Non Populus Solo Tab

[Doormat]

Damn it's been awhile since I was here. Anyone up for tabbing the solo for Non Populus? I've picked up electric guitar recently and I've always loved this solo...

[finboy]

I just sat down with a guitar to see what is going on there, it is going to have a pretty intense learning curve, but has a LOT of good concepts for a new guitarist. I can't tab the whole thing out but I can provide you with some tips.

 

First, the guitar is tuned a half step down, so you will need to tune your guitar to e flat, b flat, g flat, d flat, a flat, and E flat. A LOT of matt good songs post-underdogs are in this tuning, and if you want to do some singing in the future, this really helps get a bit more out of your voice as it brings the range into a more comfortable range for male voices. Next, it is in two different keys between the first and second half of the song. The first is in E flat minor, the second C flat major (someone correct me if I am wrong). What this means is that MOST of your solo work will be based off the pent atomic scale on the 12th fret for the e flat part of the song, and the 17th fret for the c flat part.

 

To figure out this solo, you are going to need to understand the pentatonic scale (the most common scale in rock music) in major and minor form. There are likely a million videos out there by actual guitar teachers, so feel free to search them out as well. Essentially in the minor form, your route note (the e flat that the first part of the song is in) will be the 12th fret on the low and high E flat strings, and the 14th fret on the d flat string. Most of the riffs for the solo will lead to these notes, or include them in some way.

 

For the c flat major part (or major key songs in general) you basically take the whole scale, and shift it back four frets from where you would play a minor scale. The route notes still represent the key of the song, but some of the other key notes shift into a happier key. For this song with the key of c for the second half, the minor pentatonic would start on the 8th fret if it was minor, but because it is major, we shift it back and start on the 5th fret. It starts lower on the fretboard than the e flat minor section, but later shifts up the neck for the higher notes. Because it is major, the route notes (green in the visual below) start with a scale focusing on the 8th fret on the high and low e flat strings, and the 5th fret of the g flat string. To understand why, see the visuals below. This is one of the differences between major and minor, that route not shifts from the d flat string in the minor, to the g flat string In the major scale. From listening to the second part, there is a very clear shift from the lower note scale, to the higher note scale. You are moving the scale one octave (12 full frets) up the neck, the notes to focus on are the 20th fret on the high and low e flat strings, and the 17th fret on the g flat string.

 

Here is a minor pentatonic, you basically use these notes at the 12th fret, with the green dots representing your route/key notes.

 

 

Here is a major pentatonic, it looks similar because the structure is the same, but because the scale is moved on the neck, and the route notes are in a different location, it sounds happier.

 

 

Now if you want to get a *bit* more advanced, you can learn more about playing the pentatonic scale in different locations. I would highly recommend just learning those initial shapes FIRST, and use them to play along with the so g to understand how they work. AFTER that, try finding all the notes of the scales on one string, then the next string, etc. you will start to understand that the scale can be shifted up and down the neck, just using different structures. The notes are the same, but the pattern on the neck changes. If you watch live footage, you will see Jimmy is all over the neck. He actually isn't going outside of this scale, just using different patterns with the same notes.

 

I would recommend also trying out champagne supernova by oasis, the whole song switches between a major, and a minor, and has vary basic riffs that allow you lots of time to understand how the key changes work, and how to change when doing your lead work.

Edited December 1, 2014 by finboy

[finboy]

Btw, This video explains the major/minor concept better. Unfortunately with non populous you aren't switching from e flat minor to E flat major, but the concept still applies.

 

[hoogie]

Thanks for the tips. One of my favorite songs, and I'd love to play along.

[Doormat]

Holy crap it gets complicated. No way of just tabbing it out for me easily? :S

[finboy]

Not really, it's hard because there are a lot of notes, but they all fall in those 2 scales. For the longest time I tried to learn solos by tabs, but truthfully if you just learn the pentatonic major and minor scale, you can figure out 99% of rock/blues guitar lead work

[hoogie]

I feel the same way. Learning the scales is a must. Pretty much everything follows those scales. It's much easier to pick things up by ear after getting them down. I usually look at tabs to get the basic chords and go from there.

[finboy]

I feel the same way. Learning the scales is a must. Pretty much everything follows those scales. It's much easier to pick things up by ear after getting them down. I usually look at tabs to get the basic chords and go from there.

 

Same here, sorting out a solo is pretty easy as it is put very high in the mix by design. I actually have more trouble with rhythm tracks by ear as so much is going on to bled it together as a mix.

[hoogie]

I don't know if they still sell them, but I remember Bel Air Music selling songbooks back in the day. They did have MGB books from some of the earlier stuff. Would be awesome if they still make them. Will do some digging online.

 

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/THE-MATTHEW-GOOD-BAND-Guitar-Tab-Software-Lesson-CD-FREE-BONUSES-/331373837148?pt=Music_CDs&hash=item4d276b7b5c

 

Only thing I could find related to Matt. Hal Leonard still makes the books. I used to have a few of them back then. Wish I had looked for one of Matt's.

[Guest Idioteque]

A Matthew Good tab book would be awesome.

Even a lyric book would be a cool edition to my collection.