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Tonight's the Night (part 1) - Neil Young
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Tabbed by: Les Gibson
OK so this is a black and haunting blues tune, and only Neil can really pull it off properly.
But here's an acoustic version i worked out for you to mess around with.
The song has only three chords really, so its easy to improvise and get into the groove
it.
May i dedicate this small tab to Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten. Although I did not know
this
song sums it up.
Tuning: DROP C! yes thats right, you heard. CADGBE
---->Main theme/chorus: with that famous bass riff.
Tonight's the night
[D] [C]
e|-------------|-----------------|-(0)-----------------|
B|-------------|-(3)-------------|--1------------------|
G|-------------|--2--------------|--0------------------|
D|--------0----|--0--------------|--2-------------0----|
A|--0--3-------|--0--------------|--3-------0--3-------|
C|-----------2-|--2--------------|--0---------------2--|
Tonight's the ni - hi hi hi hu hight
[D] [C]
e|---------------|---------------------|----|
B|-(3)-----------|---------------------|----|
G|--2------------|---------------------|----| etc. repeat
D|--0------------|--2------------------|----|
A|--0------------|--3---0--------------|----|
C|--2------------|--0-------7---5----0-|-2--|
---------> verse
The only chord for the verse is D7 really. at the end of each line, play an improv on
d chord,
particularly after "he used to pick up my guitar" - live, neil extends this into a solo
mid-verse.
You can play the D7 chord like this:
e|----| e|----|
B|----| B|-1--|
G|-2--| G|-2--|
D|-0--| OR D|-0--|
A|-3--| A|-0--|
C|-2--| C|-2--|
... with fills like these - both sound good:
e|--------------------------| e|--0--0-------------|
B|--------------------------| B|--1--1----1--3-----|
G|--------------------------| G|--2--2----2--2-----|
D|--------------------------| OR maybe D|--0-------0--0-----|
A|--------------------------| A|--0----------0-----|
C|--/7-7--9--/7--7--5--0--2-| C|--2----------2-----|
Listen to the recording to get a feel. I think this could be performed live just with
one
guitar, as the song is quite sparse and slow. Make it your own!
Here are the chords, just to help:
[D]Tonight's the [C]night, [D]tonight's the [C]night,
[D]tonight's the [C]night, [D]tonight's the [C]night,
[D7]Bruce Berry was a workin' man;
[D7]He used to load that Econoline Van.
[D7]A sparkle was in his eyes,
[D7]but his life was in his hand.
[D7]Well late at night when the people were gone
[D7]he used to pick up my guitar
[D7]and sing a song in a shaky voice
[D7]that was real as the day was long.
[D]Tonight's the [C]night, [D]tonight's the [C]night,
[D]tonight's the [C]night, [D]tonight's the [C]night,
A couple of other verses follow, with same chords.
| / slide up
| \ slide down
| h hammer-on
| p pull-off
| ~ vibrato
| + harmonic
| x Mute note
