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Tonight's the Night (part 1) - Neil Young
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Tabbed by: Les Gibson
OK so this is a black and haunting blues tune, and only Neil can really pull it off properly.
But here's an acoustic version i worked out for you to mess around with.
The song has only three chords really, so its easy to improvise and get into the groove
it.
May i dedicate this small tab to Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten. Although I did not know
this
song sums it up.
Tuning: DROP C! yes thats right, you heard. CADGBE
---->Main theme/chorus: with that famous bass riff.
Tonight's the night D Ce|-------------|-----------------|-(0)-----------------|B|-------------|-(3)-------------|--1------------------|G|-------------|--2--------------|--0------------------|D|--------0----|--0--------------|--2-------------0----|A|--0--3-------|--0--------------|--3-------0--3-------|C|-----------2-|--2--------------|--0---------------2--|
Tonight's the ni - hi hi hi hu hight D Ce|---------------|---------------------|----|B|-(3)-----------|---------------------|----|G|--2------------|---------------------|----| etc. repeatD|--0------------|--2------------------|----|A|--0------------|--3---0--------------|----|C|--2------------|--0-------7---5----0-|-2--|
---------> verse
The only chord for the verse is D7 really. at the end of each line, play an improv on
d chord,
particularly after "he used to pick up my guitar" - live, neil extends this into a solo
mid-verse.
You can play the D7 chord like this:
e|----| e|----|B|----| B|-1--|G|-2--| G|-2--|D|-0--| OR D|-0--|A|-3--| A|-0--|C|-2--| C|-2--|
... with fills like these - both sound good:
e|--------------------------| e|--0--0-------------|B|--------------------------| B|--1--1----1--3-----|G|--------------------------| G|--2--2----2--2-----|D|--------------------------| OR maybe D|--0-------0--0-----|A|--------------------------| A|--0----------0-----|C|--/7-7--9--/7--7--5--0--2-| C|--2----------2-----|
Listen to the recording to get a feel. I think this could be performed live just with
one
guitar, as the song is quite sparse and slow. Make it your own!
Here are the chords, just to help:
D C D C
Tonight's the night, tonight's the night,
D C D C
tonight's the night, tonight's the night,
D7
Bruce Berry was a workin' man;
D7
He used to load that Econoline Van.
D7
A sparkle was in his eyes,
D7
but his life was in his hand.
D7
Well late at night when the people were gone
D7
he used to pick up my guitar
D7
and sing a song in a shaky voice
D7
that was real as the day was long.
D C D C
Tonight's the night, tonight's the night,
D C D C
tonight's the night, tonight's the night,
A couple of other verses follow, with same chords.
| / slide up
| \ slide down
| h hammer-on
| p pull-off
| ~ vibrato
| + harmonic
| x Mute note
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