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How to read tabs?

Band:  Black Sabbath
Song:  Iron Man

I got this from a book. It's the actual Iron Man guitar riff.

  Intro
E|----------------------------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------------------------|
D|----------------------------------------------------|
A|9/---12---12/14-14/--17\16/17\16/17--12-12/14-14\---|
E|7/---10---10/12-12/--15\14/15\14/15--10-10/12-12\---|

---

COMMENTS:

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zock	June 13, 2003, 18:09
thats probebly the right power chords and all but i dont think anyone would play it up the neck on the first 2 strings. i started on the A and D strings with a power chord on B then i went to the D string and played an open power chord. the up 2 frets. for the part where it goes back and forth i did a power chord on the 5th fret on the D string going down to a power chord on the 4th fret

jdj138GT	June 19, 2003, 4:36
this tab sux this is actuly played on the bass. this is the corect tab --7------------- ----5-5--7-7---- -------------5h4 u just hammer on hammer off 5 & 4 a few more times & repeat. also the distorted part @the begging is made buy turning the distortion all the way up & pressing on the 6th string in front of the nut.

dddsss	July 2, 2003, 15:55
the right tab is played ----1------- -----2------ ------3-----6h7--

just shitin it	July 27, 2003, 6:32
Great tab and that guy who says its on the bass is retarded cuz u have to play it on both.

tab critic	September 9, 2003, 3:36
Thats great.About time someone got it right.

Little12yearold	October 30, 2003, 22:40
hey um guys iam only 12 but uh when i played this on my guitar i did it like this on the 6th string ( and i dont really know how to write tabs so iam going to go by the fret numbers --5--8--10--13-12-13-12-13-12--8--10 and thats all i know

	November 16, 2003, 21:24
when i read things like the above makes me think they should have an age limit on this thing. but ya,thats how the book says it goes so play it this way, later

Lucky Maxwell

January 18, 2004, 2:37

Wow. You look at tabs for like Van Halen, Rush, or Jimi Hendrix and there's some fairly good tabs. I had no idea that there were guitarists out there who couldn't play Iron Man. I've seen that tab before, and it's wrong. Hell, that's not even the intro, the intro is E---------------------------- B---------------------------- G---------------------------- D---------------------------- A---------------------------- E-0-B1/2--R------------------ Explained, it's an open low G that's bent a half a step behind the nut 3 times, and then: E---------------------------- B---------------------------- G---------------------------- D-4/7--7/9-9--12/10-12/10---- A-2/5--5/7-7--10/9--10/9- 10/5-5/7-7 E---------------------------- Ack, I wish these windows were bigger. Anyways, during the verse, it's E---------------------------- B---------------------------- G---------------------------- D--------------5-4-5-4-5-4--- A-2--5--5-7-7--------------5-5--7-7 E---------------------------- Yeesh, these are small windows. But at any rate, if you screw up playing "Iron Man" or some Nirvana song, like "Come As You Are" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit". It'll be awhile before you'll be playing Van Halen's "Eruption", or "Classical Gas" Go take some lessons, kids.

Hardy	February 5, 2004, 16:21
Come on Maxwell we can't all be superstar Jimi Hendrix guys like you obviously are!! This version sounds perfect to me although I'd rather play it as A based power chords but that's just me. Great tab!!

Mitch	February 26, 2004, 0:44
I do it like this but it may be out of key i think when you get to the 8-5. --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- 0-3-3-3>5-8-5-8-5-8--3-3-3>5-5

Mitch	March 10, 2004, 21:10
It is played like this --2-5-5-5>7-10-9-10-9-10-9-5-5>7(all 1 string-A)

John	May 29, 2004, 19:24
No mitch is played on power cords

metal master	June 1, 2004, 9:21
no you all are gay it gose like this E|----------------------------------------------------| B|----------------------------------------------------| G|----------------------------------------------------| D|----------------------------------------------------| A|9/---12---12/14-14/--17\16/17\16/17--12-12/14-14\---| E|7/---10---10/12-12/--15\14/15\14/15--10-10/12-12\---|

goth gavin	June 11, 2004, 4:21
You dumb ass that is the exact same tab as the one on the very top.

Creepy little elf, i'm a molko wonnabe	October 22, 2004, 12:48
i kno it off by heart and that is completely wrong!

kcmonster

December 27, 2004, 10:33

Don't know much about the age limit comment, but feel free to call me unskilled 'cause I'm still plucking all my songs one troubled note at a time. But to me it sounds best like this: E|-------------------------- B|-------------------------- G|-------------------------- D|-------------------------- A|-----1-1-3-1-3-1-3-1---1-1 E|0-3-3----------------3---- For someone still learning it'll sound good enough. Crank up the distortion and it'll sound perfect.

kasey	January 29, 2005, 23:27
if any body knows all the tabs to iron man by ozzy if u could send it to me plz at supdog892002@yahoo.com that would do me a great deal of good thatks

Mikey Latiano	June 15, 2005, 20:44
the tab might be whrite but just do the intro like this. all on the bass e string (the bigger one on the bottom) go open,3,3,5,5,98(when you hold down on the 9 hold down on the 8 two cus its a lot easier),8,98,8,98,3,3,5,5

Allah

July 16, 2005, 19:29

Since no one has posted a solo on this page yet here is an optional solo that i call "hiddely diddley" |------------| |------------| |------------| |----2p0-----| |--3-------2-| |--------3---| |------------| |------------| |------------| |----2p0-----| |--3-------2-| |--------3---| |------------| |------------| |------------| |----2p0-----| |--3-------2-| |--------3---| |------------| |------------| |------------| |------------| |--3-----3---| |-----3------| Yeah!

Bo diddley	July 16, 2005, 20:47
no u guys have it all rong cept fer Lucky Maxwell, and metal master, they r the only ones who have gotten it rite outof the 19 of ya that there are, i mean come on if u wanna learn how to play iron man u have to listen to the song first! none of yalls version sounds ne thin like it

old man	July 12, 2006, 20:05
Lucky Maxwell's tab is the most correct,but a word to the wise.Don't flame other peoples tabs just because their age and abilities aren't as advanced as yours.We all started out with just one note on one string and progressed from there.I've been playing for 30 years and still find it much easier to learn a melody on one string and then build on that foundation.

fart	November 27, 2006, 1:33
ii don't even play guitar i am just saying this to make people mad. but this tab sucks

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