Empty Walls Guitar Tab

intro x2
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--3-3-5-6----------------|
-------------------------| x8
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--8-8-10-11--------------|
-------------------------| x4
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--6-6-8-10---------------|
-------------------------| x2
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--5-5-7-8----------------|
-------------------------| x2
verse
----------------------------|
----------------------------|
----------------------------|
------5------------8--------|
--5-6---8-6----5-6----------|
----------------------------| x6
bridge x2
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
--10    --8    --3    --1    ------|
--10    --8    --3    --1    ------|
--10 x6 --8 x6 --3 x6 --1 x6 ------|
choros x2
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
--10    --8    --6    --3    ------|
--10    --8    --6    --3    ------|
--10 x6 --8 x6 --6 x6 --3 x6 ------|
verse
----------------------------|
----------------------------|
----------------------------|
------5------------8--------|
--5-6---8-6----5-6----------|
----------------------------| x4
bridge x2
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
--10    --8    --3    --1    ------|
--10    --8    --3    --1    ------|
--10 x6 --8 x6 --3 x6 --1 x6 ------|
choros x4
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
--10    --8    --6    --3    ------|
--10    --8    --6    --3    ------|
--10 x6 --8 x6 --6 x6 --3 x6 ------|
bridge x2
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
--10    --8    --3    --1    ------|
--10    --8    --3    --1    ------|
--10 x6 --8 x6 --3 x6 --1 x6 ------|
choros x2
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
-----------------------------------|
--10    --8    --6    --3    ------|
--10    --8    --6    --3    ------|
--10 x6 --8 x6 --6 x6 --3 x6 ------|
intro x1
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--3-3-5-6----------------|
-------------------------| x8
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--8-8-10-11--------------|
-------------------------| x4
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--6-6-8-10---------------|
-------------------------| x2
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------------|
--5-5-7-8----------------|
-------------------------| x2

Source: GuitarMasta.net
http://www.guitarmasta.net/s/serj_tankian/.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Faiz Average	#1 by Faiz fender at Sep 29, 2007 at 6:25 PM EST
	my interpretation is short. empty walls could mean the whole terror levels and all that crap, notice the little rating system thing that came out at the begining? as the levels rise or fall the we create ways to protect ourselves from this "threat" what do walls do? protect. hence the term empty walls, the walls are empty because theres nothing to protect yourself from. The video is beautiful by the way, if anyone hasnt seen it you can find it on you tube

No Picture Joe Average	#2 by Joe Blurton at Sep 30, 2007 at 9:00 PM EST
	Hmm...to me it seems like Serj is saying that it's better to be buried than cremated. Can anyone else see it?

No Picture PJVILL Professional Badass	#3 by PJVILL at Oct 3, 2007 at 9:20 AM EST
	My interpretation of the song is one that requires background information, as most people would be confused with my interpretation unless they were well educated in history, or unless they were of Armenian descent. The Armenian Genocide, sometimes appropriately called “The Forgotten Genocide,” has never received the national attention it deserves. One reason is because of the Turkish government’s succesful campaign to erase history with threats and political pressure on countries like the USA (It works because of Turkey’s strategic location on the map). Thus, Serj Tankian’s masterful song, “Empty Walls” is an obvious allusion to the unjustified and brutal persecution that the Armenian people had been subjected to under the Ottoman Empire, espescially during the 20th Century. “Your Empty Walls” is not referring to your empty walls, or my empty walls, but indirectly referring to the lives lost during one of the bleakest moments in history. If we dig down deeper, in a philosophical sense, Serj wants us to look past the real or concrete aspects of the world we live in, and reach out to the abstract, the spiritual world. By speaking to the dead, specifically to those who died in the unbearable heat of the desert, Serj is reaching out to the souls that still suffer and linger under the sand, their “Empty Walls.” These souls will continue suffering until they receive justification, until their wounds are healed and only then can they rest. Until then, they shouldn’t “waste their times on coffins today.”

No Picture That One Guy Musical Genius	#4 by That One Guy at Oct 3, 2007 at 11:24 AM EST
	Well to me, Serj is saying that it is better to be cremated and let your mind wander free through time and space rather than being buried and being confined in the "empty walls" of a coffin. But of course that is just my opinion of the song= ]

No Picture Kyle Average	#5 by Kyle at Oct 3, 2007 at 8:27 PM EST
	For me the empty walls are narrowness of a mind-the first part is like you dream and never look at the present, at the crap that happens today. The chorus is asking you to open your eyes and leave behind the narrow mind. Maybe how we all operate in some part behind the closed walls of our minds. The last part with the chanting feels like he's cursing the walls and how we trust our minds but we all need to look back to fix the present before we can think about the future.

