Mc5 - Starship

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Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 14:44:13 -0400

From: a spaceman 

Subject: s/spacemen_3/starship.crd



If you would like to contact me with

errors/corrections, send an email 

to gravitygrave_resident@yahoo.com.*



Song: Starship

Performer: Spacemen 3

Album: The Perfect Prescription (Taang! Version)

Writers: Ra/MC5/Kember/Pierce



Transcribed by Aaron Heisler

(gravitygrave_resident@yahoo.com)



_Notes:_ A "sort of cover", if you catch my drift. I'm not 

sure which version this song is simply because the Taang! CD does not

correctly give a track length (the sleeve reads 11:26, but it's less

than half that). It was apparently written by MC5 but the lyric is by

Sun Ra (I can't hear any lyric on this version though, save for what 

amounts to some heavily echo-laden, strung-out burbling by Sonic at its

inception). So I guess you could say this is an Sp3 cover of the Mc5 

cover. :-) I don't have the Threebie 3 EP so I doubt this version of

the song is the same.



I've never seen a transcription of this song.  Surprising since it's a

fairly "well-known" (at least the Mc5 version is) song amongst music

fans, although from what I've heard the Spacemen 3 interpretations are

quite different. The frequency of its fifth chords make it easy to 

begin a transcription but mildly difficult to complete.



_Effects:_ Good distortion pedals, anything generic.  The cheaper the

pedal, the dirtier (and in this case, better) the song sounds and

therefore the more Mc5-esque way of playing would be no pedals at all

but with guitars and amps up to 12. :-)



_Tuning:_ This song is played in standard tuning.

(EADGBe)



Define chords:





E  - 022100

E3 - 0221XX

E5 - 022XXX

G3 - 3554XX

G5 - 355XXX

A5 - 577XXX



This song is played in 4/4. The strumming pattern is

quite simple. The

song starts out made of up bars which can be

constructed with 1 quarter

note and 1 dotted half note. Then, later, in the

"chaotic" portion with

howlin' solos courtesy of J Spaceman, the chords are

strummed with 

normal, 4 quarter note frequency. In the rhythm

section below I've 

shown the drumbeat sitting below the chords strummed

so you can play it

easily. As this is an instrumental a good knowledge of

the song won't 

hurt either :-)



Ok:



The song begins with howls of feedback (stand parallel

to your amp and

fiddle with the guitar's tone controls)...to cause

that jagged, 

propulsive effect that fades the feedback out, rapidly

switch pickups

whilst turning the volume down and up (this is a

two-hand exercise and

as a result you can't play an notes like this which is

alright because

there is no melody as of yet)...



Drums come in >here<



Play this over the feedback:



e 0-0------3-3------5-5-3-3-0-0

B -----------------------------

G -----------------------------

D -----------------------------

A -----------------------------

E 0-0------3-3------5-5-3-3-0-0



(if you like you can form the chords, and I strongly

suggest you play

this bit with a forefinger barre)



This bit is almost inaudible amidst the feedback,

drums and bass 

rumblings. After this the rhythm guitars kick in. Play

them like this:





       E-E3 G3-G5 A5   G5   E5

       1234 12-34 1234 1234 1234

                         ^

Drum beat goes like this |







Because the rhythm guitars on this song are barely

audible anyway, 

keeping in time is more important than playing the

right chords! :-)





You can visit my Spiritualized site at

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/electricity/index.html

for more information about this band. There is also a

guitar tabs section where things like this are

exchanged but as this is a Spacemen 3 tab it does not

fit...



Comments or questions should go to

gravitygrave_resident@yahoo.com



Thanks again...