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Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 16:31:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Robert Seder
Subject: p/police/murder_by_numbers.tab
Guitar Tablature for Murder By Numbers
by The Police
(Words by Sting & Music by Andy Summers)
Album Info:
-------------------------------------
Song: Murder By Numbers
Artist: The Police
Album: Syncronicity
Version: standard album version
A&M Records 1983,1995 (75021 3735 2)
-------------------------------------
Transcribed by: Robert Seder [robertcseder@yahoo.com]
Eric Gausnell [gaus@halcyon.com] -original post
Please see the original post at the bottom. I just bought the CD and wanted
to figure out the rest of his song. I have just a few additions. The
original poster has the main riff which I have as Phrase I. This seems to
only be used in the 1st iteration of each verse. These are major chords, for
the remainder of each verse uses the minor version of these chords (see
Phrase II). Phrase III seems to be the same everytime, it is used to wrap up
a verse and go into the chorus. Phrase IV is the chorus. The 3rd chord is
a Gmaj7 - I gave an alternate way to play it. On the CD, it sounds like it
may be played open (the second example below), but I think it sounds a
better as a barred chord.
Guitar Setup:
Use the neck pickup for a warmer sound. If you have a chorus, set the "Rate"
tp 40% and the "Depth" to 60% - that's the generic Andy Summers sound.
Playing:
I don't use a pick on this song, it's easier (and sounds better IMHO) if you
use your fingers. Use your thumb to play the bass note, and index/middle/ring
to play the rest of the chord.
Phrase I (verse)
E7#9 Bbsus2/A B7#9 Bb7
E|-----------------------|-------------
B|-------8------6--------|-------------
G|-------7------5--------|----7----7---
D|-------6------8--------|----7----6---
A|-5-6---7---0-----------|----6----5---
E|-----0-----------------|--7----6-----
Phrase II (verse)
Em7 Bbsus2/A Bm7 Bb7
E|-----------------------|-------------
B|-------8------6--------|-------------
G|-------7------5--------|----7----7---
D|-------5------8--------|----7----6---
A|-5-6---7---0-----------|----5----5---
E|-----0-----------------|--7----6-----
Phrase III (pre-chorus)
F#7(#9) Fmaj7 Bm7
E|----------------------------
B|---10-------10--------------
G|---9--------9------7--------
D|---8--------7------7--------
A|-9------8----------5--------
E|-------------------7--------
Phrase IV (chorus)
Em9 Fm7 Gmaj7 Fm7 Gmaj7 (alternate fingering)
E|--------------7---------|-2--------------------------
B|----7----2----7----2----|-0--------------------------
G|----7----2----7----2----|-0--------------------------
D|----5----2----5----2----|-0--------------------------
A|----7----4---------4----|-2--------------------------
E|--0----2----3----2------|-3--------------------------
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http://www.guitarmasta.net/p/police,_the/.html
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
|
No Picture
cody Wanna Be |
#1 by cody westermier at Mar 30, 1971 at 2:14 AM EST |
| If anyone knows the backgroud of this song then please comment! I'm very curious. They use this song in the movie Copy Cat, which is about a serial killer. | |
|
No Picture
Christina Average |
#2 by Christina Anderson at Mar 30, 1973 at 8:22 PM EST |
| The first copy of the LP I bought did not have this track. A cassette version and a CD version did. It was also the B-side of the omnipresent "Every Breath You Take". Because that song was on virtually every jukebox in the universe during the Eighties, I used to get a kick out of playing "Murder by Numbers", which tagged along with EBYT on the jukeboxes in rednecky places, making everyone wonder, "What the hell is this?" This song describes three more or less incompatible forms of killing. Serial killers tend to try to maintain normal lives, with the killing unknown to their (seemingly safe) families. Of course, the "sport of the elected", killing via war, is quite different. This song is, obviously, a dark satire in the spirit of "A Modest Proposal". It also has a political message if you work backwards: It suggests (implausibly) that a serial killer might go on to lead a country, but asks us to make the reverse connection: Leaders of nations are often de facto mass murderers. I wonder if a few years later, Sting would have felt that this song was within the bounds of reasonable taste. It was around this time that various murders and suicides were alleged to have been caused by the influence of various rock music (much harder than the Police!) on teens. A case like this concerning Judas Priest took place two years after this song was released. | |
|
No Picture
Guitar FrE@k Average |
#3 by Guitar FrE@k Freak at Feb 12, 1979 at 6:40 PM EST |
| The album’s closing jazz-rock melody, “Murder by Numbers,” charted a course to success for the most aspiring of politicians, proposing an easy means whereby they might eliminate their competition. That cut-throat suggestion, however, only increased the wrath of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, to the point of insisting that the song had been written by Satan himself, and performed by the sons of Beelzebub. [From Rock & Holy Rollers: The Spiritual Beliefs of Chart-Topping Rock Stars in Their Lives and Lyrics by Geoffrey D. Falk.] | |
|
No Picture
Turd Fergeson Lead Player |
#4 by Turd Fergeson Fergeson at Jun 1, 1996 at 8:38 PM EST |
| Yes, it was actually. Last track | |
|
No Picture
Charlie Average |
#5 by Charlie Fletcher at May 15, 2004 at 11:00 PM EST |
| well ok. last track on cd, but only the 7inch single b-side.. ok great great guitar chords, swninging stuff lots of fun, ok lyrics like that wow its pretty risqué too.. bad bad Sting. but other than that hasn't anybody ever heard about.. say dictatoship killings ?? | |
|
No Picture
Bryant Wanna Be |
#6 by Bryant Matthews at May 17, 2005 at 12:23 AM EST |
| About a serial killer bragging about his profession. This wasn't released on Synchronicity LP. | |
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