No Picture Rob Average	#6 by Rob Jones at Oct 4, 2007 at 1:19 PM EST
	There is no question the song is directly about the Bush administration's censorship of the Iraq war and specifically the choice to ban the media from showing caskets of American soldiers. "Your empty walls, Pretentious adventures, Dismissive apprehension, Don't waste your time, On coffins today," About how we are just being forced to ignore reality whether or not we even conciously acknowledge so. " Don't you see their bodies burning? Desolate and full of yearning, Dying of anticipation, Choking from intoxication," About both American and Iraqi casualties that the public is ignorant to. The video which depicts the twin towers being destroyed, the statue of Hussein being toppled, and even prisoners being taken ends with the children staring at the casket outside. The children who played the war willing and enjoyed it are being seperated from the casket only by a window, an empty wall. There is nothing really there and they choose to see reality but censoring their vision would mean they still think of war as a type of game and run around enjoying it. In summary, the song is about the government's false protections and how censoring the viewing of caskets decreases critcism of the war and helps Americans avoid the reality that people are constantly dieing from war because they are unable to view the atrocities. While I'm sure these themes can be taken into a broader scope there is no doubt Serj is directly speaking to the casket censorship. An incredible song and maybe the best video I have seen this year.

No Picture ~Ivy Loves Shav Rhythm Player	#7 by ~Ivy Loves Shavo~ at Oct 5, 2007 at 2:43 AM EST
	Just saw the video- it was very captivating-the only problem with videos, in my opinion, is that it takes away from you expanding your mind at all the possibilities of a songs meaning. Most songs have several ways that you can interpret them.

No Picture birdman Average	#8 by birdman ethdh at Oct 5, 2007 at 9:00 PM EST
	okay i consider bobthedog my best friend because i was thinking the exact samething you took the words right out of my mouth.

No Picture Eric Average	#9 by Eric Phillips at Oct 6, 2007 at 8:48 AM EST
	This song is so beautiful and moving. I can't help but get teary when I hear it. It makes me want to do something to take a stand against the war, rather than just saying it's bad. I don't know what I can do, but I heard there is an upcoming bill about putting more money into the war, so I'll definitely look that up online. Serj is such an amazing musician and poet. I absolutely loved Cool Gardens, and I think it's about time he relased his own album.

No Picture claireus Wanna Be	#10 by claireus s at Oct 6, 2007 at 1:39 PM EST
	i watched the video, and i think that i means that people are really understanding what the war really means, becausse the children "playing" war just saw what they saw through the media, and didnt really get, it, " dont waste you time time on coffins today". you know, no one gets thata people are dying, and the kids are like the rest of the world who arent involved, untill they see the coffins coming home, and suddenly its not playtime anymore. or it could mean that ther is a war in america to come home to as well

No Picture A.K.A. Steven Average	#11 by A.K.A. Steven Stelacio at Oct 6, 2007 at 11:37 PM EST
	I miss the old days. The days when people could voice their opinions, and they were harmless. Now people are blowing themselves up, holding up signs saying "Fags eat shit" at soldier's funerals, and we have 4chan's like this where everybody just has to voice their opinions and write as politically and grammatically correct as they can to be seen as intelligent as possible. That's why compositions suck. If you want to absorb any real ideas, hear it from a person's mouth.

No Picture St. Jimmy Wanna Be	#12 by St. Jimmy at Oct 7, 2007 at 7:30 AM EST
	It's about the war in iraq The empty walls=the lack of weapons of mass destruction "I loved you yesterday before you killed my family" That's from the view of an iraqi child. Sure they're liberating my country, but they also killed my family. "Pretentious adventures, Dismissive apprehension," Sums the war up.

No Picture Andrew Wanna Be	#13 by Andrew Long at Oct 10, 2007 at 5:35 AM EST
	alright. It may have something to do with: War is glorified and ridiculous, but when someone dies the reality hits you and play time is over. I dunno about the chorus; It could mean a lot of different things. I'd like the hear what this song means to Serj.

