By: Guided By Voices
Appears on: Under The Bushes Under The Stars
Long-time Guided By Voices guitarist Doug Gillard has mentioned that Robert Pollard gives the band a fair amount of freedom with his songs so that they can incorporate their own ideas. In this way, some songs have evolved a bit from their original incarnations, and are therefore played differently live than they were on the album recordings.
“Cut-Out Witch” is a good example of this. If you watch the documentary “The Who Went Home And Cried,” you can see Pollard playing this song on guitar. I’ve observed a few differences between the way he performed it there and the way Doug Gillard currently plays it live, so in this post, I’ll split the tablature up in a few spots to highlight those differences.
Here are the chords that are common to both the Pollard and Gillard methods of playing this song.
The guitar riffs in “Cut-Out Witch” use an “Open String Drone” guitar technique. In Figure 1, the intro riff features fretted notes on the third string played along with the open second string. Play this figure three times.
Next in the song’s intro is Figure 2. It’s the same as Figure 1 but with a slide up at the end, from the fourth fret to the fifth on the third string. After Figure 2, you’ll play Figure 1 one more time, then go to Figure 3.
Figure 3 is also the same as Figure 1 but with a slightly different ending again. You’ll play this figure one time.
Figures 4a and 4b show the main riff; this is still part of the intro, but the tempo picks up a bit now. It’s split into 4a and 4b because Pollard and Gillard play it slightly differently. Figure 4a shows how Pollard plays it: there’s an A note on the open fifth string followed by another A (an octave above) on the seventh fret of the fourth string.
As shown in Figure 4b, Gillard plays the second A note on the second fret of the third string instead of on the fourth string. Whichever way you choose to play this riff, do it four times here.
Figure 5 and we’re still technically in the song’s intro. At this point, the rest of the band kicks in (and, when performed live, the audience goes a little nuts). There are two guitars now, with one strumming the chords indicated above the tablature and the other still playing the Figure 4 riff. You’ll play this figure four times.
As we move into the verse, we see the main difference between Pollard’s and Gillard’s styles of playing this song. First, let’s look at Pollard’s. He’s using a full barre chord on the fifth fret to play the A chord, then a “Floating Chord Shape” (using an open D chord shape on the fifth fret) for the Dm7. He then moves that shape down to the open position for a D chord, followed by a B11/A, which is essentially an open A chord shape moved up two frets. Then he plays a G/A chord and then heads back to the barre A.
Using the chords in the diagrams above, Figure 6a shows the verse with the lyrics.
Now let’s take a look at how Gillard plays the verse. He’s mainly using a floated A chord shape and moving it up and down the neck for most of the verse, muting the first string. The A note on the open fifth string is played throughout all these chords.
Figure 6b shows the verse with the Gillard chords and the lyrics.
For the song’s verse, you’ll play either 6a or 6b two times, then go into the chorus, shown in Figure 7. You’ll play Figure 7 four times.
After Figure 7, you’ll play Figure 6 two times again for the second verse, then play Figure 7 four more times for the second chorus.
Next is Figure 8, which again uses an “Open String Drone” technique similar to how Pollard used it in songs such as “Bunco Men” and “You Own The Night“: a fretted note on the sixth string with the fifth string ringing an open A note throughout. You’ll play Figure 8 one time.
After Figure 8, you’ll play Figure 9 three and a half times. In other words, on the fourth time through, you’ll only play the first two measures (the top line of the tablature). Also, on the second time through, another guitar starts playing the Figure 4 riff, coming in on the third measure of this figure.
From there, Gtr 1 will strum the chords indicated above the tablature in Figure 10, while Gtr 2 continues playing the riff in the tablature. You’ll play this figure two times.
For Figure 11, one guitar will continue playing the main riff while the other continues strumming the chords. You’ll play this figure four times. On the album recording, the song fades out at that point; when played live, the guitars end on an A barre chord.
