IOU

[evin]

parts of this song have baffled me for years. i've had the 89 speedway video since high school. the chords I've pretty much got with the fast blues riff B, and the turn around with D, A Maj 7th/C# (muting the A) and the variation to B, E, D, A Maj 7th/C# (muting the A). then bridge with F# Maj and E.

But it sorta seems like he tunes the A string up to B to get that full chord fast blues riff with the B...barring only the D and G strings at the 4th fret with the A string open which is now tuned up to B... the only flaw in that theory is he goes and plays the F# Maj looking like a standard bar chord and his patented BIG E. He'd have had to have played those differently if he tuned the A to B.

Anyone picking up on this? He tunes something to B right before ripping into the riff...is it the A string?

[Rambo]

From all the stuff I've seen, I think IOU is in just in standard tuning. Looking at a bunch of set lists, he always plays it next to other songs in standard tuning (Bastards of Young, Nevermind).

I learned the song from this topic over at colormeimpressed.com. The tab follows the song closely but some parts don't really have the hard-hitting sound I'd expect.

I haven't really tried learning the song by ear though. This video would be great to learn the song by because Paul's guitar is right there in your face.

I can't tell what string he's tuning though. The sound on my laptop (my only computer) has been broken for about 3 weeks. Dell says I need a new motherboard, and they're gonna give it too me thanks to my full warranty, but until then I can't hear what's going on.

Just watching it, I can tell that the tab I mentioned before is off. It seems Paul's playing something different than what I learned before. You might be right, but I just can't tell. I'll have time later this week to try it out though.

[evin]

thanks rambo...i'll check that out. i've seen a couple videos of him playing iou and it seems in one he might use standard and the other he might tune the A to B. but then again i found this video in which they go from Never Mind (Key of B) to IOU...my theory of him tuning A to B could be supported by this. Never Mind is certainly easier to play with A tuned to B. Never Mind ends about half way thru the video then IOU starts up...

[Rambo]

Okay, my laptop got the new motherboard (3 weeks wait to the day) and I watched the video. I hear the B right at the beginning, but I don't think he tuned the A string up a step; he definitely hits a regular F# bar chord at about 1 min 13 seconds in.

The chords you said are spot on though. I played the video at about half speed (downloaded it to do that) and saw exactly what he was doing. The chords aren't what I expected (I always played power chords before) but are definitely what he plays.

You mind coming up with a complete tab for this? It seems like you've already watched this and worked it out very well.

[evin]

rambo, i'm not good with the tabs thing. i sort of run with the number system down here. but let me see if i can come up with something...but the more i think about it i'm almost convinced he tunes that A up a step. watch as the video starts he's tuning to B and his hand is on the top of the head stock in the middle. that would be A. he can be playing F# Maj and it could still look like he's playing a standard bar chord. during the bridge (F# Maj and E) he has that lick (at 1:17) that goes F#, Ab, F#, B, C#, Eb, C#. he doesn't go up to the 6th fret for the C# note, he's still within the 4th fret.

the only thing that makes me think it's standard tuning is the E chord in the turn around. he does the "add 6th riff" on the low E.

I think for me it would easier to play with the A tuned to B. Plus that B chord with the riff would sound much bigger.

The other thing I noticed when looking at set lists is that anytime they play never mind, iou follows it.

[Rambo]

Okay, I'm sure he's not using standard tuning now. I was sure it was in standard the first few times through, but I still-framed the video on the F# chord, and he's definitely not playing it regularly.



A standard bar chord wouldn't work out like that. It looks exactly like the A string was raised to a B because quite frankly he's not playing the fifth as if it was in standard tuning. If he raised the A to a B, he would only need to bar it for the lowest two strings.

It looks like you were completely right, evin. I just never thought IOU would be in a tuning other than standard.

[evin]

nice detective work rambo...yeah i'm almost sure he takes his ring finger off the 5th thus as you said, tuned A to a B.

okay i don't use tabs so per your request i'm gonna wing it for the riff and each chord...i don't know how the bars and time signature work in tabs so maybe you can take what i've got and adjust it so it's correct.....

from standard tuning, tune the A to a B...in the tab below the small e is the lightest string on the guitar and the E is the heaviest. make sense? by the way i'm using X to signify muting or not playing that string and 0 means play the string open...

Riff Chord
e-----X------------------------------------
b-----X------------------------------------
g-----4---4---4---4---4---4---4---4---4
d-----4---6---4---6---4---7---4---6---4
B-----0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
E-----X------------------------------------

D chord
e-----2
b-----3
g-----2
d-----0
B-----X
E-----X

A maj 7th without the A (or it's sort of a C#minor with an E on top)
e-----O
b-----2
g-----1
d-----2
B-----X
E-----X

E (it's basically the rock and roll riff but you have to adjust for the alternate tuning)
e-----X
b-----X
g-----X
d-----X
B-----0---2---0---2
E-----0---0---0---0

So those are all the chords in the verses and the turn arounds...basically it's the Riff Chord B, to D, to A maj 7th without the A. Then the turn around includes the E, to D, to A maj 7th without the A, back to Riff Chord B...

The Bridge:

F#
e-----2
b-----2
g-----3
d-----4
B-----2
E-----2

E
e-----0
b-----0
g-----4
d-----2
B-----0
E-----0

There is a lick in there that goes something like this...it comes right after the line "please be on your honor"...
e-----X---------------------------
b-----X---------------------------
g-----X---------------------------
d-----X---------------------------
B-----X------------0---2---4---2
E-----2---4---2------------------

there are also some lead stuff i could share but maybe on the next installment...

[GtrPlyr]

Nice work evin!

[Rambo]

Yes, nice work indeed!

[bhelm]

wow, very very nice!!! thank you evein!! any clue on the outro yet??? i've been playing yer transcription on my taylor six string and i've been enjoying it thuroughly

[evin]

bhelm, the outro is just the riff...i've heard em' live drop to an E chord and wail out then end it on a B...

[crusher]

Helpful to see this tabbed out, thanks. I think IOU, Never Mind and Shooting Dirty Pool all use the same tuning. Not sure of any other songs - or any other guitarists even - that use A to B. For a while I tried to make Answering Machine work this way but gave up.