Van Halen

Van Halen - Summer Nights guitar tab

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From: Paul D

I saw a request for this song a while ago. I wasn't gonna do it

'cause I thought it was a completely impractical song to wanna know how to

play (kinda like NIN's "Closer" or something like that) for the simple fact

that without a very SPECIFIC kind of guitar, the song is unplayable!

Eddie uses a Steinberger on this one. For those of you that don't know,

Steinbergers are those $1900 suckers that look like little boxes with a

guitar neck comin' out of them. Steinberger also is the only company

(that I know of) that has what's called a Trans-Trem vibrato system. This

allows the guitarist to pull up or push down on the trem bar and lock it

into place so that the pitch of the strings remain in tune, but are

TRANSposed to a different tuning. A wonderful invention if you ask me.

No more tuning down 1/2 step or anything like that. This system ALSO

does other cool stuff: By magic, it keeps all of the strings IN TUNE when

you pull up or push down on the bar. Like, you could strum an A chord

and pull up on the bar and make it sound like a C chord. For an example

of this gadget at work, try listening to "Get Up" from Van Halen 5150.

Eddie isn't sliding his fingers, he's pulling up on the fuckin' bar! And

then for the solo, he locks it into place a few half-steps up!

Anyway, the only reason I decided to tab this song is 'cause I figured if

you had a capo that was easily and quickly removed, you COULD concievably

play this song accurately. So whip out them capos kiddies, and put 'em

across the 3rd fret...

~~~~~~~~

Tab explanation:

everything's basically straight-forward except for a few things...

"t" above the tab means tap that note with your picking hand

"sl" above the tab means slide to that fret with your tapping finger

"nh" means it's natural harmonics until the end of the "..."

Summer Nights

by Van Halen

tab by Paul D.

pdmytrewycz@music.transy.edu

(For the sake of accuracy, I have tabbed this song as it would ACTUALLY be

played. With the capo on the 3rd fret, your open notes are technically

all gonna be 3's in tab. So until I indicate that you are to remove

the capo, all 3's mean that you leave the string open and let the capo do

the rest. :) For example, the first chord here is SUPPOSED to look like

a standard "G" shape, but the tab looks funny because the 3rd fret is

really your "open". Is that confusing enough?...)

w/fingers:

||---------5-------3---|---------------------|---------5-------3---|-------

||-6-------6-----6---6-|-6-------6p5---3-----|-6-------6-----6---6-|-------

||-3-----3-5---5-------|-3-----3-5-------5---|-3-----3-5---5-------|-------

||-3---3-----3---------|-3---3---5---5-----5-|-3---3-----3---------|-------

||---------------------|-5-5-----3-----------|---------------------|-------

||-6-6-----------------|---------------------|-6-6-----------------|-------

----------------------|---------5-------3---|---------------||

6-------6p5---3-------|-6-------6-----6---6-|-6---------5---||

3-----3-5---------5---|-3-----3-5---5-------|-3-------3-5---||

3---3---5---5---5---5-|-3---3-----3---------|-3-----3---5---||

5-5-----3-------------|---------------------|-5---5-----3---||

----------------------|-6-6-----------------|-6-6-----------||

w/pick:

----------------|-----------------------------|-------------------|--------

6-6-6-6-6-6-----|-6-6-6---5-5-----------------|---6-6-6---6-6-----|--------

3-3-3-3-5-5-----|-3-3-3---5-5-----------------|---3-3-3---5-5-----|--------

3-3-3-3-3-3---x\|-3-3-3---5-5---3-7p5p3-------|---3-3-3---3-3---x\|--------

----------3---x\|-5-5-5---3-3-----------7p5p3-|-----------------x\|--------

6-6-6-6-------x\|-----------------------------|-6-6-6-6---------x\|--------

--------------------------------|---------------------|

6-6-6---5-5---------------------|---6-6-6-6-6-6-------|

3-3-3---5-5---------------------|---3-3-3-3-5-5-------|

3-3-3---5-5-----------8---------|---3-3-3-3-3-3---x\x\|

5-5-5---3-3---3h5h6h7---7p6p5p3-|-------------3---x\x\|

--------------------------------|-6-6-6-6-6-------x\x\|

* [nh w/bar]

-------------------2~~~-|-----------||

6-6-6---5-5--------3----|-----------||

3-3-3---5-5------2-2----|--5--/---7-|| at * return to standard

3-3-3---5-5------2-0----|--5--/---7-|| position (remove capo)

5-5-5---3-3------0------|-----------||

------------------------|-----------||

When you're back in standard, you're ready to begin the main part of the

song, which has the following chord progression with a few variations:

G D G/B A

And it's played like so...

G D G/B A

|-3-3-3-------|-3-3-3---------------------|---3-3-3-----|

|-3-3-3-3-3---|-3-3-3-2-2-----------------|---3-3-3-3-3-|

|-0-0-0-2-2---|-0-0-0-2-2-----------------|---0-0-0-2-2-|

|-0-0-0-0-0---|-0-0-0-2-2---0-4p2p0-------|---0-0-0-0-0-|

|-------0-0---|-2-2-2-0-0-----------4p2p0-|---------0-0-|

|-3-3-3-------|---------------------------|-3-3-3-3-----|

w/bar

3-3-3-------------------------|---3-3-3-----------|-3-3-3------------------

3-3-3-2-2---------------------|---3-3-3-3-3-------|-3-3-3-2--2~~~----------

0-0-0-2-2---------------------|---0-0-0-2-2-------|-0-0-0-2--2~~~----------

0-0-0-2-2-----------5---------|---0-0-0-0-0-------|-0-0-0-2--2~~~----------

2-2-2-0-0---0h2h3h4---4p3p2p0-|---------0-0-------|-2-2-2-0--0~~~----------

------------------------------|-3-3-3-3-------x\--|------------------------

||----------------------|-----------------------------|

||----------------------|-----------------------------|

||*-2-------------------|-2---------------------------|

||*-0-4---x-2-4---------|-0-4-------------------------|

||----2-----0-2---0h2p0-|---2-----------------x-4p2p0-|

||----------------------|-------0h2p0-3p0-4-5---------|

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