Dogs of L.A.

[ant_in_alaska]

I am starting to tab Dogs of L.A.  If anyone already has this tabbed, please let me know so I will not waste my energy.  tabs should be up be mid next week.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

Interesting.  I was over at the Mall tonight and listened to that song and upped my iPod rating of the song.  2 stars to 4 stars.

I keep on doing that (to Liz's songs).

[harkrider]

I really like Dogs of LA.  It reminds me of the life I want to lead, full of fucking around.

Great job, by the way, getting these tabs done.  You're doing some great work.

[JeremyEngle]

Funny, I never could figure out this song completely until I relistened to an mp3 someone made of the album track sans vocals. Also, I have a pretty good live radio performance on acoustic guitar from 1994; that's been pretty helpful, too. The Hal Leonard songbook is good for certain spots of certain songs -- you'd be surprised at what they got right, compared to what they got wrong.

I haven't bothered to write a tab for the song, and now things are getting a little too busy for me to do that, so I say go ahead and write your tab and then we'll work together on it (if it needs additional working on).

I can send you the aforementioned vocal-less mp3 if that would help.

[JeremyEngle]

Interesting.  I was over at the Mall tonight and listened to that song and upped my iPod rating of the song.  2 stars to 4 stars.

I keep on doing that (to Liz's songs).

Is this one of her songs that you just didn't understand and consequently didn't like very much? Because if that's all that's holding you back, come see me after class and I'll give you some extra help. You need to step into the light, my man. Ain't no way "Dogs of L.A." is a 2-star song.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

I'm getting there.  I am actually getting  there.

[ant_in_alaska]

I would love those recordings JE!  I have to admit, I don't understand the song at all.  ANy explaining would be great.  I find I don't understand many of Liz's songs.  I think that is what allows me to listen to them hundreds of times and never get sick of them.

[JeremyEngle]

Here's "Dogs of L.A." with the vocal (mostly) removed:

http://download.yousendit.com/36C8184B4C88F498

Here's what Liz had to say about the song a year after she wrote it:

"That was actually- we got high and ran a Super-8 camera, up in LA. There's a park with a little Buddha up at the top of the park. Everyone was like- the industry. Which it is, in some sense. But we had a dog with us, and Nora, had this dog that we dragging, my friend that lives in LA, around everywhere. Sort of like one of those experiences that felt like a story. You know? The whole day felt like a story. And when I got home from that trip, I didn't need to write this at all, I just started writing it. And it was one of those songs that came out. Only a few come out fully written. Like Crater-Lake came out fully written. That was when I had gone on vacation, and that morning woke up, and the whole thing, words and everything, done like in one step, like an hour. The same thing with Dogs of LA. Just like this encapsulated little story and melody line. It is about going, I don't know. Just those little personal journeys that you think have universal significance, and it is actually just a day when you and your friends were running around, but it is like a parallel thing to another situation you've done in a larger sense like with your life. A metaphor. A day-of metaphor."

It also helps to be somewhat familiar with Abe Vigoda, Beatle boots, Super-8 cameras, etc. You may have to get a little high, too, in order to grasp her "dogs = Mafia" conclusion.

Sorry, I can't post the radio performance of the song; I have it on cassette and don't currently have the capabilities to turn it into an mp3. Also, my dub of the show is sped up to a ridiculous speed. I'd have to find a way to slow it down to the correct speed before I'd try to disseminate it on the interweb.

[ant_in_alaska]

That's the best story I've ever heard.  Where is that from?

[folderol and]

This is another Liz Phair song that I like to play but never bothered to figure out how to play properly. Here's what I've got from listening to the no-vocal version:

E  = 0 1 1 2 0 0
E* = 0 2 2 4 0 0
e! = 7 7 9 9 9 7
e  = 12 14 14 13 12 12
F# = 2 4 4 3 2 2
f# = 14 16 16 15 14 14
B  = x 2 4 4 2 2
b  = 7 9 9 8 7 7
a  = 5 7 7 6 5 5
c# = 9 11 11 10 9 9
NOTE: Not sure about the E* chord.

RIFF 1
244222
244232
244222
NOTE: Once Liz returns to the riff's original position, she quickly abandons the barre on last three strings before moving onto the next chord.

    E  E*  F#                B     F#      E
The canyon air is like a breath of fresh L.A.
        E    E*   F#                  E                   F#
I was a Star Trek crew member with my Beatle boots and my Super 8
     a       c#      e   f#
And I raced you to the top
a         c#       e          f#     a       c#     
  The camera gets a stuttered shot of me approaching the painted shrine
  RIFF 1                E
I kissed the Buddha and made him cry
  RIFF 1                E
I kissed the Buddha and made him cry
e!       b        F#
Georgie, I'm your friend

I haven't got much for the chorus, as the way I play it is completely wrong, but it seems to go on some funky arrangement of an E-G#m-F# chord pattern, and appears to start on an A-shaped E barre chord (at least on the first three strings).

[JeremyEngle]

The song starts with Fmaj7. Here's the first chord: X03210. Here's the second chord: X0031X. The third chord is a G, 32000X. Then it goes C, G, F. And it keeps going after that.

[folderol and]

Hmm... for some reason I thought she was using the capo on the first fret. Well, since everything else I wrote consists of barre chords, you could just transpose...

[JeremyEngle]

Most of the song uses open chords. The only part that uses a bunch of barre chords is the "raced you to the top" part leading up to "Georgie I'm your friend"

[Cherubs Ass]

This was one of my early favorites from Whip-Smart, once I started really getting into the album.
I'll try it out some day.

Who was it again that made the Tab for Easy?
That one was excellent, tried it out yesterday.

Oh, and JeremyEngle, I know you posted a download for a 6'1" tab a while ago, I never got a chance to download, so would you be so kind as to repost it?  (I think you posted it on the lp forum, not sure)

[ant_in_alaska]

this is great you guys!  I love how everyone beats me to this.  I'm working on Support System next.