No Picture Jon Wanna Be	#14 by Jon Leff at Oct 11, 2007 at 10:36 AM EST
	I think its about how obese people can eat like seven bagels and then be like "i want more bagels". ya know

No Picture julian Average	#15 by julian at Oct 13, 2007 at 4:29 PM EST
	Well. Serj has recently been seeking residence in New Zealand where he plans to reside until the end of the Iraq War, and he often speaks publicly against violence and injustice in the world :D

No Picture That One Guy Musical Genius	#16 by That One Guy at Oct 15, 2007 at 12:48 PM EST
	This song means that their are so many deaths in the world including Iraq that why do we bother burying them? Empty walls simply means I actually don't know what Empty walls means. But did anyone else notice from the video of the kid throwing the plane towards the towers the girl made. The 2 towers, thus symbolizing they know yet as bobthedog said, they realize when the coffins come home.

No Picture duncan_player Wanna Be	#17 by duncan_player at Oct 15, 2007 at 2:20 PM EST
	Well Sabi420 if u know serj at all, u know he is not the one who would obviously give away the meaning of a song through his music video, Serj would be the last to do that. There is alot of meaning to this song, as it is usual with serj as well as system, there is no right or wrong answer. But i think that This has a significance with the Armenian Genocide. "cant you see their bodies burning, desolate and full of yerning" was when the Armenians where being killed, and "dying from anticipation" would be the people that protest, and want the recognintion for that genocide.

No Picture Zach Wanna Be	#18 by Zach Honeycutt at Oct 16, 2007 at 4:04 PM EST
	Its about this clusterfuck of a situation we're in-the video says it all. A Bad World makes Good Music.

No Picture Flappy Average	#19 by Flappy Bob at Oct 17, 2007 at 12:10 AM EST
	Serj isnt gonna move to New Zealand until the end of the iraq war. Its not like after the Cd comes out, hes just fuckin gonna leave, he has responsibilities and tour dates listed. Plus he already has residence in New Zealand he says he is only gonna go there when he needs peace and when he wants to relax.

No Picture HIYA Wanna Be	#20 by HIYA at Oct 17, 2007 at 1:40 AM EST
	After seeing it a few more times, ive also come up with, kids are reenacting the war in Iraq, with the plane hitting the little block resemblance of the twin towers, the knocking down the teddy bbear, in resemblance to the knocking down the statue of husseim. And then also, when the toy bomb explodes and the little toy car flips over, a resemblance of the roadside bombs etc etc. after all this play and fun, they look outside beyond the "wall" and see realiity. A coffin being mounted into the back of a car. The real thing is being left behind the wall.

No Picture ScumFucBondage Average	#21 by ScumFucBondage bumsex at Oct 17, 2007 at 4:41 AM EST
	This song I found was easy enough to understand, that is if you know how Serj feels about 9/11 and all that. Basically he thinks its awful that people are letting there kids see all this stuff and influence them by what they see on tv about the war in Iraq. Personally I thought the Video reflected it better then the actual song but thats just what I got from it. Anyone else?

No Picture †§ean† Average	#22 by †§ean† at Oct 17, 2007 at 4:51 AM EST
	I honestly think that all of you are absolutely right, but i wana add one thing: The fact that kids are playing the war says that we are all acting like little kids about this bullshit. Us Americans and other countries quarrel and argue about some of the stupidest shit you can immagine, just like little kids, and therefore, the kids being the "soldiers"

No Picture alex Rhythm Player	#23 by alex Smith at Oct 17, 2007 at 9:06 PM EST
	Serj leaves everything open to interpretation. How one person sees it, isn't going to be exactly how someone else sees it. That's the beauty in thinking for yourself.

No Picture Jon Badass	#24 by Jon Coath at Oct 18, 2007 at 6:39 AM EST
	Why don't we just ask Serj? I mean, what it means to him is what this is all about.

No Picture Senour Average	#25 by Senour Dakota at Oct 19, 2007 at 1:56 PM EST
	I think it's all about america's escapade in the middle east. If you watch the video it shows a lot of things that have happened in Iraq, starting with 9/11, showing a kiddie version of the Abu Ghraib incident, and many other incidents. More indepth, i think it's about how we're leaving a mark on the future generations that it's okay to do the things America (and the rest of the world) are doing. Such as showing the Kid Car Bombing, Kid 9/11, etc etc.