The Presidents of the United States of America – Truckstop Butterfly (Guitar)
Half-Step Down (Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Bb-Eb)
• Video Lesson
Key
-
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Speed:
1.0x
Chords
How do you make it sound like the recording?:
(The hardest part of this song is setting up the tuning. Otherwise
it's three pretty standard chords.) Pretty fun song!
What chords should I play?:
Sounds great with straight chords or power chords. Chris seems to
play Em-shape-power chords all the way up the neck of the guitar
on frets 8 & 3 (for showmanship? Maybe some guitar gurus can help
me out here), but you can just play Em-shape-power on fret 3 and
A-shape-power on fret 3. (I'm tabbing out the latter.)
Cool transition tip:
In either case, you can then slide down from Em-shape-power-3 to
Em-shape-power-2 to Em-shape-power-1 to Em for a cool transition.
Tabbed-Out Chords:
Em G C (Em-shape-power-3) (A-shape-power-3) Eb|--0-----------x-------------------x----------| Bb|--0-----------x-------------------x----------| Gb|--0-----------0-------------------5----------| Db|--2-----------5-------------------5----------| Ab|--2-----------5-------------------3----------| Eb|--0-----------3-------------------x----------| ======================================================================
Song:
Em Truckstop butterfly G Covered in gasoline Em Truckstop butterfly G Kiss you till you're clean C G C G Me and a man with a mohawk on his head C G Em Em Found a dirty butterfly half dead C G C G Rainbow of shiny oil slick and stuck on wing C G Em Em Helpless in a puddle muddy thing C G C G Seven-eleven, cherry soda and a pie C G 30-ton steel grey cloud and the C G sky is dark and dripping though we C G stop and wonder why C G Em Em You're running late but what a great alibi Em Truckstop butterfly G Covered in gasoline Em Truckstop butterfly G Kiss you till you're clean
(get gone!)
[Instrumental / Harmonica solo]
C G C G
C G Em
C G C G
C G Em
C G C G Far out east in deserts there's a vein of inky gold C G Em Here out west you wear it like a coat C G C G Me and the man with a mohawk watch you go C G Em Em Em Em Follow sun and leave the melting snow C G Man, how I miss you C G Truckstop butterfly C G Fly so I can't see you C G Truckstop butterfly C G I hope you made it, C G and you didn't die C G Still, I do miss you C G Truckstop butterfly C G Truckstop butterfly C G Truckstop butterfly
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Tip: Every once in a while, songs will be a half-step down, which helps with singing sometimes.
If your guitar has good intonation (ie doesn't sound out of tune with a capo on, basically),
you can put a capo on 1 to put your guitar back into standard tuning for some songs, then take
the capo off for these half-step songs to switch quickly during a set. Don't store your guitar
with the capo on the strings though. The downside is that the fret markings might throw you
off for a bit while you get used to it.
peace