The Last Straw

The Last Straw - Lyrics by Fish, music by Marillion. Transcribed by James Osgood - jco100@tower.york.ac.uk Legend 10b12 means bend from the tenth fret to the twelfth. (10)b12 means pre-bend 20r18 means release bend ~ indicates vibrato. / means slide \/ means dive with whammy bar. p indicates pull off, and h indicates hammer on q indicates quarter tone bend. Intro and Verse - Clean guitar with Chorus and Delay e----------------------------------------------- B-----1--3--1h3p1p0-----0-h-1--0---------------- G-----2--------------2------------2--2-p-0--0--- D-----2----------------------------------------- A--0--0----------------------------------------- E----------------------------------------------- e--------------------------------2-- B-----1--3--1h3p1p0-----1--------3-- G-----2--------------2-----0-----2-- D-----2-----------------------3--0-- A--0--0----------------------------- E----------------------------------- There are slight fills at the end of this, which are different for the two verses. They are 12 e---0h2-- --3-2--- B-------- -------- G-------- -------- D-------- -------- A-------- -------- E-------- -------- The bits between verses are just Eb and F chords played as follows EF e---6--------- B---8----10--- G---8----10--- D---8----10--- A---6----8---- E------------- It goes Eb - F - Eb - F - Eb - F -Eb - F - F - F. SR arpeggiates the chords second time around. After the second 'chorus' he whips on a capo at the third fret and plays an arpeggiated Cm7 as follows. e------------------6-- B-----------4p3h4----- G--------5------------ D-----5--------------- A--3------------------ E--------------------- He plays this repeadedly until the solo (There are various odd bits of guitar under it but I haven't bothered to work them out) Solo - a cracker. It's simple and very effective and I think I read somewhere that he improvised it!! e-------------------------------------------------------- B--(16)b18~---11--9--11--(11)b13~------------------------ G-------------------------------------------------------- D---------------------------------------3--6--3--8/10\8-- A-------------------------------------------------------- E-------------------------------------------------------- dive with bar e----------------------------------------------------13-- B-----------------------16-p-13--16~--16p13--(16)b18----- G-------------------------------------------------------- D--8p6p3--3--6q\----/------------------------------------ A---------------\--/------------------------------------- E----------------\/-------------------------------------- ------- rpt x 8 e--(15)b16~-16--(15)b16--16--18--(18)b20~------16p13----- B-------------------------------------------13----------- G-------------------------------------------------------- D-------------------------------------------------------- A-------------------------------------------------------- E-------------------------------------------------------- e---------------------------------------------------------- B--(16)b18------------------------------------------------- G-----------13--13~--13h15p13--13~\------------------------ D------------------------------------6~-3--6h8-6-8/10--10~- A---------------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------------------------------------- e----------------------------------------------16-18-(18)b20~ B-----------------------------------16-(16)b18--------------- G--10\------------------------------------------------------- D-------6~-8--6--8/10--8~--10-6p5p3-------------------------- A------------------------------------------------------------ E------------------------------------------------------------ Then this bit which is great fun - still distorted. e-----3---------------------3--3----------------- B-----4--3------------------4-----4-----6-------- G-----5-----3-----5---------5--------3--5-------- D-----5--------3--6---------5-----------3-------- A--3--3-----------6------3--3-------------------- E-----------------4------------------------------ This chord sequence is used until the end. Steve solos over it after a while, using the same melodic ideas as the solo, but now in Cm as opposed to Fm.