Duran Duran - Union Of The Snake (1983)

Tabbed by: trevgreg
Email: trevgreg1227@hotmail.com

Tuning: Standard


The first single from the band's third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger. The song
features one of the band's catchier and exotic riffs, which I haven't been able to
find online, so I came up with it myself. A lot of the song is complicated since the
guitar parts played live are more audible and may actually be better that the album
version, where it's hard to hear a lot of what is being played. Either way, the song
is easy to get a hold of with the main riff and some barre chords to go with it.


Here is the main riff played at the beginning. Use the pointer finger as a barre chord
of sorts on the fifth fret, but don't play the G string.

e|--8--8--8--8----8--8----8--8--8--8----8--8---------------------------------|
B|--7--7--7--7----7--7----7--7--7--7----7--7---------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|


The band's bassist, John Taylor, does a similar bass run like below each time
after the main riff. However, Andy Taylor does this live after the riff as well,
which adds more power to the song. The verses consist of the above riff and the
following E string run over and over. Let the F# chord echo as well.

    A    G#5 G5 F#5
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|--7--7--6--5--4------------------------------------------------------------|
E|--5--5--4--3--2------------------------------------------------------------|


The Pre-Chorus just consists of running up lower along the E string, though only
the later part of this might be actually played on the album version.

    G5                   F#5                   E  
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------------1--1----1--1--1----1--1----1--1----|
D|----------------------------------------2--2----2--2--2----2--2----2--2----|
A|--5--5----5--5--5----4--4----4--4--4----2--2----2--2--2----2--2----2--2----|
E|--3--3----3--3--3----2--2----2--2--2----0--0----0--0--0----0--0----0--0----|


During the chorus, Andy once again kicks in the main riff. Live, he will throw
in the F# and G chords once each time to go with the song instead of the usual
E string run. On the album you can hardly hear anything he does during parts of
the chorus.

e|--8--8--8--8----8--8----8--8--8--8----8--8---------------------------------|
B|--7--7--7--7----7--7----7--7--7--7----7--7---------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|

   F#5 - G5
e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|--4----5-------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|--4----5-------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|--2----3-------------------------------------------------------------------|



After all this, the song basically just repeats itself. On the album, Andy goes
into some other riffs and notes during the break in the middle. Live, however, he
just repeats what he usually plays during the verses for nearly all of it. Other
than that, these riffs make up practically the entire song. It should be easy to
strum the pre-chorus and chorus chords more than necessary if playing the song on
acoustic or just for overall sound too.


Verse One:
*main riff*
Telegram force and ready
A       G#5     G5        F#5
I knew this was a big mistake
*main riff*
There's a fine line drawing my senses together
A       G#5     G5        F#5
And I think it's about to break

Pre-Chorus:
G5                   F#5                   E  
If I listen close I can hear them singers
G5                   F#5                   E  
Voices in your body coming through on  the radio

Chorus:
*main riff*          F#5         G5
The Union of the Snake is on the climb
*main riff*
Moving up it's gonna race it's gonna break
F#5                G5
Through the borderline

*main riff*          F#5         G5
The Union of the Snake is on the climb
*main riff*
It's gonna race it's gonna break
F#5                G5
Gonna move up to the borderline

Verse Two:
*main riff*
Nightshades on a warning
A       G#5     G5        F#5
Give me strength at least give me a light
*main riff*
Give me anything even sympathy
A       G#5     G5        F#5
There's a chance you could be right