Van Halen - "Big River"
From "A Different Kind of Truth"
Tuning - Eb (all strings down 1 fret)
tabbed by jjhand
Clean Intro
eb|-2h3p2p0--3p2p0------------|-2h3p2p0------------------|Bb|-----------------3---------|----------3p0-------------|Gb|---------------------------|--------------0-----------|Db|-2--------0----------------|-0---------------4--------|Ab|-----------------3---------|----------3------2--------|Eb|---------------------------|--------------------------|
Main Riff (w/ Distortion)
eb|-----------------------|------------------------|Bb|-7h8-8-8--x-7------x-x-|------------------------|Gb|-7---7-7--x-7------x-x-|-5-4--------------------|Db|-7h9-9-9--x-7------x-x-|-----5-7--5--5p4p0------|Ab|-----------------------|-------------------0----|Eb|-----------------------|------------------------|
|-----------------------|--------------------------||-7h8-8-8--x-7------x-x-|--------------------------||-7---7-7--x-7------x-x-|-5-4----------------------||-7h9-9-9--x-7------x-x-|-----5-7PH----------------||-----------------------|-----------3p0-3h5-3p0-0--||-----------------------|--------------------------|
|-----------------------|-------------------------||-7h8-8-8--x-7------x-x-|-------------------------||-7---7-7--x-7------x-x-|-5-4---------------------||-7h9-9-9--x-7------x-x-|-----5-7---5--5p4p0------||-----------------------|--------------------0----||-----------------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------------|--------------------------||-7h8-8-8--x-7------x-x-|--------------------------||-7---7-7--x-7------x-x-|-5-4-------------0--------||-7h9-9-9--x-7------x-x-|-----5-7-5----------------||-----------------------|------------0-3qb-3qb--0--||-----------------------|--------------------------|
Verse Riff
|-------------------------|-------------------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-8-8-8-7-----------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-7-7-7-7-----------------||-----------0-----0-----0-|-----------0--0--0--0--0-||-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-8-8-8-7-----------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-7-7-7-7-----------------||-----------0-----0-----0-|-----------4--5-5/7-5--4-||-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------|
Repeat Main Riff
"Oh Big River, Oh Yeah"
Play Verse Riff Again with slight changes
|-------------------------|-------------------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-8-8-8-7-----------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-7-7-7-7-----------------||-----------0-----0-----0-|-----------5h7-5h7p5-4-0-||-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-----------*************-||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-8-8-8-7---10-10-8--8--7-| * w/ slight|-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-7-7-7-7-----------------| trem bar bends|-----------0-----0-----0-|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------|
Repeat Main Riff (0:55)
Verse 2:
|-------------------------|-------------------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-8-8-8-7-----------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-7-7-7-7-----------------||-----------0-----0-----0-|-----------0--0--0--0--0-||-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------||-5-5-5-3------3-----3----|-7-7-7-5-----------------||-4-4-4-4------4-----4----|-5-5-5-5-----------------||-4-4-4-4------4-----4----|-5-5-5-5-----------------||-----------2-----2-------|--------------5--3--2--3-||-------------------------|-------------------------|
|--------------|--------------||--------------|--------------||--------------|--8PH~~~------| <- use trem bar|-4~~~---------|--------------| vibrato for |-2~~~---------|--------------| horse sound|--------------|--------------|
Repeat Main Riff
Play Verse Riff 2 Again, but ending changes again:|-------------------------|-------------------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-8-8-8-7-----------------||-5-5-5-7------7-----7----|-7-7-7-7-----------------||-----------0-----0-----0-|-----------0--0--0--0--0-||-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------||-5-5-5-3------3-----3----|-7-7-7-5-----------------||-4-4-4-4------4-----4----|-5-5-5-5-----------------||-4-4-4-4------4-----4----|-5-5-5-5-----------------||-----------2-----2-------|--------------5--3--2----||-------------------------|-----------------------3-|
|--------------|--------------||--------------|--------------||--------------|--------------||--------------|--------------| |--------------|--------------| |-2------------|-2\____-------| dive bar, lower note gradually
(1:48) Bridge to Solo|------------------------|------------------------||------------------------|------------------------||------------------------|-----------4PH\_/-------||------------------------|------------------7\6/7-||-------7~--------7---7\-|-------7----------------||-0-0-0-----0-0-0--------|-0-0-0------------5\4/5-|
|------------------------|-----------------------------||------------------------|-----------------------------||------------------------|-----------------------------||------------------------|-------------*-*---*--*------||-------7~--------7---7\-|-------7-----7-7p5-7--5------||-0-0-0-----0-0-0--------|-0-0-0-----------------------|
*slight harmonics
