Figuring out Doyle's "U2 Medley"

[Jer1400]

Edo is no longer working on this. Instead, I have transcribed and will transcribe all of it myself so Edo doesn't have to worry about it. He is a bit sick, so wish him well! :)

It is too long for me to post (maximum char. limit is 10,000 to conserve bandwidth, I suppose) so you can get it here: http://www.flatface.net/~jer1400/U2_Medley.txt

Also, I made a MIDI to listen to: http://www.flatface.net/~jer1400/U2_Medley.mid

Yeah, I didn't bother with the timing hardly at all in the introduction. However, I did this to give me more time to tab because I know you all can figure it out just by listening to the MP3. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea (because it might be illegal) to post the MP3 for you all to hear, so you'll have to buy the album or borrow it from a friend. :)

As for the rythm, it's basically contructed of four parts: bass notes; mid-ranged notes (or "fillers"); the striked notes; and the melody line. The bass notes are sounded with the thumb at a moderate volume. The mid-ranged notes are usually an octave higher than the bass notes, and though extremely quiet, play a vital part in making this full sound Doyle has acheived by filling not only dead air, but tonal range as well. The notes that are strummed are done so by the nail of the index finger and when a louder sound is needed, he also uses the nail of his middle finger. The notes in the melody line are indeed the loudest notes. These are played in accordance to your basic fingering (1st string: ring finger; 2nd string: middle finger; 3rd string: index finger). On rare occasions, you will have to sound a melody note on the fourth string and that is done by the index finger. Additionally, a few notes in the melody line make up the treble or mid-range in a strike with the index finger.

In the introduction Doyle uses a technique which I think is called "Artificial Harmonics". Jazzinthebox explained it to me perfectly, so if you don't get it here I'm sure he can explain it better. Basically, you sound hamonics with only your right hand by holding your right index finger over the fret, and plucking the string with the thumb. Doing this, you can fret notes with your left hand which allows you to play many more notes as harmonics. Try fretting a basic chord and sounding harmonics 12 frets above each fretted fret. Additionally, this allows you to quite effectively play harmonics and regular notes jumbled together (well, maybe that's the wrong word because with practice it can be done quite smoothly). He does this on many songs, one of the easier ones with a simply use of this technique is "Laguna Sand." I hope I explained it well enough so you understand. If not, please accept my apologies, Jazzinthebox, for you could be receiving several P.M.s in the near future. XD

Listen to the song many times and play it just as much, and you'll be able to play it with feeling and passion as Doyle does. I apologize if my server is down as they are offline fairly often. If you can't obtain the files, simply try again at a later time. Enjoy playing "U2 Medley"!

Cheers,
Jer

[jazzinthebox]

Looks pretty accurate! Don't forget that on bars 15 and 16, Doyle plays the harmonics with his right hand only (index finger and thumbpick), and in between plucks the B-string with his ring finger. It should read <12>, 0, <12> 0, respectively. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[FunkofPeet]

Great tab please keep it coming, i still remember watching him play this. Do you know where i can find more Doyle Dykes tabs?

[jazzinthebox]

Doyle currently has two tab books available on his website.

I am aware of only two or three "freebie" tabs of his circulating around that aren't available in his books. "The Wings of the Morning" was published in an old issue of Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, and used to be available as a free download on their website. This may still be the case. A few others have tabbed with great accuracy a couple other tunes, but it takes some digging to find them.

[Kindofblue]

@Jer1400

Great tab, thanks for shareing. Rest of the piece available????

KOB

[Jer1400]

Update: Today I give you approximately the first two minutes of "U2 Medley." It took many hours to figure it out, and I have much more work ahead of me... Accept I figured out the last minute or so already so I'll just have to write that part down when it comes time to do so. Heh. Enjoy, everyone. :)

[Kindofblue]

@Jer1400

Thanks! Great Job

[Kindofblue]

@Jer1400

Did you have time to update the great tab?

KOB

[psaladis]

Just wanted to say thanks. Great job on a great song. Keep 'em coming.

[Jer1400]

Yeah, I'm still working on it, guys. Things are just going a bit slower than they were at first... My schedule kind of got changed around and left less time for figuring out songs, but I will definitely get this one done.

[Jer1400]

Hey guys. Sorry that took so long, and sorry again because you'll have to wait a bit longer, but hopefully not past tomorrow. I got to 3:00 yesterday but I haven't been able to get online for the last 3 days. Now I'm at 3:30, and my FTP host is down, so I'll have to upload it later.

Oh, and on a side-note: I saw pgagnon's tab and it has inspired me to do that song note-for-note as well. I'm guessing a lot of you can figure it out from his, but just in case anyone wanted a note-for-note tab, it's coming. And fast at that; 3 hours of work has yielded about 45 seconds, unlike "U2 Medley" which averages about 1.5 minutes per 16th note. O.o

Take care, everyone.

Cheers,
Jer

[Mismo]

Originally Posted by jazzinthebox

Doyle currently has two tab books available on his website.

I am aware of only two or three "freebie" tabs of his circulating around that aren't available in his books. "The Wings of the Morning" was published in an old issue of Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, and used to be available as a free download on their website. This may still be the case. A few others have tabbed with great accuracy a couple other tunes, but it takes some digging to find them.

Hey Guys,
Here is the link to "The Wings Of The Morning" TAB. Enjoy!

http://www.fingerstyleguitar.com/doyledykes.htm

But keep it coming though....

[Jer1400]

Well, now I'm not sure what's going on. The server's up, but I can't get into my FTP account. Can anyone out there host these for me please? At least until I figure out what's going on with my host. It sure would be appreciated. Thanks for being so patient everyone.... I know it's been a while since the last update, but that means the next one will be big.

[Jer1400]

Okay, today it decided to work, so here's 3 and a half minutes:

http://www.flatface.net/~jer1400/U2_Medley.txt
http://www.flatface.net/~jer1400/U2_Medley.mid

I'm not promising anything, but the tab could be complete as early as Monday.

PS.

I'm going to get a F.K. Speed Pick and acrylics before I learn this song so I will be able to play it and the other songs of Doyle's which I already know properly. I've played the guitar about 20 months now but have only done fingerstyle stuff for about a year and have always used the fleshy tips of my fingers and thumb to pick. How long (in hours of practice) do you guys think it will take me to adapt to the new "finger equipment" and can anyone recommend excersizes that may help me break habits that could cause problems down the road? Right now I'm just planning to play a wide variety of songs a lot to get used to them, but it would probably help if I had some good excersizes to develop proper technique. I don't mind hours of repetition because what I do is get the excersize down to where I don't have to think about it, then put on Lord of the Rings, some headphones and go at it. So any simple things that take a lot of right-hand technique but not too much movement of the left hand would be great. Thanks in advance. Cheers.

[jox51]

Thanks dude, you have only been playing for 20 months. Thats awesome. Also whats the word on Avalon.