By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Warp And Woof As the legend goes, Robert Pollard conjured the song title “My Dog Surprise” after mishearing a lyric in Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” (“I’ll soon be with you, my love/give you my dawn surprise“). I can’t help but wonder, then, if this is the reason for […]
Tag: Guided By Voices
Haircut Sphinx
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Mirrored Aztec “Haircut Sphinx” is a pretty simple song to play on guitar, as there are no unconventional chord shapes; we just have power chords using the root-fifth-root octave shape. After the tablature for the main parts of the song, I’ve also included Doug Gillard’s lead fills, so you’ll […]
It’s Food
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: August By Cake On “It’s Food,” Robert Pollard uses some open string drone guitar riffs, using the open fourth string D note in conjunction with fretted notes on the third string. There is also some chord strumming involved in this song, with simple power chord shapes. You need to […]
The Rally Boys
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Zeppelin Over China “The Rally Boys” has outlasted the rest of the tracks on Zeppelin Over China by being the only one still performed live from this album. I can’t imagine this one ever leaving the set list, and in fact I think I’d be pretty disappointed if it […]
Drag Days
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Under The Bushes Under The Stars “Drag Days” is one of bonus tracks on Under The Bushes Under The Stars, although I can’t imagine hearing the album without it. There’s a pretty simple lead guitar part that runs through this song, and the chords are all standard barre shapes, […]
5° On The Inside
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: August By Cake In “5° On The Inside,” Robert Pollard gives us a pretty straightforward rock song in terms of structure, using a catchy riff in the intro, some chord strumming during the verses, and some of his two-note chords in the choruses. You need to be logged in […]
Focus On The Flock
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Tremblers And Goggles By Rank In a recently published interview with Robert Pollard, he referred to “Focus On The Flock” as “complicated and interesting.” I’d say that sums it up pretty well; once again, Pollard has lumped together a slew of different musical ideas into a song that keeps […]
Roosevelt’s Marching Band
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Tremblers And Goggles By Rank Robert Pollard sometimes combines a catchy riff with some chord strumming to comprise a verse. “Roosevelt’s Marching Band” is a prime example, but others that immediately come to mind include “I Love Kangaroos” and “Make Use.” The riffs are typically pretty simple and often […]
Who Wants To Go Hunting?
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Tremblers And Goggles By Rank “Who Wants To Go Hunting?” is the closing track that Tremblers And Goggles By Rank deserves. For an album full of longer, more progressive songs, Robert Pollard saved the longest song for last, and it wraps up the album perfectly, fading out with an […]
Alex Bell
By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Tremblers And Goggles By Rank If you’ve read enough of the posts on this site, you may have been clued in to the fact that my favorite Robert Pollard songs to play on guitar are often those with multiple different (seemingly unrelated, even) sections. “Alex Bell” might just be […]
