Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt
Standard bass tuning, EADG.
Written by The Mars Volta
Tabbed by Josh Boardman
Performed by Flea

Intro
|-----------------5-5-7-7-10-10-12-12-14-14-17-17-19-19-|
|-0-0-3-3-5-5-7-7---------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------|

Verse Sequence 1
|-----------------------|
|-0--0-0--0-----------3-|
|-----------3-0---0-3---|
|---------------3-------| x8
"You must have been phlagmatic in stature..."

Chorus
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|-10-10-10-10---10?10--10-10--10-10/0--10-10--------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------|
"You take the veil..."
On the third bass hit, do a slide from the 10th fret to the bottom.

Do four more riffs of the verse here.

Another chorus here.

Refrain
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------3-3-3---------------------------------------|
|-5-5-5-----------------------5-5-5-----------------5-5-5-5|
|--------5-5-5---------5-5-5---------5-5-5--3-3-3-3--------| x2
"A mass of gallon sloth..."

Here you do six riffs of the verse again.

And after those six riffs do the refrain another 2 times.

Intro (II) to sequence 2
|-----------|
|-----------|
|-----3---4-|
|-5-3---3---| x4
There is a very brief intro to the second sequence that goes like this.

Sequence 2
|-----------------------------|
|-----------------------------|
|-5-5-5--5--5--5-5------3---4-|
|-------------------5-3---3---| x4
"Knife me in..."

End sequence 2 with two more riffs of intro II, then on 5th fret of the A string.

After sequence 2 there is a keyboard refrain, followed by a guitar riff.

Breakdown
|------------------|
|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0-|
|------------------|
|------------------|
You just play open D string along with the guitar riff until the bass solo.

Bass solo
|-5h7-7-7-7?-7-5-2?5h7-7-7-7--7-5-2--1-0---|
|----------------------------------------3-|
|------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|

|-5h7-7-7-7--7-7-7h8p7-2h5-2---------5---5-10-2h5p2-|
|----------------------------5h7-7-7---7------------|
|---------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------|

|-5h7-7-7-7h8p7-2-5-2-0---5h7-7-7-9h10p9-5h7p5-5h7p5-2-5-2-|
|-----------------------3----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------|

|-----0h2-5-2-5h7-7-7-5h7-7-7-10-12-10-12-10-12h14-14-|
|-0-0-------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------|

After the bass solo the guitar takes over in its solo.

Guitar solo
|---------------------------------------|
|---------------3-3-3-5-----------------|
|-3h5-5-5-5-3-5---------3h5-5-5-5-5-----|
|-----------------------------------3-5-|

During the guitar solo he does a little something like this.
It's hard to hear so this part may not be 100% accurate but it involves a lot of improv. in that general area of the fretboard.

Guitar feature 2
|--------------------|
|--------------------|
|-5--------3-5-3-----|
|----3--5--------3-5-|

The second guitar feature starts when a second guitar comes in.

After the feature you go back into sequence 2 for the intro plus four riffs, then the intro repeated again for 3 riffs after that is finished.

Intro to Closer
|-------------------------------|
|-------------------------------|
|-5-5-5-5-5---------------------|
|-----------5-5-5-5-5-3-3-3-3-3-|
"Oooh..."

You play this four times, which FINALLY brings us to the closer, the end of the CD.

Closer
|---------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------|
|-5-5-5-5---------------------------4-4-|
|-----------5-5-5-5---3-3-3-3---5-5-----|
"Who brought me here..."

In the closer you play the note written very rapidly with the guitar and the snare. This happens to be the best riff I have ever heard and really makes a wonderful closer for an amazing album.

Well, we finally reach an end. The song order goes like this:

Intro
Verse Sequence 1 x8
Chorus
Verse Sequence 1 x4
Chorus
Refrain x2
Verse Sequence 1 x6
Chorus
Refrain x2
Sequence 2 x4
*Keyboard and guitar feature*
Breakdown
Bass solo
Guitar solo
Guitar feature 2 x12
Sequence 2 x4
Intro to Closure x4
CLOSURE x2

I hope you enjoy this tab. I'm confident that most of it is correct, there are a few rough area in the guitar solo but it's good. This took me about 3 hours to tab total, so the bassist did a good job of baffling me on this amazing piece.
Show more