|------|
Solo - it sounds like there's two basses, so it gets a bit murky here.
It's not perfect, but it's something
G-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
D-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
A-0--00-0---0-|-01---1------|---------------|---------------|
E-------------|--------1--1-|3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3|-3r-h5r0------|
G-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
D-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
A-0--00-0-0-0-|-01---1------|---------------|--3/r0---------|
E-------------|--------1--1-|3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3|---------------|
(slow slide)
G-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
D-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
A-0--00-0---0-|-01---1------|---------------|---------------|
E-------------|--------1--1-|3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3|-3r-h5r0------|
G-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
D-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
A-0--00-0---0-|-01---1----1-|-3--3-3--3--3--|---3/5r--------|
E-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|
Repeat the verse part, hold during the "amended his decision/
to the new religion" part, and end on:
G-------|
D-------|
A---5---|
E-------|
...and there you have it.
