Rock Lobster

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  • Take your least-used guitar.
    Remove the middle two strings. Tune the low E down to a C. Tune
    the A down to a G. Tune the B string DOWN to an F, and the high E
  • DOWN to a G#.
     
    Now tell the bass player to go on break (unless he or she can make
  • decent animal noises). The early B's setup was drums, 1 weird guitar,
    cheesy keyboards, and vocals. Oh yeah the male singer Fred played a mean
    cowbell which you can hear in the second half of the intro and similar parts
  • of the song. (I love his visible concentration when he whacks that
    cowbell in the video).
     
  • The intro/main riff proceeds thusly (where each dash is a 16th note):
     
    |----------------|----------------|
  • |----------------|----------------|
    | | |
    | | |
  • |----------------|1-0-1-0-------0-| <-- last note is an occasional pickup
    |0---2---3---2-0-|----------------|
     
  • The main verse is sung over that part. Then you get to the first
    "rock lobster!" part and do the following (the notes are on the
    low two strings):
  •  
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
  • | | | | |
    | | | | | 2 times
    |----------------|----------------|1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
  • |0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|----------------|----------------|
     
    then...
  •  
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|------------0---|
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|--------0-------| let ring
  • | | | | |
    | | | | |
    |----------------|----------------|1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-|0-0-0-0---------|
  • |0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|----------------|----------------|
     
    do the first block one more time then start doubling:
  •  
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
  • | | | | |
    | | | | |
    |----------------|1-1-1-1-0-0-0-0-|----------------|1-1-1-1-0-0-0-0-|
  • |0-0-0-0-3-3-3-3-|----------------|0-0-0-0-3-3-3-3-|----------------|
     
    |----------------|----------------|
  • |----------------|----------------|
    | | |
    | | |
  • |----1-0-----1-0-|----1-0-1-0-1-0-|
    |0-3-----0-3-----|0-3-------------|
     
  • then go back to the main riff.
     
    At some point comes the pre-Down! Down! part which goes like this:
  • (note 2/4 measure at beginning)
     
    |--------|----------------|----------------|
  • |--------|----------------|----------------|
    | | | |
    | | | |
  • |3---4---|5-5-5-5-5---5-5-|--5---5-5-5-5-5-|
    |--------|----------------|----------------|
     
  • |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
    | | | | |
  • | | | | |
    |----------------|----------------|5-5-5-5---------|5-5-5-5---------|
    |0-0-0-0-0---0-0-|--0---0-0-0-0-0-|--------0-0-0-0-|--------0-0-0-0-|
  •  
    |----------------|----------------|
    |----------------|----------------|
  • | | |
    | | |
    |5-------5-------|5---5---5---5---|
  • |----0-------0---|--0---0---0---0-|
     
    next comes the "Down Down" part where you start on fret 12 of the
  • second highest string and play eighth notes, moving
    chromatically down the fret board, one measure per fret. the last bit
    of this run (before the drums come back in) is...
  •  
    i'm showing only the second highest string (B tuned to F)
     
  • |2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-|1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-|0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-|0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-|
     
    |0-1-1-1-0-1-1-1-|0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-| (drums come back in, go to first figure)
  •  
    Okay that should get you through the first half of the song. The second
    half is mostly vocals because the cheesy keyboards drop out. It starts
  • out like this (not sure of rhythm):
     
    |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
  • |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
    | | | | |
    | | | | |
  • |5---8---5-----5-|--------3---3---|5---8---5-----3-|--3-----5-------|
    |5---8---5-----5-|--------3---3---|5---8---5-----3-|--3-----5-------|
     
  • then comes the "buzzer solo" where you alternate (fifth fret, two low
    strings, eighth notes) with (third fret, two low strings, eighth notes)
     
  • then "let's rock!" is followed by the "guitar solo" where you whang
    away on the two high strings
     
  • then comes the "boys in bikinis" and finally the call-reply animal
    noises part of the song, over which the following figure should be played
    repeatedly:
  •  
    |----0-------0---|----------------|
    |----0-------0---|----------------|
  • | | |
    | | |
    |5-----5---5-----|3-3-3-3-8-8-7-7-|
  • |5-----5---5-----|3-3-3-3-8-8-7-7-|
     
    it's a seven minute long song and it's hard to keep all the parts
  • straight but the crowd really eats it up. At an outside pool
    party it's appropriate for the band to jump in the pool following
    completion of the song.
  • PLAY TOO ..
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Rock Lobster
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