Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 10:31:37 +0200
From: Florian Decros <flodecros (at) gmail dot com>
Subject: Bass tabs of "Nonsuch"
Message-ID: <CAPtZtiNCnBEY3t2uv4mX+_0AGZQiYBqXqP8Wj==KH8CA=YhwFw (at) mail dot gmail dot com>

Date: Wed, 30 May 2012 20:55:56 +0200
From: Jim Schreiber <joshuacrime (at) gmail dot com>
Subject: Guitar solo tab for "The Smartest Monkeys"
Message-ID: <CABJCC60JaO47NDBTEfwQaLjaK-ShEKtgDruEYA0LAD_S0iH-mQ (at) mail dot gmail dot com>

This is Joshua Crime again. Haven't written in a while, but I learned
this a while back and thought it might be a good addition to what's
already here about this song.

It's a very enjoyable thing to learn Gregory's solos, simply because
they are so well organized and perfect for the song. I don't think he
gets the appreciation he deserves.

The solo of this song, if my ears haven't completely gone, is done on
some kind of synthesizer. But, since Mr. Gregory is a fine soloist in
any medium, it translates quite nicely to guitar.

The overall chord progression for the verse (and solo) is a 4 part
chord progression. The first chord is a C# (implied) major power chord
(root-5-root) , followed by a partial C#ma7 chord (root-5-ma7), then
an A major chord followed by a partial Ama7 chord in the same manner.
However, I don't like to look at it that way. I look at it as a C# to
a G#/C# followed by A to an A/E. The meat of the chords are therefore
C# - G# - A - E and that's the bed of the verse and solo section.
These chords in sequence have a superb connection to each other and
that's really I went for the solo on the guitar. It works pretty well.

The solo looks like this. Mr. Gregory is very arpeggio heavy in his
solos, and this one is no exception. The solo is in 4 bars:

The first bar is almost strictly 100% arpeggios that follow each chord
with no passing tones or scale steps.

E|-------------9--13--9--11----------12--9h12p9-------------------
B|----------9-------------------13-----------------------10---12--9--------
G|------10---------------------------------------------------------------9-----
D|--11-----------------------------------------------------------------------9--
A|----------------------------------------------------------------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

The second bar starts off with the C# major arpeggio and puts in the
odd B note before a little pull-off climb in A major to end on the 3rd
of the E/A chord, G#, which is also the major 7th of the A chord.
Brilliant move.

E|-------------9----------11--11p9--12p11--14b16--
B|----------9-----12------------------------------
G|------11----------------------------------------
D|--11--------------------------------------------
A|------------------------------------------------
E|------------------------------------------------

The third bar is another 100% arpeggio run but really extends the A
arpeggio, which makes it sound speedy and sweeping.

E|----------13--13----------11--11------------------------------17-----------------------------16------
B|------14--------------13-------------13--------------14--17------17--14---------17-------------17--
G|--13--------------13----------------------13------14-------------------------14--------16----------
D|----------------------------------------------------14----------------------------------------------
A|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fourth bar contains some very interesting tricks that he's done
before. The first 2 scale sequences use the same pattern as you find
in the latter portion of the "That's Really Super, Supergirl" solo and
contains some very wide intervals, all still maintained perfectly
within the underlying chords, and he follows it up with a descending E
major pentatonic sequence in twos.

E|--------------------------------------------------19--------16--16------------------------------------------
B|------------------------19-----------------19------19---------------16--16--16--17------16------------------
G|------------16--18------------------18---------------------------------------------------18------16--18------16--
D|--16--18------------------16--18----------------------------------------------------------------------------18------
A|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even though it was done on a keyboard, this is a perfect Gregory solo
and once again shows his fantastic musical knowledge and skill. Enjoy!

Joshua

Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:47:51 -0500
From: "bc002k" <bc002k (at) mail dot rochester dot edu>
Subject: XTC Tab Submission
Message-id: <43983987.224.5385.24366 (at) mail dot rochester dot edu>


Hey, awesome site, here's another tab.

"The Smartest Monkeys" (Moulding)
From "Nonsuch" (1992)
Transcribed by Brian Canfield on 12/8/06.

Okay, so this isn't complete. I'm having trouble with the
chorus. Part of me thinks it's the following chords: D   A
E
But then when I listen to it, it definetly seems to have
some minor qualities to it. What I figured out is too
'happy' sounding for this cynical little song.

But as for the rest, the intro is:

x466xx  x465xx

577xxx  576xxx

Basically, it's C#5  C#5(plus major 7th)
                A5    A5(plus major 7th)

And it sounds like harmonics also being plucked in between,
if you take a listen.


The pre-chorus ("well, you have to admit..") is something
like:

F#maj7     Emaj7      Em7       Dmaj7


I'm not *positive* about the D, but it comes in during the
"TreeheeeeeeeeEheeeeessssss" part.

I play those chords like this:

F#maj7 -  xx4666
Emaj7  -  xx2444
Em7    -  xx2433
Dmaj7  -  xx0222

And then the chorus, which I'm not too sure about. I'm not
great at doing this, so maybe someone a little better can
try to figure it out. But for now, I'll just say:

D    A     E

Even though I don't have confidence that it's right.

Anyway, that's it. Keep up the great work on the site.

Date: Tue, 12 May 92 17:31:08 -0400
From: dschmidt (at) athena dot mit dot edu
Subject: Nonsvch chords, Vol I

Okay, first some disclaimers.  In many places I did not try to figure
out Exactly what was going on - I listened to the music and tried to
figure out what chords I would play if I were to accompanying on on
the piano.  So probably many of the guitar chords are simpler than
I've made them out to be.  Also, in some places where I've indicated
how to voice chords, it is just how I find it convenient, and not
necessarily what they are doing on the record.  I also left out lots
of bass stuff, only including it where I thought it was important.
But everything should be pretty close.  Comments and corrections are
welcome!

Voicings are notated with low E on the left, high E on the right.

                         THE SMARTEST MONKEYS

I don't like this song much and it's not much of a guitar song, so I
didn't bother.  The guitar chords in the chorus are Bm D E B.  Maybe
I'll come back to it...

 - Dan