The Number Of The Beast by Iron Maiden
From the album The Number Of The Beast (1982)
Written by Steve Harris
All rights belong to their respective owners
Tabbed by Jaakko Karppinen
I have based this tab on the bass track and live performances you can find in Youtube,
so it should be pretty much 100% correct. The only thing I'm not so sure is the amount of
certain notes, especially in the verses. I advice not to concentrate on the exact amount
of the notes but to listen to the music instead. Up The Irons!
Bass Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrHnerXEx5M
Intro
|-------------11------12------14~---------14~---------14~----------|
|-12--12--12------12------12------12--12------12--12------12--12---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-14~---------14-------|
|-----12--12------12---|
|----------------------|
|----------------------|
Intro w/vocals (4th time don’t play that very last note)
||-----------11------12------14~---------14~---------14~---------14~--|
||-o-12--12------12------12------12--12------12--12------12--12-------|
||-o------------------------------------------------------------------|
||--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------14--------------11------12------14~---------14~----------|
|-12--12------12--12--12------12------12------12--12------12--12---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-14~---------14~---------14--------------9-------10------12~------|
|-----12--12------12--12------12--10--10------10------10------10---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----12~---------12~---------12~---------12--------------9--------|
|-10------10--10------10--10------10--10------10--10--10------10---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-10------14~---------14~---------14~---------14~---------14---------||
|-----10------12--12------12--12------12--12------12--12-----(12)--o-||
|------------------------------------------------------------------o-|| 4X
|--------------------------------------------------------------------||
||------------------------------------------||
||-o--------------------------------------o-||
||-o-5---5---5---5---R---5~~--------------o-||
||------------------------------------------||
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3---3---3---3---R---3~~-------------5---5---5---5---R---5~~--------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Pre-Verse
|------------------|
|------------------|
|-5---5---5---5----|
|------------------|
Verse 1
||--------------------------------------||
||-o----------------------------------o-||
||-o-5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5----o-|| 6X
||--------------------------------------||
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3---3---3---3---3---2-----------5---5---5---5~-(5)--5---5---5----|
|-------------------------3----------------------------------------|
||--------------------------------------||
||-o----------------------------------o-||
||-o-5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5----o-|| 6X
||--------------------------------------||
|--------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3---3---3---3---3---2-----------5---5---5---5~------5---0----|
|-------------------------3------------------------------------|
Chorus 1
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---2~------2---2---2---2---2---2----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------7~-----------|
|---------------------------------------------5---7~------7---5----|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---5~------5------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---2~------2---2---2---2---2---2----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3-------5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5---5----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
Verse 2 (same as Verse 1)
Chorus 2
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---2~------2---2---2---2---2---2----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------7~-----------|
|---------------------------------------------5---7~------7---5----|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---5~------5------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---2~------2---2---2---2---2---2----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3----|
|----------------------------------|
Interlude
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|---------7~----------7~--------------9~----------9~-------|
|-5---5-------5---5-------5---7---7-------7---7-------7----|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------10~---------10~---------10~---------10~---------10-------|
|-8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------R----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|---------7~----------7~--------------9~----------9~-------|
|-5---5-------5---5-------5---7---7-------7---7-------7----|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------10~---------10~---------10~---------10~---------10-------|
|-8-8-8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------R----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|---------7~----------7~--------------9~----------9~-------|
|-5---5-------5---5-------5---7---7-------7---7-------7----|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------10~---------10~---------10~---------10~---------10-------|
|-8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------R----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|---------7~----------7~--------------9~----------9~-------|
|-5---5-------5---5-------5---7---7-------7---7-------7----|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|---------10~---------10~---------10~---------10~----------|
|-8-8-8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---8-------8---0----|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
Guitar Solo 1
||--------------------------------------------------------------------|
||-o------------------------------------------------------------------|
||-o-1~------1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1--------|
||---------------------------------------------------------------0----|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------||
|------------------------------------------------------------------o-||
|-------------------------------------------------------------0----o-|| 3X
|-1~------1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1----------||
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-1~------1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1--------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------0----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------5---5---5----|
|-1~------1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1-----R------------------|
Interlude 2
|-------------7~------5--------------------------------------------|
|-----R---7~------7-------7---5-------5----------------------------|
|-3-------------------------------7-------7---6---5---3---3---3----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------3~------1--------------------------------------------|
|-----R---3~------3-------3---1-------1----------------------------|
|-1-------------------------------3-------3---2---1----------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------3---3---3----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-1~------1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------3---3---3----|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---5~------5---5---5----------------|
Guitar Solo 2 (Steve doesn’t use opens here as usual,
but it’s much easier to do so)
||-----------------------7~----------------------2-------3---2--------|
||-o(0)-----(0)--5---7~------7---5---3~------3-------3-----------3----|
||-o-5~------5--------------------------------------------------------|
||--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------4-------5---4-------------------10----------12---------||
|-5~------5-------5-----------5---8~------8-------8---10------10---o-||
|------------------------------------------------------------------o-|| 4X
|--------------------------------------------------------------------||
Bass Solo
|-19~-----19--19--19--19--17---------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------19--15~-----15--15--15--15--14--12---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-12~-----12--12--12--12--12--12--15~-----15--15--15--17--17--17---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-19~-----19--19--19--19--17---------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------19--15~-----15--15--15--15--14--12---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-12~-----12--12--12--12--12--12--15~-----15--15--15--17-\---------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
Verse 3 (same as Verse 1, though Steve seems to miss couple of notes in
the beginning)
Chorus 3
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---2~------2---2---2---2---2---2----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------7~-----------|
|---------------------------------------------5---7~------7---5----|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---5~------5------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3---3---3---2~------2---2---2---2---2---2----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------|
|------------------------------|
|-3~------3---3---3---3--------|
|------------------------------|
Pre-Verse
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------4-------5-------7~----------7~----------7~------------|
|-5---5---5-------5-------5-------5---5-------5---5-------5---5-----|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------|
|-7~----------7--------|
|-----5---5------------|
|----------------------|
Verse 4
||--------------------------------------------------------------------|
||-o---------4-------5-------7~----------7~----------7~----------7~---|
||-o-5---5-------5-------5-------5---5-------5---5-------5---5--------|
||--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------7---------------4-------5-------7~----------7~-----------|
|-5---5-----------5---5-------5-------5-------5---5-------5---5----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-7~----------7~----------7---------------2-------3-------5~-------|
|-----5---5-------5---5-----------3---3-------3-------3-------3----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----5~----------5~----------5~----------5---------------2--------|
|-3-------3---3-------3---3-------3---3-----------3---3-------3----|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------||
|-3-------7~----------7~----------7~----------7~----------7--------o-||
|-----3-------5---5-------5---5-------5---5-------5---5------------o-||
|--------------------------------------------------------------------||
Outro
||------------------------------------------||
||-o--------------------------------------o-||
||-o-5---5---5---5---R---5~~--------------o-||
||------------------------------------------||
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-3---3---3---3---R---3~~-------------5---5---5---5---R---5-------3---5-/--|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
