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Artificial Light

By: Robert Pollard Appears on: Waved Out Just as I theorized regarding the non-standard tuning for “Drinker’s Peace,” I believe Robert Pollard may have stumbled upon the tuning for “Artificial Light” amid a similar situation (i.e., there was a guitar with a string already de-tuned, Pollard picked it up and started playing using his typical […]

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Serene King

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Strut Of Kings Another new GBV album, another new song about a king. This time, Robert Pollard is serving up “Serene King,” which I’m fairly certain will remain playing in my head for years to come. The rhythm guitar work is pretty straightforward, with a few simple but oh-so-tasteful […]

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Local Master Airplane

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Nowhere To Go But Up In “Local Master Airplane,” Robert Pollard uses his floating chord shapes guitar technique, using the open position Asus2 shape in different neck positions, similar to the verses of “Tractor Rape Chain.” You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. […]

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Payment For The Babies

By: Robert Pollard Appears on: From A Compound Eye Whenever I take the time to transcribe all the guitar parts for a song off one of the many albums Robert Pollard and Todd Tobias made together, it’s always a rewarding experience. Tobias tends to layer several intricately composed guitar parts onto Pollard’s main guitar track, […]

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Eye Shop Heaven

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Please Be Honest If the chords in “Eye Shop Heaven” sound a bit chunky on the low end, it’s because Robert Pollard made use of inverted chords in this song. All this means is that the lowest note of the chord is not its root note. For example, he’d […]

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Peep-Hole

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Bee Thousand “Peep-Hole” is one of the classic songs on Bee Thousand that’s sure to have everyone singing along when performed live. Although it appears on the album as an acoustic song, it is often played in concert by the full band. It’s always a crowd-pleaser, especially when Robert […]

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An Earful O’ Wax

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia Steve Wilbur played a pretty significant role in the early recording days of Guided By Voices, as several of their albums from that period were recorded in the studio he had assembled in his two-car garage. In addition to recording the band, however, he also took […]

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Blimps Go 90

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Alien Lanes In today’s post, we’ll take a look at tablature for “Blimps Go 90,” one of my favorites from Alien Lanes. This is one of the many songs that really made me appreciate Robert Pollard’s lyrics, especially the entire second chorus. As far as the guitar work, it’s […]

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