Solo|-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------||-9b12r-9p7--9--7h9p7-9~--|-7h9p7--------------14b16||----------9--------------|-------9-7h9p7\5-9~~~----||-------------------------|-------------------------||-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------------------15-17||-14p12---14b16r-12---14b16r-12---14b16r-12---14-16-----||------14----------14----------14----------14-----------||-------------------------------------------------------||-------------------------------------------------------|
|-17---15-14h15p14---15-14----|-----19_p15--19p15--19p15--19p15---||-----------------17-------/x-|-----------17-----17-----17-----17-||-----------------------------|-/16-------------------------------||-----------------------------|-----------------------------------||-----------------------------|-----------------------------------||-----------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------||-------------------15---12-------------||-16~-16p14\12-14b16--b16--b16-14-14p12-||---------------------------------------||---------------------------------------||---------------------------------------|
all TP notes|----------17--------17-19-22-|-22b24-22-22b24-22-22b24-b24~~~---||-17--19-20--17-19-20---------|----------------------------------||-----------------------------|------------------------------/12\||-----------------------------|----------------------------------||-----------------------------|----------------------------------||-----------------------------|----------------------------------|
|-T7p3p0-T7p0h3-T7-T7p3p0-T7p0h3-T7-T8p3p0-T8p0h3-T8-T8p3p0-T8-||--------------------------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------||-T12p3p0-T12p0h3-T12-T12p3p0-T12p0h3-T12-T10p3p0-T10p0h3-T10-T10p3p0-T10-||-------------------------------------------------------------------------||-------------------------------------------------------------------------||-------------------------------------------------------------------------||-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-T7p3p0-T7p0h3-T7-T7p3p0-T7p0h3---------------||----------------------------------------------||----------------------------------------------||---------------------------------7PH_b___r-5--||----------------------------------------------||----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------|---------------------||----------------------------|---------------------||---------------slight harm--|---------------------||--------------10-10-10-10~~-|-------5---5-4-------||-------7--------------------|---------------7-6~--||-0-0-0----8-8---------------|-3-3-3---------------|
|----------------------------|------------------------|---------||----------------------------|------------------------|---------||---------------slight harm--|------------------------|---------||--------------10-10-10-10~~-|-------5---9-9---5-4-2--|---------||-------7--------------------|-----------x-x---x-x-x--|---------||-0-0-0----8-8---------------|-3-3-3-----7-7---3-2-0--|-0-------|
|----------|-10-14p12p10--------------------------------||----------|------------15-15p12p10---------------------||-7--------|-----------------------14-12p10\9-10-9------||-7--------|--------------------------------------14-12-||-5--------|--------------------------------------------||----------|--------------------------------------------|
Back to Main Riff (rhythm plays this through end of song)
Lead Guitar End Part (2:58-3:16 on Main Riff repeat, play 2x)
|---------------|-----------------|--------------|-------------------||-7b8---7~~~----|-7h8-7-----------|-7b8---7~~~---|-------------10~---||---------------|-------9-9-7-6---|--------------|-9-7h9p7-6---------||---------------|---------------7-|--------------|-----------7-------||---------------|-----------------|--------------|-------------------||---------------|-----------------|--------------|-------------------|
Continue Lead (3:17)|------15------------|-------17-15-17b19-15-17~-||-15b17--15~~--15b17r|-13-----------------------||--------------------|---14---------------------||--------------------|--------------------------||--------------------|--------------------------||--------------------|--------------------------|
|------17-20p17---17---------------|------------------------12--||-20b22--------b22--r20---17h20p17-|-18h17\15--15\13p12---------||-----------------------19---------|---------17--------14-------||----------------------------------|----------------------------||----------------------------------|----------------------------||----------------------------------|---------------------x\5----|
|-15\12/15\12-17--17\-----|---------------------------||-------------------------|---------------------------||-------------------------|-14h17p14~~----------------||-------------------------|------------0\(-5)______/--||-------------------------|---------------------------||-------------------------|---------------------------|
|----8--10b12r--------------------|--------------------------------||-10-----------10h13p10~---7h10p7-|--7h10p7-10p7-------------------||-------------------------9-------|-9------------9-9b11r-7-9-7-----||---------------------------------|----------------------------9-9~||---------------------------------|--------------------------------||---------------------------------|--------------------------------|
play Lead Guitar End Part again and fade out
KEY
************************************
| / slide up
| \ slide down
|\_/ dive tremelo bar and release, note the number of frets to lower note in ()
| h hammer-on
| p pull-off
| ~ vibrato
| PH pinch harmonic
| x Mute note
| b Bend
| pb Pre-bend
| r Bend release
| __ Hold note or bend before changing pitch
************************************
